My house came with a CalSpa hot-tub, and according the the former owner (it was one of those "as is" things) it only requires a minor repair ("some tubing" and it'll run again. They hadn't run the hot-tub in 2 years though.

So pulled the access panel off, and I see 2 cut off ends of tubing (7/8 inch tubing with 5/8 inch lumen). These tubes each go to what looks like adjustment knobs:


Here is a photo of one of the cut tubing ends:


I figure these regulate air flow to places in the spa, but the other tubes attached to these knobs are smaller; the cut tubes are the master ones, and I have no idea where they'd go (to each other??).

There are also a couple of "empty" tubing attachment sites, one on each pump (I was thinking at first that this could be where the cut tubes attached to previously but 1) the attachment things look never used and 2) they're too small. See photo below (the empty/unused tubing attachment thingie is on the dark grey area, "below" the horizontal white pipe locking collar; you can see dirty grey/yellowish tubing attached to a similar thingie underneath the vertical white pipe's screw-on collar:


OK. So I'm not sure where to start with this whole thing. My plan is first to clean the inside out with a hose and sponge (no soap). Then I'll deal with the cut-end tubing. THen I'll fill it and look for leaks. IF there are no leaks, then what? I was thinking probably turn on all the electrical connections (there is a ground fault box in the basement, and another box under the deck). Then try to activate it I guess.

But I don't want to proceed until the mystery cut tubing is clarified.

THank you in advance for any thouhts or advice. If I've left out critical info, let me know. This is my first spa and I am a complete noob.

Jeff3F
CalSpa C11GD Genesis, circa 4/1997.

Well, I've done some investigating and the "adjustment knob thingies" are the "venturi" things. What would the venturi's be hooked up to, other than jets?

I filled up the tub last night, and it's been about 24 hours with no leaks (this was questionable because the cover leaked and some water got in, then froze). I'm going to put a filter in, and see what happens with I turn on the power. I'm hoping the heater and ozonator come on, with one pump running in a "circulate" mode. I have no idea how this controller works though (I know some newer ones permit scheduling of circulation and heating and so forth).

edit to add:
So I turned on the juice, and no go. Nothing. I turned it all off, and will peek inside the control box and ozonator to look for obvious problems tomorrow. Realistically, I think I'm going to be replacing the ozonator, the control box, and one of the pump/motor units (there is corrosion crap on one pump, the ozonator looks corroded, and there was absolutely no reaction from anything (no lights, no sounds nothing) when I turned on the juice.

Any ideas? I feel like I'm posting to the wind...

I'll be a shoulder to cry on. That's about all I can help. I've worked on many in the past, looks familiar, but not really interested in sticking my nose into it. Maybe there's a dealer near you. Good luck to you.

I ordered a manual from CalSpas directly, and my nearest dealer (Ohio) told me that the Venturis aren't supposed to be hooked up to anything (ie they're fine as they are).

Next step, I'm going to drain the tub, open the control box, and examine the pumps. Due to the low traffic through the forum, I'll do some other posts regarding the individual components and so forth. Then I'll update here; any advice or ideas are appreciated.

Given it was completely "dead", and there is lots of corrosion on one pump, I'm thinking some water got in during the past 2 years when no-one was using the tub. This doesn't jive with what the previous own said though, he seemed to think there was a minor tubing issue (so maybe I'm in for a surprise!).

Hi Jeff,

I'm certainly not an expert, but my spa was completely dead at one point and it was a simple fuse. You might want to test any fuses that you find on the control board before looking at more expensive components. Good luck!

how do I test a fuse? would a continuity tester/multimeter work?

I spent some more time with the tub, and didn't drain it yet.

I noticed water dripping out of the corner of the ozonator--it looks like there is water coming out through the ozone tubing

in hot tub lingo, a 1-way valve is a "check valve", right?

anyway, now I understand what the previous owner meant. There's a problem with the ozonator tube, which probably ruined the ozonator (though won't know until I open it up), and this permitted water to drip onto the #1 (2 speed) pump which is now corroded quite a bit.

I did see a system board fuse--the system board looks pristine.

Still, when I apply power I get nothing, not even a light on the control box. I vented air out (I did have a lock) of the 2-speed pump/heater. I'm going to leave it on for a couple hours, just in case it takes a while to get going.

Next steps, I'm going to wait for the manual arrive, and assume the board is OK, though I will test the fuse. I unplugged the ozonator, that's probably not a bad idea to replace anyway given it's 10 years old and was wet on the inside.

There was a web site that described how to "test" a pump--I think the corroded one is seized so I'll start there.

I'm going to go post in the electronics area about how to test the main board.

Yes, I just use a multimeter and test the fuses for continuity. Sounds like you have a bit of a project on your hands. good luck!

Like most things after the move, I can't find my multimeter, ha ha. I'm going to assume the fuse is blown because 1 pump looks pretty corroded and it's not a big stretch of the imagination that if it froze or seized, the fuse would blow.

So I have the fuse, I took the CalZone ozone thing off (it was thoroughly wet from water backing up the ozone tube) and will replace that, and now I'm draining the tub. When drained, I'm going to pull the pumps off and get to work on repairing/replacing them. Someone on another sub-forum (pumps) mentioned that my pump problems are probably from seal leakage.

A big job, but not too big. Knock on wood, there won't be other issues--the tub was well taken care of except for the preceding 2 years.

I'll have to do this relatively quickly (like a month or so) because my wife was not so jokingly talking about how the spa's area would be a nice spot for a table/chairs... (no way)

update (sort of)

I have spent lots of time with this tub and its parts, but for various reasons dropped the project for a while.

Now there could (and probably will) be leaking somewhere that's not apparent and won't show up until I get pumps forcing loads of water around. But as it stands, I believe I need a few parts and will start acquiring them:
new ozonator (previous one was wet)
fuse
new 2 speed pump with wet end
new wet end (one pump still looks OK but pump "blade" is chipped)
lots of o-rings (white rubbery ones--existing ones were rotted)

Here is what probably happened--the owner was sloppy with chemicals and/or simple wear/tear (8 years or so) caused one of the pump seals to fail. This caused catastrophic corrosion of the pump and failure. Also, a check valve failed and the ozonator became wet. A small amount of seal failure occured in the second pump. I blew the fuse when I applied juice in a futile effort to get it running "as is".

So I don't repeat errors, I presume that the rotted o-rings and bad pump seals can be caused by chemical problems--if I keep pH in a good range and add chemicals to a bucket of water before adding to the actual tub this should help??

I'll report back here with pictures/details.