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Archive for the ‘spa heater’ Category

Top 5 Hot Tub Heater Problems

March 7th, 2013 by

Hot Tub Won’t Heat?

hot-tub-heater-problems

A Hot Tub without heat, is … cold! And no fun for anyone. Hot Tubs are meant to be HOT, and if you’ve ever been in a Warm Tub, you know it’s just not the same.

If you’re in charge of the hot tub at home, you hear the complaints when the hot tub heater is not working properly. You need a quick solution to the problem of no heat, or not enough heat in your spa or tub.

So here we have, a quick guide to the common issues affecting common spa heaters. I won’t go into gas heaters, but restrict this to common spa pack type heaters, or electric immersion element heaters.

Top 5 Spa Heater ProblemsHOT-TUB-PARTS

LOW FLOW: A spa heater relies on sufficient water flow to operate. A pressure switch, screwed into the heater chamber, senses when the water flow is too low to properly protect the heater. It breaks the electrical circuit powering the heater element, and the heater shuts down, and will begin to heat until proper water flow is established. With a flow issue, you don’t normally need any spa heater parts to repair.

Low flow in your spa or hot tub is most commonly associated with a dirty spa filter. If your spa heater won’t heat, remove your spa cartridge and clean the filter(s), to see if you have a pressure or flow rate problem. Other flow problems will be more severe – broken pump impeller, broken valves, or clogged pipes or spa jets. These problems will be evident from the noticeably reduced flow coming into the spa or hot tub.

THERMOSTAT:  The thermostat is the dial that you turn to crank up the heat. Most new spas use a solid state thermostat, connected to a circuit board. If you have a thermostat “knob”, instead of a lighted red arrow, you can test your thermostat to see if the unit is faulty internally, or if the sensor bulb has become corroded.

HIGH LIMIT:   The High Limit is another switch, similar to the pressure switch and thermostat discussed above. It’s purpose is to prevent a run-away spa heater – one that won’t shut off. It has a preset maximum heat (e.g., the upper limit), at which the switch will open, and short the electrical circuit carrying power to your spa heater element.

hot-tub-heater-trouble

HOT TUB HEATER ELEMENT: Your heater element is similar to a kitchen cooktop element, only they are built to be immersed in water while operational. Spa heater elements burn out very quickly if operated without cooling water surrounding it. Hot tub elements can also be tested to determine if there is a short in the coating surrounding the heating element.

Spa heating elements can also develop a scale buildup, from hard water or sanitizing with salt systems. When a spa element develops scale on the outside of the element, it will reduce the element’s heat output, and could lead to element failure.

SPA-HEATER-ELEMENT-2

For those of you with newer spas, you’ll often find that your spa heater element is housed in a sleek stainless steel chamber, with unions for easy removal. On this type of spa heater, you can test the element, high limit and pressure switch for resistance, as measured in Ohms. When testing with a multi-meter or ampmeter, an “OPEN” is when the meter spikes to a high reading. A “SHORT” is when there is little to no activity on the meter. When there is no resistance, the current is leaving the circuit, known as a “short-circuit”.

OTHER SPA HEATER PROBLEM CAUSES…

This last category causes profound heartburn to many of our customers. These spa heater problems are causes that you normally don’t think about, but can be a quick solution, and isn’t that what I promised you? Check these causes of spa heater troubles first, for the quickest solution that will have you shaking your head.

  1. GFCI tripped. Look for the electrical outlet on your spa pack. The one with the red TEST button. If it’s popped out, push it back in firmly.
  2. Spa Pack Door Interlock open. Many spas have a switch that is only closed when the spa equipment door is fully inserted and secured.
  3. Spa Cover needs to be replaced. Warped, broken and ill fitting spa covers can allow as much heat to escape as is being put into the tub.
  4. Loose Wires – Connections must be tight and not oxidized. Chewed wires (rodents) is another possibility.

I have sincere hopes that this information has helped you heat your hot tub up again. If you’re still baffled, leave a comment below for me, or give our customer support hotline a call at 800-770-0292.

Happy Hot Tubbin’!

Daniel Lara
Hottubworks.com

 

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Hottubworks Spa Community

May 6th, 2011 by

One of the most useful but underutilized parts of the site is the Spa Community section. This section could be found on the home page of www.hottubworks.com on the left side highlighted in blue or there is a link to each section below:

spa-community

Hot Tub Tool Box

How to Videos

Forum

 

 

 

 

 

Under the Hot Tub Tool Box section you will find helpful articles and walkthroughs on chemicals and installation of various hot tub parts including pumps, equipment, etc.

Under the How-to-Video section there are instructional videos on how to turn a wet end, install an equipment pack, etc. and there are also instructional videos and informational videos on a majority of the major items on our site.

One of the best parts about this section of the site is that some of the videos actually are demonstrated by our staff, including an information video on pre-filters told by me.

The forum section is helpful to find answers to questions that aren’t available through videos or to find answers to questions during our off hours.

The blog – well, you know about the blog – over 300 articles of interest to spa owners.

Also, as always, we are available by phone if you ever want to discuss any additional questions that you may have. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

~Nicholas

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Winterizing a Spa or Hot Tub

March 25th, 2011 by

How to winterize your spa or hot tub

Blow Out the Spa Pipes

If you plan on draining your spa or hot tub for the winter, be sure to use a wet / dry vac to suck out any residual water in the plumbing lines and equipment.

Water will expand about 9 times it size when it freezes and will easily crack plumbing fittings, manifolds, and spa pump wet-ends.

To remove water from spa or hot tub pipes, place the vacuum nozzle over the jets, suction fittings, filter plumbing, and equipment to quickly remove the access water and prevent a huge repair when Spring comes around. You can make special hose attachments by using various fittings, and duct tape, to make the best seal against skimmers, spa jets and pumps.

You can also use the wet dry vac as a blower, to blow out the spa pipes. Connect to your skimmer pipe to blow air through the spa pack. Turn on your spa blower while you are blowing out the hot tub pipes. Move the vac or blower, around to different parts of the spa, to try to get air into every possible area.

This is also important to prevent standing water from growing bacteria inside of the pipes. Keep blowing air through all of the spa jets, until all of the moisture has been blown out of the pipes and equipment.

For this reason, it is also recommended to use a Spa Purge product before draining the spa, to clear the pipes and equipment of biofilm bacteria. We have two excellent hot tub pipe cleaners – Rendezvous Spa Rinse or Leisure Time Jet Clean.

To complete your hot tub winterization, remove any drain plugs on the pump and filter and open the drain valve all the way. Get the last little bit of water out with a sponge and bucket.

Shut off the power to the spa, so the pumps don’t accidentally turn on while the hot tub is winterized.

Secure your spa cover for winter with Wind Straps if you have high winds. Use the Cover Cap, to protect hot tub covers from weather all winter long.

~ brian

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Identify Your Spa Part or Hot Tub Part

March 24th, 2011 by

spa pumps and motors

 

One of the hardest things about selling spa parts for the spa industry is that there are 1,000s upon 1,000s of spa parts from all kinds of different manufacturers. Because of this, it has been very difficult to have all of those parts listed on our site.

In most circumstances, however, we can get you the spa part you need, even when you can’t find it on our website, or even on any website.For example. most Hot Springs, Sundance, Jacuzzi, and Balboa parts aren’t listed on our site but we have extensive catalogs and databases we can use to locate these parts for you.

Another place on our site that doesn’t always have every part listed is the Spa Jet section. Most jets come in a variety of colors and textures. Because of that we don’t have the ability to have all of these jets on our site but if you happen to be in this section and find a jet that looks similar to yours but perhaps isn’t the right color don’t hesitate to call in or send us an email. Most likely we will have the jet that you need available.

We can even obtain parts officially de-listed as Obsolete, when stock still exists in distribution. Many times, a comparable part used and made by a different manufacturer may work for older, de-listed and obsolete spa parts.

And then there are just those hot tub parts that are from smaller manufacturers, from very old spas or maybe you just don’t know where to look. The best thing to do in those situations is to email us a picture along with the measurements and any numbers that happen to be listed on the part. From there our experienced technicians and staff should be able to match the part for you.

So again – if you’re looking for a hot tub part, no matter how rare, or difficult it is to find – we are here to help you find the correct spa parts – fast!

HOT-TUB-PARTS

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Posted in spa heater, Spa Ozone, Spa Parts, Spa Pumps | 2 Comments »

Titanium Heater Elements and Ozone Seals

March 11th, 2011 by

Some spa and hot tub manufacturers are offering Ozone generators and/or Salt Water systems to sanitize the water. Although beneficial to water quality, salt and ozone can be detrimental to equipment like standard heater elements and standard pump seals.

To combat this I suggest you use Titanium heater elements and Salt/Ozone pump seals; which are more resistant than the standard versions to the corrosive effects of ozone and salt.

Flothru Heater Element

These heater elements are more expensive, being made from Titanium and all… but if you’re replacing a standard element every 1-2 years, there can be a quick payback in a few years. The ozone grade pump shaft seals are only a few dollars more than standard grade.

So, if your spa heating element look deteriorated and corroded, and you use salt and/or ozone to sanitize, my recommendation is to replace with a version that can withstand the salts in the water.

If your shaft seal is failing, and you use ozone in the water, look for a softening and puckering of the rubber portions of the shaft seal, or possibly corrosion on the spring portion.

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Testing Spa or Hot Tub Heater Elements

March 3rd, 2011 by

Spa Heater Element testing

 

Good heaters elements between 4.0 and 5.5kw should have the following results:

* 9-12 ohms of resistance
* good continuity
* draw 15-25 amps at 240v

You test the element by using an Ohm meter, or any multi-meter will work also. Just place it on Ohms, at 1000, and place your test leads on each of the terminals (power to spa heater should be off). As mentioned above,  a measurement of 9-12 Ohms of resistance usually indicates a good element.

To test for voltage, use an Amp meter, and use your test leads to measure the amp draw for the element. Excessive amp draw indicates a bad element, and no amp draw indicates that no power is reaching the terminals.

Poor spa chemistry can harm your spa heater elements, as can operating without water flowing over the element (which the pressure switch is designed to protect against).

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