Spa

Asked by Renee

5 replies

Last Reply on April 11th, 2018 by Nigel

April 10, 2018

I drained, cleaned, and refilled tub. Now I have half of the tub jets, the side away from the control panel, on the filtration side, not coming on. The other side works great. Also, noticed the heat light isn’t lit. I would think it would also have to start heating since it is set for 93 and the actual temperature is 80. It primed after turning back on, then went to economy mode. Later is showed some error messages…Dr, sns, then ohh, ohs and sating the temp was 107, then 117, when clearly the water was cool, 80ish. Got nervous and shut the breaker off. Tried it all over again with the same results, except I did not see the heater issue again. Could just simply be an air trap issue?

Replies

  1. Nigel

    April 10, 2018

    Reply

    Hi Renee. You could have an air lock. If you have two jet pumps the jet pump for the one side of the spa seems to be moving water from your description. The other jet pump could be operating as your circ pump and be hooked up to the heater. If you don’t have proper water flow here the heat icon will not come on. The DR message means dry fire, the sns message means a sensor issue and the OH message means overheat. If you had an air lock it could produce a dry fire message. A dry fire situation could produce an OH and or sns message if the heater turned on for several seconds and heated up the manifold with very little water in the manifold. When the temp sensor and or hi limit sensor senses the temperature in the plumbing out of a safe range it will shut the heater down and produce one of these messages. These messages could also be produced if you have a bad sensor. Try to aleviate any air locks first by removing the filter and pushing water with a garden hose into the circ pump intake. You could also loosen the circ pump union while the circ pump is running to aleviate an airlock. You may lose a bit of water but it is a good method for air locks. Make sure your spa is in Standard mode and set for 24hr circulation for initial prime and startup. 99.9% of the time a dirty or bad filter causes an airlock.

  2. Renee

    April 11, 2018

    Reply

    I first tried the hose in the filtration and there was no change. Is the circ pump and the filtration one and the same? I see a line running from the filtration (underneath) to the heater. Also, there is something that looks like a dip stick as for checking oil in a car engine on that same line into the heater closer to the heater. Not sure wgat that is for. I am unsure what is considered “the union” that I am supposed to loosen. Is the union that I am to loosen where the filtration line (circ pump) goes into the heater? Thanks for all your help. It is very much appreciated. Also, if attaching a photo would be helpful, please let me know how I can do that.

    • Nigel

      April 11, 2018

      Reply

      Hi Renee. Follow the line that runs from the heater to the pump. That pump will be your circulation pump. It may also act as a jet 1 pump if it is a 2 speed pump. The union will be the large nut or lock ring on the wet end side of that same pump motor. Each pump will have two unions. You would want to loosen not the union that is connected to the pipe that leads to the heater but the other union on the pump that leads to the spa. The unions are usually white or black in color. Sometimes you require a large pipe wrench to loosen the union. Hmm what you are saying looks like a dipstick sounds like the thermowell or probe well. This is where your temperature sensor is located.

  3. Renee

    April 11, 2018

    Reply

    Okay. I think I’ve got it. I found the electrical diagram and it shows where the pump 1 connection is…which I then followed to the pump, which is located to the right of the heater. Yes, you are right, my circ pump also acts as the jet 1 pump. So there is a large black lock ring going to the circ pump and then a large white lock ring on the other side which goes to the spa…soo that would be the union I need to loosen to release the air lock I’m assuming? Question: Do I need to turn the spa and both pump 1 and pump 2 on when I loosen the union to release the air lock? Also, then I would need to leave the spa running in standard mode for 24 hours if that works and releases the air lock? I really appreciate all your help, Nigel.

    • Nigel

      April 11, 2018

      Reply

      Hi Renee. My pleasure. Yes that’s the union. Leave pump two off. Turn pump 1 on. Loosen the union til water starts slowly leaking out. Listen for air to be released and the pump to prime. Close the union back up once the pump primes and you have water movement through the heater and to those other jets in the spa. After the air lock is gone and the circulation pump is pumping water the spa will heat up quickest in standard mode. Releasing the air lock should happen fairly quickly. No more than a minute or two. Make sure the water in the spa is hi enough ie touching the bottom of the pillows or half way up your skimmer weir. Remove your filter if you can before you do the air lock procedure. Put the filter back in once the air is released.

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