Hi spaforums gang, my 1st post WOOHOO !! " title="Smile" /> I'm restoring an outside 6 seater FDI spa bought off the mighty ebay. It's mostly in good nick and everything works except the air switch (killed from a electrical short I suspect judging by the charring inside the box!) and air switch control panel (siliconed up by the last owner as they "never worked". To get around the control issue I've gone for a remote solution using these great little chinese-made Jackson remote power controls from Dick Smith Electronics. see here for model nos (M7815 and M7817) http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.filer... CTG0006126 Jackson website : http://www.ji.com.au For $113.00AUS delivered for 1 remote and 4 controls I've got remote control of my pump, turbo, heater and ozone pump with one spot spare for later (a spa light perhaps). Each one can handle a max of 1000w and the biggest draw item I have is the pump which is 900w so all should be ok. Simple to install (just like a home timer). Set each timer to it's own frequency (5 in total done with a small dial on the back), plug in a Jackson remote and plus your device into that. Only downside I can see is they aren't waterproof so a waterproof housing, some commonsense and a working RCD are a must ! I've attached a couple of pics to illustrate. Untested as yet in the spa but works great on an office lamp up to 20m away via the 477mhz radio control. cheers and congrats on what looks like a great forum ! " title="Smile" />

sorry, i'm a little concerned with your description for a few reasons
the heater - does it have the mandatory protection - adjustable thermostat, overtemp, pressure switch - is it rated less than 1000w for your controller?
is the blower less than 1000w - most are not
is your total load with everything running not going to exceed your circuit or outlet capacity?
are these controllers able to handle inductive (motor) load?
the blower is likely to produce interference to the rf signal without being shrouded in lead sheeting resulting in no remote function for any device once running.
Its illegal in Australia to use any device that is not a prescribed article in the pool and spa industry - this is to safeguard people from electrical and entrapment dangers, houses and structures from fires.
unfortunately i think that whilst your idea is extremely cheap in comparison, and rather nifty, its not safe or correct for spa equipment - perfect for stereos, pond pumps, garden lighting etc that its designed for.

Hi, thanks heaps for your info ! I'm still a spa noob... For my calcs the total load won't go over the 2400w allowed from the 10a circuit thats powering it. The heater is a 6kw unit - not much info other than that sorry. Will do some research into how much current it draws. By blower I assume you mean pump which is 900w so should be ok there. For load its surge and RCD protected (and tested!) so if anything trips its back to the drawingboard, like I said the major components are yet untested and noones going near the thing until I test it when its all waterproofed, full of water and I've tested all coomponents at max load. For the RF, again the full load test will answer all. Don't suspect any issues with reception. As far as legality goes I'd rather a new, waterproofed, safeguarded electrical solution rather than the dodgey gear that it came with (cooked air solenoids) any day. I've been doing my own wiring (15a included) for several years with no cooking to report and work with room-sized UPS batteries that are pretty good at welding things in untrained hands so am very confident I'm not presenting any undue risk to my friends and family. A lot of the "legal" substandard sparky work I've seen over the years makes me trust my own efforts a LOT more " title="Smile" /> Just a IMHO " title="Smile" /> Will keep you guys updated how it goes...

This info is for you to pass on to a properly qualified electrical contractor only
your 6kw heater draws 25A - probably has its own integral thermostat and control system - you can't plug this through your remote however the control circuit can be switched.
the water pump is probably 900w, the air blower is likely 960-1400w - both are inductive loads which cause severe start up current that standard resistive load terminals cannot withstand for long - pumps generally draw 4 x their running current - in your case 900w (3.75A) start up will be 15A (3600w)
ozone - don't bother switching it - it should run when pump runs - has no use running without the pump operating unless it is airpumped in which case it should run constantly.
i still feel you'll face problems with remote control with blower running - like i said previously we've seen problems on numerous times - you may be lucky.

As for your own electricals, particularly with products not intended for the purpose - the risk is all yours with a potential for severe outcomes - i cannot stress enough the importance of properly qualified tradesmen and correct equipment being used.

Hi Alacy,

I'm pretty sure all components are 10a not 15a (one of the reasons I got this particular outdoor spa). In your opnion is it more likely the pump is 15a ? Hopefully not the case as I would def get a sparky to run 3 phase to my home. Unfortunately eating into my already tight budget...

I wasn't aware the air blower and pump were different components. I'm going to look a little closer now. Perhaps they are wired together or appear as one unit to my untrained eye ?

The ozone generator is a 200mg/hr CD job that I suspect I'll only run in filtration cycles. Is has a built-in timer so maybe 60min a day might be the go. I guess the ph and amount of chemicals required will tell...

thanks again for the great info and advice !

Either post photos of your equipment or email them to me directly and i can tell you what you should do with their set up.
ozone is excellent, but only if run 24hrs per day - all but elliminates chemicals, but depending on type, yours may only be running on filter cycle and when manually activating pump.
the pump won't be 15A, it'll be 3.75A but draws around 15A for the split second of start up which is when the damage to relay contacts will be done for under rated switches.
if your heater is 6kw (6000w) it is 25A, to be under 10A it needs to be 2.4kw(2400w) - if you are setting up on an existing house power circuit - add the load - pump 3.75, blower 3-5A, heater (2.4kw) 10A - there's 18+ amps (if your heater is 6kw - it would make 32A) - your circuit breaker is probably 16 or 2oA and supplying other equipment in the house - result - constant circuit breaker tripping.
if not there, you'll likely need standard power circuit - existing for pump and blower, and dedicated circuit direct from switchboard for heater - in your case sounds like a 25A circuit for a 6kw heater

Cheers Alacy. I just had a lengthy discussion with a much more highly clued up friend and he echoed pretty much exactly what you said (25a draw for the 6kw heater). Whoa !! Looks like it'll be 4mm cable on a seperate circuit. This was based on a table depending on roof space, under/over insulation, etc. At worst case (ie under insulation which it won't be !) it still has some headroom left in amps. He also echoed the 6000w issue which I didn't even consider. good news $$-wise is I can run my own 4mm cable and get a sparkey to terminate it at the junction box for the new circuit breakers. Hopefully can still use the remote to switch it though. FYI the ozone unit I got is here : http://cgi.ebay.com.au/OZX-B400T-Ozone-... dZViewItem Pumps out much more ozone (+132mg/hr more!) than the us-made Del UV-type model that came with the spa and also a blown $77US bulb. Was super-keen to get one to use the least amount of chemicals as possible. cheers " title="Smile" />

{long and painful} I'm happy to announce that after a purchase off ebay 4 months ago my reborn spa is in action ! My fiancee and I had our first spa last night with an outside temp of about 4deg and 35deg in the water. Even had a full moon and some racing clouds about to help make the shampoo taste even better.. it was truly awesome !! " title="Smile" /> Remote power controls : The remotes work a charm for the supercharger, blower and ozone. I'm going to use a left over one for the icicle lights hanging under the gazebo. To help with the description I'll post a pic when I get a good one. The objective of the project was a spa, gazebo and landscaping for less than $2000 and it made it ! The heater + wiring : Had some dramas when the sparky wired up the heater (vintage 6kw FPI model) to stay on (regardless of flow!) + we suffered an airlock from not having the spa full enough. This caused the heater balloon like an egg and spring a small hole.. which was pretty freaky...(and annoying) even though the power had been off for 5 mins ! It gave me a new respect for how hot (and dangerous) these buggers can be ! All was saved when the sparky found a WORKING heater of identical spec at a recycling depot for supercheap (<$10) !! Talk about lucky. All wiring and controls tested fine and it was actually in better condition than the one that came with the spa. yay ! The upside is I now have spare electrics and element if the current one ever fails. Total draw with everything on is <30a Heater performance : With outside air temp of about 12deg it took 3 hours covered (soft cover) to go from 10deg C to 27deg C. Then open with occasional supercharger use took a further hour to get to 35deg C with outside air temp of 4deg. Will be interesting to see how this goes when its additionally heated thru the day by the passive solar setup coming soon (check writeup in another thread). The connections : After a visit to Bunnings (hw place) for $50 worth of 32mm class 18 pvc junctions and a couple of 90deg elbows a new connector was made for the motor. Plenty of head scratching with a friend was required to get it right. Only a couple of pinhole drips to fix now - nothing major or dangerous I'm happy to say. An additional adapter was needed to move the filter away from the heater (about 15cm) as the new screw on connector to the top of the heater interfered with the filter. The previous heater just had two glued on elbows. A trap for young players (like me!) is the mongos at FPI used 32mm unions with a non-standard thread with 40mm pipe WTF ?!?! U can get the connections online or do like my mate and I did and modify the existing connections to fit new standard 32mm. This makes life easier and cheaper down the track if things need maintenance/alteration. Another good trick we learned from my mate's plumber : if you make a mistake with recently glued pvc fittings glue just coat the pipe with pvc glue (the blue stuff) and light it with a match. It burns just long enough to heat and soften the glue and you can seperate the pipe and reuse it. We needed to do this once and it worked great ! Power : I ran my own 4mm flat cable through the roofspace to the gazebo and it hooks into the exiting 40a RCD at the fuse box. The sparky put in a 25a breaker on it's own rail. Total cost for the sparky after running my own cable was <$200 The sparky wired a board with a waterproof switch and waterproof dual outlet to go under the spa. He also relocated the waterproof contactor housing onto the board to make it easier to access and get it away from all the mechanicals. The contactor : All were amazed that the spa EVER worked... early on the sparky discovered the spa had a three phase contactor which, not surprisingly, wasn't activating getting only 240v instead of 415v !! Once a single phase 240v contactor was installed it worked like a charm. Very odd as all components are single phase...go figure !! Ozone : The $70ebay 200mg/hr CD ozone unit goes through one of the air mixers and really cranks ! With the cover on it really does its job. With the scuminator floating around it should stay pretty clean and hygenic 9along with the usual chemicals of course) Ph: First ph reading was waaaay low so after a good hit of soda ash its a lot happier. Gazebo : All out of 4x concreted treated pine logs with black plastic sheeting roof for waterproofedness and 2x 3mx1.8m brush fencing panels for the native feel. A gable roof out of treated pine 4x2 planks. Plenty of strap nails and gal timberlok nails. Landscaping : $36 worth of river stones chucked on the garden (after pulling a few weeds out). One 6x4 trailer load was enough to do the half of the graden the Gazebo occupies and the surrounding concrete. Gave quite a good effect for very little effort. Just gotta do a bit more weeding now ! Next : next challenge is to get the motor+heater on a timer (ozone is already on one) so it can retain the heat. Build and install the passive solar heater on the roof.

The timer is on. Just used a digital $10 timer to run the ozone and pump. The heater is on it's own power connection so the 2400w limit for the timer is fine. Timer is a similar unit to this one from Jaycar : Getting it (and the supercharger connection) into a waterproof enclosure at the moment. Got it running for 3 hours a day at the moment and along with the ozone and a bit of chlorine in a float it keeps the water in good shape. Water keeps 28deg - 30deg C before the filtration cycle kicks in just with sunlight and a thin foam cover. Got some nice pics of the setup at night but haven't grabbed them off the camera yet. Had our first swim-in movie night with the folding portable screen outside the spa and projector running off the laptop and it was awesome " title="Smile" />

Some night pics in Aus pics section here : http://spaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=7130#7130