I've been living with OH problem and planning on getting it fixed soon. Tonight the family went out to take a soak and the tub seems to have no power at all. No breakers are tripped. I powered it down (flipped breaker) and back up and I get no response, the display remains blank and neither the pumps or heater come on. Can this still be caused by a bad heater? Can anyone suggest anything to look at?

Thanks,

Tom

The 20 amp fuse is probably blown on the board - or the controller is dead.

I assume from your previous posts that this is probably a balboa lite leader system? (Small box, long heater).

Pageup - I'm not sure if my system is a balboa lite leader system. it looks a lot like this -



The controller box is labled as LB102, the system board has the part # 51793.

I'll test the fuse for continuity to see if that's it (I hope so!). Is the 20 amp fuse the larger yellow fuse? The smaller glass fuse looks OK, but I didn't test it. When you say it could be the controller, is that the entire system board? Sorry if system board is the incorrect term.

Thanks for your help.

Tom

Definitely check the fuse. The big fat one. (SC-20 time delay, available at home depot or other place like that).

But regarding your overheat problem, you must do a flow check on this if replacing the fuse gets it up and running again.

And lucky you, it's not a lite leader.

Pageup - Thanks! It was the fuse. The fuse I removed was a LP-CC 20, I take it that it is OK to swap with the SC 20. On to the heater problem. I'm going to pick up a replacement heater tonight and I have 2 questions 1 - Do I have to drain the tub to replace the heater, or can I simply close that red valve that's on the incoming(?) line? 2- How do I do a flow check? or are you saying I need to do a flow check before replacing and it might not be the heater? I guess that's more than 2 questions " title="Mr. Green" /> Thanks a lot for all you help. Tom

The heater won't cause a blown fuse because it is powered directly.

I don't know the designation of the fuse you pulled, but it doesn't sound right. The one that should be in there must be a Time Delay fuse.

Replace the fuse and see what happens. My guess is that nothing else will be a problem.

I replaced the fuse and all seems well except that I still have the OH problem.

I picked up a new heater and replaced it this morning. The tub is filling as I type.

How about that flow check how do I do that?

Thanks again.

Hi Tom,

Page up has definately pointed you in the right direction.
I thought I would give my input as to the fuse issue. You have an LBI "S" series board that calls for "Stir Cycles" once every twelve hours. On the first series run of the S spas ( LBI 102 ) or A version, LeisureBay was using "High Start" pumps as boosters. ( Sucked the amperage big time ). They came on at the same time the blower did for stir, and blew the SC 20 (orange) fuse.
The immediate fix was to use an LPC 20 fuse (yellow). This fuse has a longer rated delay before blowing.
Subsequent series of versions staggered the pump, and blower during stir cycles, and low start motors were used in production.
However, the system would still spike out the SC20 fuse, and once again, they went to the LPC20 Fuse.
I suggest in the near future, trying to get the Yellow LPC 20 amp fuse for your spa.

inhotwater - thanks for the explanation. I'll pick up a LP-CC 20amp fuse asap.

That still leaves me with the question of the flow check that pageup mentioned. I'm not sure I know what that is. Is it simply testing that the switch that is attached to the heater triggers when there is no flow through the heater? If that's the flow check I think I'm ok. I put the spa in bypasss mode and the switch retracted and disengaged the little red button that it presses while there is flow. If that's not a flow check then I still need to know how to do a flow check.

Hi Tom, That is pretty much it for a basic pressure switch test. If your overheat was not a result of your scaled out 3" Verticle Heater, then improper flow would be a concern. It sounds as though you may be on your way to having a stable unit for a while now. Good luck " title="Smile" />

It's possible that the heater is the cause of your OH issues- but it's not the 1st thing I would suspect- nor would I go out and purchase one without knowing it's broken to begin with. Remember- a heaters job is to get as hot as possible. Unless there's an unusually high amount of hardness that has accumulated on the elements and actually touches the housing right at the point the thermowell is, or there is so much hardness that is actually stops the circ pump flow, and you have a broken press/sw, I'd look elsewhere.

First and foremost- when you initially see OH, is the heater actually overheating? Quickly touch the heater, is it hot?

If not- you might want to start with new temp sensors...and go from there.

Good luck!