I purchased a house with a big Cal Spa in the back yard and it kind of works. Two of the seats on the left of the control panel doesn't function and water doesn't pass through the filter housing. Both motors sounds like they are running when I turn the tub on although the one on the left start to surge up and down after about 30mins of running. The water warms up but doesn't get real hot. It was left empty while the house was for sale for about a year.

Is this a good hot tub? Should I keep it? Does anyone have a plumbing diagram?

I plan on redecking the thing this summer if I can get it running right. Any help is appreciated.

You've pretty much got your hands full on that thing (and no - no diagrams are available).

Since you were able to upload pics, you need to contact me - this can be quite involved as there is a learning curve on this design that is outside of the norm for most tubs.

Each issue has to be addressed one at a time. But once that's done, this can be a great spa for you.

Send me an email or PM directly and I'll help you out.

Ive read on here that it might have an air lock. I'll try and purge it today and see if that gets me anywhere first.

Keep the idea coming. I would love to see this old thing work.

Jim

So I played around with the hot tub this afternoon and concentrated on the left motor. I turned it on and it started to surge up and down again. There was a drain valve on the impellor so I opened it up and a bunch of air came out and the heater light on the control box came on and the left side on the tub came alive, FOR A FEW SECONDS, then off again. So I knew that I was on the right path. I then played with the shut offs to the motor. I closed the one on top of the motor and shut the tub off and heard nothing. I opened it up and heard gurgling like air running through but no air bubbles in the tub. Where is the air going and where is it coming from???

Great question, it’s coming from the filter housing because I heard air blowing through the back corner. So I took the filter cover off and restarted the tub. The water inside the filter surged up and down with the motor in perfect timing. So I stuck a hose down and cranked on the water, and everything came alive. And as soon as I turned off the water, it would die. I figure that it had to have something to do with the filter. The filter is dirty but not to bad. I then started looking at the top of the house and on the cover it says to open pressure relief valve before opening. I didn’t see a relief valve, matter of fact it was just a threaded hole. So I got a bolt and screwed in the hole and put it back together. Then purged the air out of the left motor again and turned it back on,

IT ACTUALLY CAME TO LIFE....

The thing came on and started heating up. Brown algae and all kinds of stuff came out after I turned on all the jets. I'm going to let it run for the rest of the day and tomorrow I'll empty it, clean it up, and put in a new filter.

Next question. What chemicals should I start with first, especially if I'm going to empty it again after I clean it?

Ok, so the tub is running, on to the plumbing issues. In the first image there is a one way valve that was tucked behind the controller. It doesn't go anywhere? What is it? The line is a lot smaller then the other lines, is this an air line?

In the second image is a four way that controls the air flow, I think, at least so far, that is what it does. Just bellow it is an other four way valve that goes to the foot message control and is supposed to be hooked up to the motor above it, but as you can see, the union joint is broke. It feels like the valve is stuck or sticking and I can barely move it. How do I replace it if it is cemented to the pipes? There are screws on top of the valve and once I drain the tub I'll take it apart and see what's causing it to bind up.

Question #1 - I beleive it is a check valve that I think has something to do with air vent system. On mine, the valve is underneath the bottom of the tub
Question #2 - I had simular situation where I was able to replace the actual valve and top into the exisiting body.