I got a freebee Hot Springs Spa, a 1990 Sovereign (that's what the local Hot Springs dealer told me from the serial number IA_01336). It's the three knob controls type with a black control box. The tub wasn't in too bad of shape, just a little dirty. When I got it setup, I plugged it in and nothing. I took out the control box out and found a stuck circuit breaker. I got that working and things started looking up. I filled it with water and the main pump worked good, seems pretty strong, just a little drip coming out of the bottom of it. The circulation pump was a different matter. When I plugged it into the outlet on the control box, it didn't work. I checked the AC output on the outlet and it had 115 VAC. When I plugged the circulation pump into an outlet from my house, it worked fine. The circulation pump obviously was a replacement Watkins SilentFlow 5000, but the plumbing doesn't fit the tub very well. So with the tub filled and running the circulation pump off of a house outlet, I set the tempature on the tube to about 101 degrees. After about 8 hours the water started heating up. After 18 hours, the water was almost to boiling. I cranked down the thermostat and tried to cool down the tub, but it seemed to just get hoter and hoter. I finally had to unplug everything and after 24 hours, the tub is still too hot to get into, so you can imagine how hot it got. It got so hot, it turned the clear tubing brown and the jet selecter knob doesn't work very well. The plastic must of got soft and now it spins and slips.

So to summerize:

Circulation pump that won't work off of the control box.
Thermal regulation doesn't seem to be working correctly.
Jet selecter knob not working.
One side of tubs jets not working very well and making noise.
Main pump has a slight leak.

Anyone think this is too much to fix?

I think the heater problem is likely a stuck relay. The circulation pump runs when directly powered? I would check to see if you still have voltage at the circ pump when it is plugged in. You might be seeing feedback voltage, and not actual voltage. This will be evident when the pump is connected. The leak from the main pump is likely a bad pump seal. If the pump shaft is rusty, it is from a bad seal. Unfortunatly it is unlikely that you will be able to replace that seal without destroying the impeller inside the pump... good thing those aren't real expensive. The jet selector knob may need replacing now that it has been thermally damaged. The jet making a lot of noise is probably due to having bad bearings in it. I believe it is a rotary jet. Most of the time you can just replace that rotory part.

That is about all I can think of based on the information.

Charger1,

Thanks for your reply!

When the tub is cool, I can turn the thermostat down and I can hear the relays kick in and out, but when the tub starts to warm up, the relays never release.

There are two AC receptacles on the control box, one for the heater and one for the circulation pump. When the jet pump is off, the heater comes on, but the circulation pump doesn't. When I unplug the heater, the circulation pump still doesn't come on. That's when I started plugging the circ. pump directly into a house AC outlet it works. This work around works OK, but the circ. pump never shuts off with the heater, just continuously runs.

The jet pump leaking seems to have slowed down to a minor drip. So I can deal with that later, I guess.

How do I replace the Jet Selector? I can't seem to find a replacement. Can I pull the knob and everything to replace is under it, or is this going to be a "cut it out of the plumbing" job?

I am not certain about the rotating jet. The jet is stationary and there is a jet strength adjustment knob on the end of it. How do you replace the jet? Can it be done from the inside of the tub?

I also finally got an operators manual for the tub. It's a Hot Springs Sovereign, Model I, indoor/outdoor tub, if that helps any.

Can you give me any direction on how to find the relay, the jet select knob, or a replacement jet.

Thanks Again,

Martin