Make: Manufactured in Florida
Year Built: 2002
Main Power Unit:230v
Type Control: Metal Housing Control that sits on main pump
Topside Control: Air Pushbuttons
Pump Configuration: 2 Jet Pumps, (230v) 1 is 2 Speed, other is single
Thermostat: Knob on face of controller
Heater Type: 2" Stainless Flow Thru about 15 Inches Long

My heater just recently stopped working. Everything else works. If I move the thermostat knob past outside temperature, I can get the pump to circulate. If I set Thermostat to outside temperature, by nightfall pump will turn on. Both speeds of the main pump work, and blower pump works. Heating element never gets hot (to the finger, usually does) it stays at outside temperature. I have verified all voltages to the spa breaker and disconnect, i.e. L1, L2, N. Could use some help testing further. Thanks. Mr. John Warren.

The heater is either not getting power or isn't doing anything with it, so the next thing to check would be the voltage and resistance at the heater terminals (~240v and ~10 ohms respectively). No resistance = bad heater, no power = something in your heater/safety circuit not working. THANK YOU for including so much information in your post! " title="Very Happy" />

Ok. Thanks for the help. Going to do those 2 measurements with my Digital Volt Meter. Should the resistance check be done without being under load, i.e. heater terminals (L1 & L2) removed from the circuit? Thanks

Best for all involved if you do the resistance test with no power to the tub.

Thanks for your help. Here are the results from the test.

I measured the resistance between the two lugs of the heater that protrude into the control box. There
was infinite resistance >20M ohms (resistance open not short). I removed the two spade wires that attach to these heater posts
and there was still infinite resistance, the resistance of heater element all alone (out of circuit) is Open.

The voltage across the the heating element is 0 volts within in normal cycle/heating mode. Taking the heater element out of the circuit, the voltage between the two
115V feeds is still 0 volts in cycle/heating mode. The voltage between one feed and ground is still 0 volts. Same for the other side (L2).

The wires that feed the heating element come from a black retifier type box where the input L1, L2, and N terminate. Both L1 and
L2 coming into this rectifier are hot, Both individually 115V to ground, 230V across L1 and L2.

Please advice further, and thank you very much for your guidance. Mr. John Warren

Well that sounds like two problems at once. The heater element being an open circuit means the heater is shot. Even if there was power there, it couldn't do anything with it.

As to there being no power, it looks like you've got a thermostat, an on/off switch, and maybe even a pressure switch inside the box on your heater. Is that right? Check continuity across all these things with the spa on a heating cycle. Also track down your high limit switch and check that. Possible that the element overheated, burned out, AND threw the high limit switch.

Ok, one down. So we know the heating element needs to be replaced.

When I place my volt meter across L1 and L2 and turn the thermastat to energize the heating cycle, the pump turns on (low speed) but there is no voltage there to start the heating element. The switch you see on the outside bypasses the thermastat start and turns the pump on (low cycle). It is working properly. Here is a pic of inside the control unit and yes there is pressure switches to start and stop the aux blower and to turn the main pump from low cycle to high speed as well as turn on the light..

The Black Red and White wires on the lower left hand corner (connected to some kind of black rectangle box, a switch?) are L1, L2, and N. Right below the Red and Back (Incoming L1 and L2) there is a Blue and Black wire. These two are the ones connected to the heating element ends (one on top of the other right beloe the purple wire.

So what you are saying is that reguardless of the heating element being out, there should be 230 volts at the output of that black rectangular box to feed the heating element.

EDIT: It's been a while since electronics school but in studying the photograph for an hour it looks like the black rectangle box may be a single pole double throw switch. The bottom four lugs are the double throw, (2 switches close, L1 and L2 are able to pass current to the Blue and Black feed wires energizing the heating element). It looks like the pole that activates this switch has 2 terminals with a blue capacitor between then. One side is connected to a fat white wire (this is the Neutral buss feed from the circuit breaker box) and the other side is connected to a round device with 2 purple wires at the 11 and 4 o clock position. For current to flow thru the rectangle black box (switching on L1 and L2) this pole must be energized somehow. If the left side is Neutral (N), the other side (purple wire) must be feeding from the thermastat thru this mysterious round gray device in the center of the control box (purple wires). I wonder is this device is some kind of Varistor or pot of some kind?


Thanks John

That grey round guy is your pressure switch. It's the last thing in line in your safety circuit and tells the heater the system is under pressure from the pump and it is ok to turn on. It should be open when the pump is off, closed when on, allowing 120v to flow to the coil and close your heater circuit. And yes, the tub doesn't know the element is bad. It should still be getting juice.

So, check continuity across it with the pump on. The slot in the middle is for adjustment. Clockwise requires more pressure to close the switch, counter clockwise requires less. Of course, if there's no incoming power (11:00 pole) then the switch can't do it's thing, so you'll have to trace the circuit back to where you find power and go from there.

Boy I feel dumb!!! So I guess the fact that I drained the spa, removed the control unit and heating housing from the spa to turn it upside down so I can see the circuit board to do the testing yesterday, would be the reason I'm not seeing that voltage at the heating element ARGGGUHHHH!!! You can insert anything you like here in regards to my stupidity, I deserve it.

So I bypassed the pressure switch and finally I see 230vac for the heating element.

Do you think it is safe to say that we have diagnoised the spa failure to a bad heating element? If So, how do I get it out and photograph it so I can start looking for it's replacement? Is it difficult to get out? I found my manufacturer's Manual, there out of Business, HydroSpa in Florida.

Sorry for my stupidity. John Warren

No worries! At least the mystery is easily solved. " title="Very Happy" /> To remove the heater you'll have to remove the two 3/4" nuts where the heater terminals are. The element will then pop loose and come out either side of the tube. Your new element will need to be 240v, same length or shorter, and have the same spacing between the terminals.

Ok, found my manual for HydroSpa, turns out they went bankrupt in 2007. A company called Premium Leasure bought there assets. I cannot believe they went BK, they were huge out here on the West Coast espcially at Costco. Anyhow, I called their parts department and they had the part for my tub. $45 bucks. Part should be here in about 5 business days.

I do have a 3/4 inch nut driver but I'm concerned about the copper tab that the spade end on the 2 115v wires connect to. Does the male end of the spade connector (on top of heating element ends) disconnect seperately from the heating element ends? My 3/4 " nut driver won't clear over those tabs. Also, the parts said the element is covertable from 120/240 what does that mean?

Thanks for all your help. John Warren

Any 240v element can be used on a 120v system with the right wiring changes. Some people advertise this.

That spade connection is strange. Usually the terminals are male threaded, the wires have regular round terminals and are connected with a nut. The spades in there now can be bent up, but you might break the new ones if you do that. If you take off the ground wire, the pressure switch, and maybe a few other components you should be able to take the whole box off and attach the the new element with a standard 3/4" wrench.

Ok, I finally recieved a new heating element. Besides the rubber o-ring on the mounting threads that sits on the wet side of the controller box, is there any other gasket material that needs to be used to prevent water from leaking into the control box? Locktite? And how tight should the bolts be?

Nope. The o-rings will seal it just fine, and don't put locktite on the threads. That will just make it more difficult to get them off if you have to do it again.

Well, it turns out the spade terminals are actually soldered on the element ends and I'm getting to the point where I'm becoming frustrated as I don't have the right tools. I'm wondering now if I can just pay someone to change out the element. Can you recommend someone I can send my control housing to along with the new element and get it changed out? How much do you think it would cost? Thanks again for all advise. John Warren

Take a look online or in the yellow pages for spa techs in your area. You might have a little trouble finding one that will install a part they did not sell, but with a little luck I'm sure you'll find one.

Can't speak for them, but to me since you've got valves on the equipment that should be a pretty easy one hour job. That would be a $75 bill from me, though some folks charge a trip fee and so on.

If it comes to it you can mail it off, but you'd end up spending a comparable amount on labor with the added bonus of having to ship the thing. Plus you'd probably need to do it through a store which would give you another middle man to pay.