what happened to my tub???

[obiwan]

ok all you knowledgable dealers and owners out there.... question for you....
i have a caldera niagra, (new in mar 05) that has a wierd problem. it gets used 5-6 times a week, and has been wonderful. out of the blue i woke up yesterday and one of the breakers was tripped. reset it. tub powered up, and all seemed to work until pumps tried to come on, and popped the breaker again.
I played with it a bit, and here are the sysmptoms. when powered up, circ pump works, as do the lights, temp controls, heater, and air blower. BUT, when i touch eithere pmp 1 or 2 buttons, breaker trips.
any ideas anyone?

I am very mechanical,(mostly reformed gearhead) and quite comfortable with basic troubleshooting. my dealer (great guys) can get some one out in a few days, and thats fine, but being a tad impatient, if it might be a simple solution somewhere, I am more than willing to look.

[wmccall]

I had a similar situation, except I don't have a circ pump. What I did was open up the controller and unplug one of the pumps. (Cable from pump to controller had a connector on it.) I quickly determined that if I left pump #2 disconnected that my breaker wouldn't trip.   It was winter so that allowed me keep the tub powered up and heating.

[Chas]

Goood advice.

[obiwan]

i will try that tonight.
thanx for the input. would a problem with one pump cause both not to work?
seems like odd timing.....

[DPS]

it could cause neither pump to work by tripping the breaker.  You will probably find that the breaker stays set with one pump unplugged, but not with the other unplugged.

[obiwan]

the only trouble is, there are no plugs for the pumps. they are hardwired into the circuit board on spade lugs. as i dont want to risk damaging the board, i will let the service tech do his thing.
i took the side panels off, and i didn't see anything obviously wrong, loose, burned, etc.

oh well. thanx for the suggestions, i will post the results......

[wmccall]

i will try that tonight.
thanx for the input. would a problem with one pump cause both not to work?
seems like odd timing.....

In my case, what happens is when you reset the power, my tub runs pump1 immediately and then runs pump #2 for one minute. This happens every power up, so if pump2 is the problem, it would keep tripping it until I unplugged it.

[ndabunka]

ok all you knowledgable dealers and owners out there.... question for you....
i have a caldera niagra, (new in mar 05) that has a wierd problem. it gets used 5-6 times a week, and has been wonderful. out of the blue i woke up yesterday and one of the breakers was tripped. reset it. tub powered up, and all seemed to work until pumps tried to come on, and popped the breaker again.
I played with it a bit, and here are the sysmptoms. when powered up, circ pump works, as do the lights, temp controls, heater, and air blower. BUT, when i touch eithere pmp 1 or 2 buttons, breaker trips.
any ideas anyone?
 
I am very mechanical,(mostly reformed gearhead) and quite comfortable with basic troubleshooting. my dealer (great guys) can get some one out in a few days, and thats fine, but being a tad impatient, if it might be a simple solution somewhere, I am more than willing to look.
 

Do you have a Stereo on it?  If so, you may want to simply unplug it from the circuit.

[obiwan]

thanx for the additional ideas. i have discovered it is pump 1 that is the problem. spoke with the service mgr at my dealer, he ok'ed i wasn't voiding any warranty by pulling power of the pumps.
end result...... when pmp 1 is unplugged, everything else works, including pump 2, both speeds. when pump 2 is unplugged, and pump 1 tries to come on, it makes a terrible buzzing noise. thought it might be the pump rather than the motor, but i suspect its the motor as i can easily turn the shaft that connects the motor to the pump with a small pair of needle nose pliers. when i tried the on button for pmp 1, it buzzes and the shaft twitches a little, but doesn't spin.

to bad it was getting dark again, or i would have started draining some water so i can pull the suction feed off the pump, to rule out problem with the impellor or pump itself.
the tub is only about 15 months old, and i am a bit suprised that either the pump or motor would go so soon. it is used quite a bit, but has been living a sheltered life....literally. i put one of the home depot metal gazebos over it, complete with mosquito netting and everything. even the cover still looks almost new. i live in va beach va and the climate is not to extreme. used it most of the winter.
will call my dealer monday to see if they stock, or can get a motor and/or pump. i have the rest working now and sat in it for a while tonight, but pump 1 is the pump that does most of the filtering. i use di clor and have an ozonator, but will feel better once pmp 1 is back on the payroll again.....