So I am renting this house with some friends and there is a hot tub. A really old hot tub by the looks of it. It is crooked. The jets dont work. The air switches are ghetto. Whoever wired it used wire that was too small and shotty breakers. But now we have a new problem

Last weekend some people came up from UW and over from WSU and made a mess of the hot tub. Our resident "expert" decided to empty it and then not fill it up again for a couple days with very cold nights. He went to fill it up again and tried to turn on the pump and heater. the heater makes no sound when turned on and the pump makes a sound like it is being blocked and cant move and then shuts off. We thought it was because the water in the lines/motor was frozen, but now I am not sure.

Any suggestions at all from this vague description?

Does the shaft of the motor spin freely by hand?

Im not really sure. Ill have to take a look and try to remove the cover tomorrow.

So i have to take apart the motor assembly? which means i have to empty the hot tub, ya? Hot tubs are fun...

Not necessarily. If the shaft is not visible between the wet end and the motor, then the cap on the back of the motor can be removed and the shaft turned from there.

So i finally got into the motor via the back cover and despite the motor shaft looking quite rusty i could spin it easily by hand. What exactly does this mean?

Thanks for sticking with this one! its been rather busy round these parts

Alright. If it spins freely then it would be worth a shot replacing the motor capacitor(s). It's located either beside the back of the motor shaft under the cap you removed or mounted to the side of the motor (or both). Bring them into an HVAC shop and they'll have the replacements.

Alright I'll give that a shot, they arent too expensive are they? About the heater: does it not turn on because there is no flow of water through it, or could there be something wrong with the heater as well?

No, capacitors are pretty cheap. The heater won't come on without water flow in most cases.

I went and got a capacitor for 5 bucks, plugged it in and it started right up. Thanks again spishex. You saved me a lot of money on this one.

Take it easy.