It seemed odd that the tub would run for 24 hrs and then trip the GFCI, I would re-set it, and the next day it would be tripped when I came home from work. Disgusted again ($2000 in parts in 4 yrs on a 5 yrs old tub) I let it sit 6 wks until today when I decided to try to 'work backwards'. It would now immediately trip, so I unplugged/disconnected everything to the board and started connecting things one by one until I got to the blower plug. CLICK, off it all goes. so I thought Id try to re-try, this time disconnecting the heater, but plugging in the Blower. Trip again. so, now the tub is 49 deg, up from 46 3 hrs ago running without the Blower plugged in.
1) This definitely is the Blower? Is there an auxiliary fuse or something else I could try before I sink another $300 into it?
2) will it harm the tub to run it without the blower until I can get a new one Monday?
3) How does it just pooch out?

Thanks for all the help!
Martha

You may want to take the blower apart and be sure it doesn't have a bunch of corrosion in it... and dry it out really good with a blow dryer or something.

This is a normal problem with GFCI tripping and wet blower guts.

Don't sweat running it without a blower for a while. You should be fine.

Martha - As you have found, this seems to be common. Getting my 2002 Sundance Optima up and running yesterday with my electrician standing next to me, the GFCI on my 60amp Subpanel wouldn't even stay on. He pointed to the control panel and said "You have a problem there..." Since I bought this used from a service manager from a local Sundance dealer, I immediately got on the phone and reported my problem. He pointed me to the board where the blower connects, instructed me on how to disconnect it and viola... GFCI stays on and everything runs like a champ. In the end, the electrical system is working as it needs to protect you and your circuitry. What you would find is that if you were able to bypass the GFCI and go straight to a panel, everything would have worked fine and dandy -- except your blower probably. Luckily, in my case, I purchased a fully tested and functional spa -- the blower motor is his problem and he has already replaced it. " title="Smile" /> I would like to say the same for my IntelliJet LXs... He replaced four and I replaced four " title="Evil or Very Mad" /> Good luck. You did a great job intelligently troubleshooting your problem. AGE

Thanks for the help and input... next question, & it may seem silly but since reading the forums I'm really confused...

Can I remove the blower without draining the tub?

I would have thought yes, because its only blowing air into the tub, but then read some posts about water and back flowing or somehow getting into air lines and now I'm not sure! I don't want to disconnect the blower and end up with a geyser in this freezing weather!

AND, if I see that there is corrosion, can I replace just the motor unit itself and put the whole thing back together, or do I have to fork out the big $$ and get a whole new blower unit?

AND how do I test it: I cant plug it into a wall, it has some fancy purple plug on it that only fits into the board. not the one with the four coloured wires and plastic thing, but a totally proprietary plug.

Though I'm getting to the end of my rope with this thing, I don't think theres anything else that can break on it, so I've seen every error code, and had the thing apart more than Ive sat in it!

Thanks again!!

A blower never has water in it. So, yes you can remove it any time. However if it did have water in it, then it'll trip the gfci. Fwiw, blowers and motors are cheap... look here: http://spapartsnet.com/Blowers-Motors

OK, the blower is in pieces and looks dry as a bone. there is a lot of black 'soot'; could it be brushes? I adjusted them and then plugged the blower back in and it still tripped the GFCI.
Everything 'spins' freely, but I'm not an expert in these things.
Please talk in Crayon!
I don't have a problem replacing the motor for the blower; I'm just afraid that it wont be that, and once I change the motor, the GFCI will still trip and I will have something else for my spare parts box....
Thanks,
Martha

Your Blower is shot. It's shorting out. It needs to be replaced. Everything breaks eventually. Written in crayon " title="Smile" />

Rotflmao.

Yep.

Blowers are cheap brushed devices that don't even use real bearings. They never have the longevity of pump motors.

This seems like the most relevant post to attach my question to. Thanks to everyone for all the great information on this board!

I have a 2004 Cal Spa with the 7000 Electronic Control. It was working perfectly when we drained it for the summer (don’t use it June-Aug) and shut off the power. Re-filled it today and it ran for about 10 (?) minutes and then the GFCI (50amp) tripped. Now it trips immediately. Thanks to some suggestions here, I started to unplug items 1 by 1 from the control panel and then tried the GFCI breaker. I found that whenever I plugged the blower into the control panel the GFCI trips. It looks like I have found the problem. What have I overlooked?

Is there any guidance for repairing or replacing the blower? Any “how to” guides already online someplace? Is it worth the time to try and ‘repair’ the blower or should I go directly to replacing it? Is this something a handy guy with a good set of tools can do? Thanks for your help!!!

HI,
I just unscrewed it from the mounting base and pulled it out. got a new one and screwed it in.
I tried to 'fix it', knowing it was shot and could do no harm, but no luck, and knew it not worth someone else's time at $50/hr.
New was relatively painless, pocketbook excluded!

I #2 Phillips was all it took.

Good Luck!

Quick update... The blower is definitely wet. There is a very slow drip out of the bottom of the blower. I don't know if this spa has a check valve in the blower line, but my amateur guess is that it is does and it has a slow leak.

Turns out that I still have a few months of warranty left. A service technician is coming on Thursday. I will let you know what they find.

update: Technician replaced the blower. Blowing air through the line seemed to clear the check valve and now everything works. Took him about 30 minutes from start to finish.