My friend just took this out of his house and gave it to me. It is a 1995 White Springs Spa, 230v, Topside control air, stainless flow thru heater, two pumps and a blower with an ozonator. All of this is hooked up on a 50 amp double pole gfi. This thing will not stop tripping. It may run 6hrs it may run 6 mins??? I have replaced the topside control and unhooked the ozonator. It has ran long enough a few times to get hot. Cant figure it out. Maybe the pump that circulates is going bad?

Try disconnecting both leads that power the heater, tape them up so they don't short out against anything and see if that stops the tripping.

If it does, then you need a new heater element.

I have taken the leads off but did not tape them. It still tripped. I will try to tape it this afternoon... What if it still trips after doing that? Any other possibilities?

I'd be very certain that the connections at the breaker are really tight.

Then, unplug the blower and ozonator if it has one...

It really should be one of those items...

I will try this afternoon and post results

OK here is what I did yesterday. I unplugged everything. Pluged in the motor with cir and did not trip gfi then unplugged it. Pluged in the other motor and didn not trip and unplugged it. Pluged in the blower and did not trip unplugged it. Plugged in the topside control and didn not trip unplugged it. Pluged in both motors and did not trip. then added the topside control and tripped. Unplugged the topside control and pluged in the blower with the two motors and tripped. Unplugged the topside and the blower and still couldn't get the breaker on. Got frustrated and quit. My electrician came over about 10:00 that night and pluged everything in and it ran for him. He went ahead and tight all connections. He took the breaker out and is going to replace it today just to see. Is there a ghost in my tub?

My electrician came by yesterday and put a new 50amp breaker in. It did not stop tripping but it did trip more consistantly. Maybe like every hour give or take 15 min.... Reset breaker about four times last night between 6:30 and 10:30 and after 10:30 left it on. Got up this morning about 3:30 and checked it and it had tripped. Reset it at 8:00 this morning and left it until I got home for lunch and it was still running and the water was 100....

When I tested the heater it is pulling 12 ohm but could this be heater related? The electrician did say that one ground wire had voltage on it which shouldnt be there but didnt have time to find out why. He is comming back when the weather is better next week.

Any other suggestions of other things to check?

You need to go back to step 1.

When you removed the heater wires... did you remove the wires from the ELEMENT?

and did you remove BOTH element wires and tape them up?

Then retest?

Exactly what wires did you remove?

This sounds like a faulty heater element to me... still.

The element wires come into the box and are connected to two small bolts and are kept on by nuts. They then have a red & black wire comming off each post and they go to the little black box (relay?) where they are screwed to. I disconnected them from the black box, taped them up and tested. Still tripped. Should I have done if differently? This black box is also where I tested OHMs? Should i have tested differently?
Thanks

Disconnect Blower, Ozonator, Heater, Topside.

Let it run for a day with no heater (use timer if necessary).

See if it still trips.

Additionally, post a couple of photos of this controller with box open if possible.

You don't have much choice in the matter, this is going to take some running time to ascertain exactly what's causing the problem.

And I wouldn't bother the electrician until the above step is done.

Will Try... Will post pictures this afternoon...

Thanks

Here they are

More

Do you know what kind of heater this is? It measures 15" long and in 2" around it has no name on it now but has a sticker that reads 6000watts... What is the best to replace it with?

Well first off, You have to stop thinking about component replacement - You don't know WHAT to replace yet. Second, ANYTHING that comes in contact with ANY electrical wire (L1, L2, or Neutral) that is WET (to any ground path) will trip the GFCI. Since this was a newer installation of a used tub (at least I thought it was), I would like to think there would be a lot less of what appears to be water leaks or whatever. Third, There is a pressure switch on the back of the box that has 115 volts going through it... it has a lot of what appears to be white crud and dirt all over it. Id clean that thing up with alcohol or something and be sure there's no moisture anywhere around the electrical switch. Matter of fact, there cannot be any moisture around ANY electrical contact, this includes the back of the pump motor where the wires enter. Fourth, you still need to disconnect everything like I said above and run the tub for a day or so with no heat, and nothing but the pump. There is no need to remove the wires from the heater element itself, just disconnect from the contactor on the lower right. For the heater replacement? You don't replace the entire heater, you replace just the element - and at this stage of the game I'd go ahead and replace that ratty looking pressure switch as well. http://spapartsnet.com/Electric-Heaters... 6_0_1.html Select the 5500 watt version. http://spapartsnet.com/Electric-Heaters... 0_3_1.html That's the pressure switch. That said, don't buy anything until the cause of the trip is found first. Ummm one more question - are those separate grey and yellow power cables tied to the GFCI circuit?