Hi,

I recently acquired an 1997 Dimension One Spas Quadra. I filled it up a few days ago and got the entire thing working with no problems. Both motors were working fine and it heated up without a problem. The first time I tried to use it, the GFCI tripped after about 30 minutes in the tub. I tried to reset it but it would trip again as soon as either of the motors tried to come on (it has 2).

After some troubleshooting, (e.g. disconnecting various things from the control board) I've found that the GFCI trips when the circulation pump comes on or the jet pump comes on at high speed. It will run without a problem with just the jet pump on at low speed.

It seems odd to me that both of the motors would have developed a problem at exactly the same time. Is it possible that the GFCI is falsely tripping? Do I need to replace both motors? What else could be causing this?

Any help is really appreciated. I've never owned a spa (let alone worked on one) before so I'm at quite a loss.

Here are the spa specs that I know:
Dimension One Spas Quadra, 1997
120v dedicated circuit
Balboa BD1SL Control
Topside electronic control
1 Jet pump 120v 2 speeds
1 Circulation pump 115v 1 speed
Electric heater element

Where is this gfci located? Is it a wall mount GFCI or a circuit breaker type? Plug in gfci?

Do you know if this thing was running on 240 (previous owner) prior to you hooking it up?

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply.

It's a plug in type GFCI (not a breaker). It looks like this product:
http://www.cheappoolproducts.com/Spa~GFCI~Breaker~20A_177_4973~product.html
Mine is Leviton brand though. The specs on the plug say 120v 15A 1800W. It's plugged into a dedicated outlet that is about 10ft from the tub. This outlet is on a dedicated circuit. The tub is the only thing running on it. The test and reset buttons also function as described on the casing of the GFCI.

It know it was running 120V prior to me because the tub actually came with the house I just purchased. It hasn't been moved and the wiring hasn't changed. Which means the wiring is nearly 10 years old just like the tub. Perhaps that's my problem?

Thanks again for any and all help!

I wouldn't replace it with a line cord gfi as they are too expensive - What I do is install a 20 amp standard high grade 120 volt plug, and a 20 amp outlet based GFCI available at Home Depot.

Maybe 25 bucks total.

Your problem will probably be solved.

You could also go the higher grade route and replace the 20 amp breaker in the mains with a 20 amp gfci instead.... better, longer lasting.

I went ahead and went the cheap route. Installed the outlet based 120V 20A GFCI and replaced the old GFCI with a standard 120V 20A plug. Still no good. It still snaps off when the circulation pump tries to start or when the jet pump tries to run at high.

Any other ideas? I'm really baffled... maybe both pumps did go bad at the same time? Is there some kind of basic test I can do on the pumps to see if there's something obviously wrong with them? Or maybe that's completely the wrong track.

Regardless, thanks so much for your help so far. And thanks in advance for any other bits of advice you can provide.

Next step.
Find the leads to the heater element.

Remove BOTH of them.

Tape up or ensure they don't touch anything.

Power up again and see what happens. If it doesn't trip.... post back.

Both heater leads are detached and taped up... still popping the GFCI though " title="Sad" />

Do you have an ozone generator? I'd unplug it (and 03 transformer) as well, just to be on the safe side. " title="Smile" />

Tried unplugging the ozonator no help. It still trips when the circulation pump comes on or when the jet pump tries to run on high.

What do you mean by the ozone transformer? Is it seperate from the ozonator?

Yes, in some cases, the ballast transformer can be separate but most likely yours is integrated since it's a d1 later year model.

Ok... last thing to do is disconnect the main pump.

See if the circ pump still trips the gfci.

Don't reconnect the heater.

The circulation pump is definitely the culprit. When I hook up only the circ pump and the digital topside control the GFCI trips. To confirm that it was the circ pump, I switched hooked it up so that only the main pump and the topside controls were hooked up and the main pump worked great at both high and low speed. So my next step was to hook up the ozonator and the spa light. Things still worked wonderfully. I didn't hook up the heater as I'm pretty sure the circulation pump is responsible for maintaining the water flow past it and I'd prefer not to create another problem for myself by burning it out. I'm in the process of draining the spa now so I can remove the circulation pump. I guess I'll be ordering a new one " title="Smile" /> I imagine once I have the pump out I'll have some questions regarding what to order to replace it. But I imagine those questions belong somewhere else on this forum. Thanks so much for all the help! I couldn't have done it without. I'll be sure and try to snag the new pump from http://spapartsnet.com