Hi! Just joined the forum as I don't know where to turn and am in need of help.

I bought the Gray Malta Spa from Target.com and FINALLY received it yesterday (after Target lost the order for 2+ weeks). this is the spa:
http://www.target.com/Gray-Malta-Spa/dp/B000AAEUA6/sr=1-1/qid=1224213927/ref=sr_1_1/601-3014977-9935352?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Amalta%20spa&page=1


The freight company brought it over yesterday and helped me put it into my basement. I filled it up with water and plugged in the closet 120v outlet.. the circuit breaker in the breaker box (15amp) tripped. I tried again and it tripped over and over again. I then noticed that the circuit breaker in the breaker box has a little green button labeled 'test', so I believe it is GFCI. The cord to this spa has a GFCI breaker built into it. I then came to the realization that maybe GFCI on chord + GFCI in breaker box was not a compatible combo, so I tried plugging the spa into the second outlet in the basement (inconveniently on the opposite wall in opposite corner). The breaker for this specific outlet has no test button on it, so I don't think it is GFCI. I had to use a long thick extension chord to reach it. After a couple tries of popping this breaker, I left the spa unplugged for an hour and a half and went to watch the presidential debate. After that I went back down in the basement to try again with the same far-away outlet. It popped that breaker. I then realized all 16 jets were closed, so I opened a half dozen, plugged the spa back in and walll-ah.. she was circulating water.. the temperature was very slowly going up (started at 72).. I left it running since 11pm last night and when I got up at 7am this morning the jets were still going and the temp was up to 82. I went to work and didn't get home until 7pm tonight. The spa was no longer circulating water and the temp was exactly 100.

Now here's where my trouble starts again...

I can't get the jets to turn on at all tonight and the circuit again just trips. The motor is covered in a dense foam surround. I lifted it and touched the motor and it is HOT.. you could fry an egg on it. The water is slowly going down in temp and is now at 95, but I can't turn it on to circulate water. The instruction manual for this spa SUCKS and doesn't say a whole lot. It says the action of the motor heats the tub. I'm not certain it has a heating element at all, as posts on this forum seem to suggest. When I press the jet button I heard a click and then either nothing happens or the circuit trips and I have to reset the breaker.

I unplugged the spa entirely and am frustrated as all get-out. It has been unplugged for about an hour now. I am hoping that the motor running for maybe 17 hours straight just caused so much heat that the thermal protector mentioned in the crappy instructions is the cause. Why is the motor surrounded by a dense foam. Isn't that helping the motor retain heat and thus over-heat? I hope that cooling off for awhile will allow me to plug it back in and resume heating til it reaches 100 and then going into the normal daily cycle mentioned 8-8:15am and 4-4:15pm. I have the cover open and a box fan blowing air on the motor to hopefully cool it down, so I can try again to resume.

Oh yeah, Target doesn't say who manufactured this tub, but the instructions say 'DM Industries'. I googled that and found a webpage of disgusted customers that bought spas from this company. I am angry that my wife is upset and that I have to call this company during normal business hours (yes, I am impatient, but trying to reason and learn as I wait).
The circuit I am using is only shared with the kitchen lights and they all have CFL bulbs (and were turned off as I tried to get this thing to power on again).

I am totally new to spas and open to suggestions. Do you think I need an electrician? The breaker box is maybe 6 feet away from the tub. We got this 120v tub because we didn't want to deal with an electrician, but at this time I don't know if my problem is electrical or the tub itself or both. I'll post again when I try it again. Any help is appreciated.

First it should be on a 20 amp circuit, 12 gauge wire. the 15 amp breaker is 14 gauge wire. It's not to tough to run a new circuit as long as there is room in your panel.

Are you suggesting I have inadequate or 'dirty' amperage or something to properly run the motor?

The instructions say 15amp circuit is all that is required though. A 20A wouldn't hurt it? The breaker box has maybe a dozen cover plated 'slots' that look like for more circuit breakers. What's the cost to install one? I'm not close to being an electrician and am not certain my wife wants me to potentially burn the house down. I'll admit I am ignorant of any electrical work. What's the general 'going-rate' for an electrician to do it?

Anyhow after letting the motor cool for almost 2 hours it turns on once again. I just programmed the spa to only reach 98 degrees (it's at 95 now), so hopefully by the time I wake it will be 98, then I'll go to work and when I get home set it to 102 and see if the jets turn on properly. Maybe my expectations originally were too high for the tub to heat up to 102 from 72 and have the motor run so long? If I can get the temp high enough and then flatline and maintain that level of heat, maybe things will work correctly.

If my power is inadequate then I definitely want to protect my investment by doing it right though.

The circuit was tripped again when I got up this morning (kitchen CFL lights not coming on was first indicator). Looks like she over-heated again as resetting the circuit and plugging her back in yields the motor hum and then 5 seconds later the circuit trips again.

I called DM Industries and they were friendly and are researching a local spa technician to come out and look at the motor\thermal overload circuit and hone-in on what's really happening and will fix it. They say I will hear back today.

I've unplugged the spa and have the box fan blowing on the motor. I won't be home from work for another 8 hours, so I'll see if I can plug it back in after that extended long cooldown (other cooldowns were only 1.5 to 2 hours before being able to get it working again). My wife and I tried the spa at 95F while I had it working last night and it was nice, but we want more heat and reliability with how this thing is supposed to operate.

On Friday I put a volt meter up to the white and black wires in the control box as the manufacturer instructed and read a solid 119.1v AC. They said that is fine. The motor had been off 8 hours, so I turned the jets on and they actually came-on. When we came back from an outing last night, the jets were off and the water was at 101 (as programmed). I pressed the jet button and the jets came on. I pressed again to turn them off and then went upstairs maybe a half hour. I came back down into the basement to enjoy the spa, pressed the jets button and the circuit tripped. I tried a couple more times and got the same result. I then unplugged the spa and didn't come back for another 10 hours. Now the spa won't turn on at all.. the circuit trips as the motor hums when plugged in. It seems the motor is ceased\locked-up. Will have to wait to call DM Industries back Monday morning. They suspected on Friday that the motor was probably bad. Looks like they are right. I hope it won't take much time for them to procure a local spa tech to come out and replace the motor and get the tub working correctly. I guess this is the major disadvantage of ordering a spa from the Internet.. I can't go to a local spa place and get them to come out right away.

I called DM on Monday and they were quick to respond. Unfortunately after they located a dealer for Vita Spa in my area, the technician was already gone for the day. On Tuesday morning DM called Aurora Pools & Spa in Lexington back and setup service to come out and replace the motor\pump assembly in my spa. Their technician agreed to the service. I got a call Tuesday afternoon from the owner of Aurora Pools stating his business would not be servicing my tub because he didn't sell it to me and he did not care to drop the dealer arrangement with DM for the Vita Spas they sell. He said DM is a small portion of their business and that it was not worth "only $50" from DM to come out and service my spa, citing the price of fuel (16 miles from their location was not going to kill their budget.. has he not noticed gas prices declining lately?). I called back DM, who called Aurora and something transpired between the two. DM called me back informing me that Aurora was not coming out and they would search for another spa service in the area which could take time or allow me to replace the pump\motor myself. I agreed to service it myself provided they don't void the warranty and send me that in writing. They promptly did and over-nighted me a replacement pump\motor. I received the package Wednesday and replaced the pump\motor myself Wednesday night without too much trouble. I had to swap the power cable on the motor with the existing one with keyed-plug, had a stuck fitting on the outtake and then had to deal with an offset o-ring leak on the intake. I think it took me close to 2 hours, but it wasn't rocket science at all to switch out the assembly. Aurora Pools & Spa in Lexington - you suck!...Did it my damned self! I wouldn't recommend a sale to them based on the rudeness of the owner and his lack of business sense. I'll shop elsewhere for the consumables and recommend friends and family look elsewhere if they are going to purchase a spa, thank you. I filled the tub and had it operating at 8:30pm last night at 65F. The electric motor came right on and has been running since. No tripped circuit! The tub is now heated to 101F (as programmed). Time to go test it out! " title="Smile" />

YOU ALSO HAVE TO MAKE SURE ITS A 20 AMPS DEDICATED LINE/ ALSOONLY ONE GFI.

The spa continues to operate fantastically. I'd like a dedicate 20A circuit for it anyhow as oddly enough the basement lights are wired all the way up to the overhead lights in the master bedroom in the 2nd floor. That doesn't make sense to me why the builders wired my house like that.

Yes, dedicated 20A circuit a must! You can use a good quality SquareD, Siemens or GE 20A breaker, whichever style fit your particular panel. Use 12/3 wiring (Black/White/Ground). Use ONLY THE GFCI provided with the spa on the circuit. Also, use high quality wall jack(s) that have good tension. CHEAP.88 cent ones from HD or Lowes do not have enough clamping force and will get hot. Ever notice a hot plug when you go to pull it out (especially on vacuums)?

On the other note, every housing contractor I have dealt with believes THEY build the BEST homes, when actually so many are just idiots and use a lot of unskillful labor.

A beer to you for tackling the job yourself!

I don't have any other spas to compare this one with, but with the 'dud' original motor replaced, my wife and I have been thoroughly enjoying this spa since last October. I believe we got a steal for $2000 at Target.com (went through eBates.com for 4% additional off as well, which helped reduce taxes). I've checked the site over the months and noticed sometimes this one will go on free shipping as well. In fact, I called Target not more than 30 days after delivery when it showed as free shipping. Although they would not refund the $400 shipping cost I paid, they agreed to $200 after I described the initial frustration with it. I really value Target's desire to keep me a happy customer like that, as well as DM Industries for allowing me to repair it myself given the circumstance that there were no repair shops willing to do the work in close vicinity. The circuit the spa is on is working well, but as you've all said dedicated is the way to go. I'd like to try installing one. My breaker box has about 8 empty slots at the bottom to add in more breakers it looks like. Thanks for the recommendation and beer stulzer\spadoggy. " title="Very Happy" />

Hi! Im glad you did it yourself and saved some money. I bought a tub same shape as this one but different, not 16 Jets but 10. Malta Spa Model# 175BD, Blue Denim or aqua blue, whichever page you see. Home Depot is where I got mine from and it has a help center with a very personable woman who remembers my name! So it will come in the mail in a few weeks and we will see if it really is Luran shell and graphite jets-anyone know about those jets, good or bad? Gots AirJets and Return Heat -those things make a difference! Plastic jets fall out and float, those great headrests usually dont stay in place, but I wont have those anyway. 110v is good too, it should be a blast! We're putting it in the garage-not far to carry! Please again write if you know anything GOOD OR BAD about this tub!

Funny you mention the Malta 4-seater Home Depot online spa cbart_1.. that was our first pick in spa shopping last year. The shipping cost was ridiculously high a yeah ago, so I canceled the order before finding the one we bought at target.com. It was around Labor Day and ebates.com was running a double cash-back rewards deal. I think it was 8% off the Home Depot link too. I used ebates portal for Target and got a check for about $80 back on our spa, so that covered most of the tax. Looks like homedepot.com earns 3% cash back right now, so if not too late and you want to save some money, you can cancel your order and go through that portal for about $75 off your spa. That'd be good for chemicals. I use bromine since my wife is allergic to chlorine. we are happy with the spa we bought (now) and discovered Lowes sells the exact filter that fits for $20 in these spas.