We just moved this tub, hooked it up and used it for a few days.
Everything was fine until the pvc hose connected to the filter housing came off and it drained the tub. By the time I noticed it it was about empty with the heater and pump running.

I shut it down and today I reattached the hose/flex pipe and filled it up.

I turned the main breaker on and it immediately fired up and started running. Everything seemed fine for a few mins and then it shut down tripping the GFI on the control box.

I reset it and it came back on. The lights happen to be on and I noticed that all the sudden the lights went out, then it shut down again. Thats when I notced the "hi limit" indicator was on. I reset everything but it won't come back on. The control box was real hot.

If I reset the GFI nothing happens, push "TEST" I hear the blower kick in of about half a second then stops.

Both fuses are good.

The only other thing that I'm not sure of. There is a "T" with a pull/push handle on one ot the hoses. I'm not sure what position it was in when I turned the tub back on the 1st time.

That "t" handle is a gate valve, and needs to be "open" and this would be with the handle fully extendend. Have you noticed wether or not the breaker trips when the heater kicks in?

well at this point nothing kicks in at all.

Rest breaker. Turn heat up. Nothing

Turn on blower or pump nothing.

If I turn on the blower and hit "test" the blower turns on for 1/2 sec then it trips.

If I just keeps hitting "test" and "Reset" several times and the pump switch is "on" one of those time the pump will kick in an trip the breaker.

I was reading another post were a guy had a big leak and similar problems continued afterwards. It seem the guy who answered him thought there might be water in the heating element.

???

that is why I was asking if your heat is turning on when it trips of the breaker.... try removing both wires to the heater and isolate them so they don't come in contact with anything and try your spa again and see if the breaker now holds and the functions work.

thans I will. I never had this thing apart. So I will figure it out tommorrw.

Alright I'm a little more edumacated today " title="Smile" /> I took the front pannels off the control box. Every thing is dry. I did an ohms test between the red wire connted to the heater element cyclinder and the outer cylinder. I got a small reading. Is that right? Next I unplugged the blk/red connector that supplys the heater. reset the breaker. Thats when the other switch thing that says "furnace" and has a button in the center, engaged. jets work now and the blower works now. So I shut off the main power and connected the heater backup. Re-supplied power and immediately the pump came on it began to run. I felt of the heater cylinder and it was warming up. I looked at it for a whille and decided to put the panel back on the box. No sooner that I put them on, it shut down and I'm right back where I started. I unplugged the heater but the "furnace" swith still didn't engage. After it sat for a while though I guess it cooled off. And then the switch did engage. I've had the pump(jets) running now for a while and it stays running. So basically my heater is overheating right? This all started because the hose came off and drained it. Or...After I fixed the leak and might have ran it with that gate valve closed. I'm not sure though.

You shouldn't have any resistance reading between either lead of the heater and the housing. I would at this point assume your heater element is bad.

Is any of this consistant with running a tub/heater dry?

Is it unusual for an element to be bad but still heat up?

I guess I'll start searching now how to replace an element. The element simply a part within that housing, correct?

thanks

In a nutshell, a heater element can crack and still heat, but leak electrical current to ground causing a GFI to trip. Dry firing can cause that to happen. One thing you can do to absolutely verify if this is the case is to disconnect BOTH wires from the element, and see if everything works properly for a period of time. Then reconnect them and run the spa again. If the breaker tripps once you hook the wires back up, it's the element.