New help, no power at tub

[mkrozell]

I just went to check the tub and I have no power at my controls. The tub will not turn on. What are some items to check first? There are two fuses above the power supply, how can you tell if they are bad and could that be a possibility? If I need a new control, what is a good one to go with?

[pkillur]

I just went to check the tub and I have no power at my controls. The tub will not turn on. What are some items to check first? There are two fuses above the power supply, how can you tell if they are bad and could that be a possibility? If I need a new control, what is a good one to go with?

I had some issues with my ground-fault when I first installed - the system would cycle on and then immediately back off in like 1-3 seconds.  It took like 15 minutes of monkeying around to figure that out.

Also - make sure your spa-pack electronics are dry.  I had a freak leak in a diverter (you can go search my posts on poolspaforum - same username) that lead me down many, many, many rabbit holes.  One of the issues I was facing was that unless my connections were absolutely dry (which they were not 100 % dry, but looked like it to human eyes / hands) the GFI would kick in.

If you can - take a picture of the spa kit and post the model number - someone may be able to look at it and see a dead ringer issue.  Are there any power lights at all?  Also - not to be insulting but throwing it out there - have you checked your breaker at the panel behind the GFI?  The 50-60 amp one?

[mkrozell]

Absolutely no lights on or anything. And yes, I have tried the GFCI breaker many times. It is 100% dry. I had a leak last year that I fixed and have been keeping an eye on ever since. I am going to pick up a couple breakers tomorrow, out them in and see if that works. Maybe my control box finally took a dump. I will take the side panel off tomorrow and get the numbers off of it. I know its a Balboa but thats it right now

[Spa_Tech]

I just went to check the tub and I have no power at my controls. The tub will not turn on. What are some items to check first? There are two fuses above the power supply, how can you tell if they are bad and could that be a possibility? If I need a new control, what is a good one to go with?

You need a digital multimeter to check a few things before shopping for a new spa controller.

The first thing I would check is to see if there is source voltage at the terminal block inside the spa controller. If there is no voltage here, you would need to follow the wiring back to the breaker to discover where the power stops. Assuming there are fuses in the circuit, one would need to remove them from the block and check for continuity, as there is no way to determine whether a fuse is good just by looking.

My money is on a burned fuse or a bad breaker if you have already eliminated the possibility of a ground fault nuisance.

[mkrozell]

Im pretty sure everything is ok with the wiring coming from the GFCI breaker but I will double check it. If it is a fuse, can I get them at the local hardware store or are they something special? I see they are a time release class g fuse

[mkrozell]

I got the issue figured out. There was power coming out for the GFCI breaker but none at the tub. Tracing the wiring I found that under the deck where the tub was, the previous owner had another breaker panel which the breaker was tripped. We had a couple short power surges last week during a snow storm and Im wondering if that is what tripped the breaker. Everything fired back up and is running again. Thanks for all the help

[mkrozell]

False alarm, breaker keeps tripping. I am almost positive it is the motor. Every so often I have to tap it to get it to run. Im guessing the brushes in the motor are wore out. And also when the pump would run, on low it will surge instead of a constant run. What do you guys think about this pump

http://www.hottubworks.com/part-BN62-30-E420-item-spa-pump-side-discharge.php

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

Pump motors don't have brushes and surging is typically a sign of not enough water in the spa.

[mkrozell]

The spa is full and all air bled out of the system. Has been like that since we acquired it.

[mkrozell]

What other possibilities could it be thats drawing enough power to trip the breaker? All of the connections are good and clean, the ground has good ground. The pump hasnt really had enough pressure to blow out the set of jets furthest a way from the pump. When we bought this outs a little over a year ago it came with the tub. A few months ago, when on standard mode, the pump would just hum and not turn on, with a slight tap, it would start pumping again. I put the tub on economy mode and it was fine until now when the breaker keeps tripping. Could the pump just be drawing too much power trying to work?

[Spa_Tech]

Almost sounds like the motor isnt recieving sufficient voltage.

But we dont know this until we get a reading. A decent digital multimeter runs about $30 and is invaluable in a number of home repair applications.

[mkrozell]

I have a Snap-on multimeter already. Where should I probe for power?  Coming out of the control box or at the pump?

[Chas]

There are only two reasons a breaker will trip: if the circuit is pulling more amps than it is rated for, in which case the breaker is doing its job, or, the breaker is going bad and tripping when it should not.

You need to find out if the motor is pulling more amps than it is rated for. There should be a rating plate on the motor.

Also - a stalled motor will pull way more than it is rated for: if the motor is sitting there humming because of a problem, it will usually trip a breaker, or get hot enough to begin tripping the thermal overload inside the motor itself.

HTH

 

[mkrozell]

After I noticed the breaker was tripped, it would only trip while the pump was running. It never really hummed like a locked up motor but would click unless you tapped it. If you didnt tap it within 5 seconds, the control box would shut it down and say inadequate water flow.

[mkrozell]

my motor was submerged at one point in time. Looking at it, the the lower half was totally corroded. I friend of mine had a brand new pump so I decided to swap it and see if that fixed the problem. Tub ran for about 15 minutes but then tripped the breaker. I am going to replace the breaker and go from there. How often do the heaters or the heater elements go bad and has anyone ever experienced them tripping breakers or do they just simply stop heating?