It is a 2001 Cal Spa Vista hot tub. If I have the jet button in the on position, and go to power up from the GFCI breaker it will turn on. But, if the jet button is in the off position and I go to power up it will trip the breaker. Also when the hot tub is running with the jets on and I go to turn the jets off it will trip sometimes. It seems if the jets have been running for awhile and I go to turn them off the breaker will not trip, but If I go to turn the jets off and they have only been running for a short period of time it will trip. Also, If the jets have been running for awhile and I turn them off and it does not trip, I will check it in a few hours and it will have tripped in that time without touching anything. Also, the hot tub makes good heat, I have had it as high as 105 degrees F.

Suggestions???

From what I have read it is either the motor or heater. The tub makes good heat so I am thinking the motor???

It sounds more like the heater to me. If the spa is hooked up 110V then the heater won't turn on unless the jet pump is off.
You can unhook the heater to test this theory.

It is 220 volt

Disconnect your components one at a time and see if it stays reset.


Sorry, I don't know much about Cal Spas.

I turned the heater all the way down to it's lowest setting without unplugging it. By doing this I beleive I deactivated it. The tub jets turned on and off without throwing the GFCI breaker. As soon as I turned the heater setting to HOT and turned the jets on and off it flipped the GFCI breaker. So it seems the heater is the problem.

Now, is it repairable, or do I need to replace it?? If replacing, where can I buy one cheap?

I have yet to see a heater that is repairable - sorry you have to replace it.

Good Luck

So, I left the jets on over night with the heater set to spa temp.. The temp. settings go off, cool, warm, spa, hot. I woke up and remembered I had left the jets on. I went to go turn them off and the water temp was up to 118 degrees F!!! The reset button for the heater was popped out. I popped it back in turned the heater to off and left the cover off to cool down. The jets and everything seem to still work ok. So I am def. wanting to replace the heater soon. I have about 3 months before freezing temps. and the last thing I want is a cracked shell and pluming. So, are their any walk throughs or how to's in replacing a heater?

I'm not sure on that heater.

If you left the jets on and they ran for a long time the spa can heat up by friction. I have seen them get that hot.

Is it possible the heater does not work at all and the only thing heating the spa is the jets???

Only if the jets are run for a long time. If you turn on the heater and the gfi trips then it should be a bad heater.

Where can I buy a new heater for my cal spa online???

The heater only trips the gfi when it engages with the jets turned off. The heater can turn on and off fine if the jets are running....

Sorry, I'm baffled - anyone else?

The Ozone check valve had failed, and the ozone had flooded with water. I took the ozone out and just plugged the line and she works like a champ! I am going to let it dry out for a couple of weeks and then put it back in to see if it works...