Temp is set at 102. Green light is not lit. If I set temp lower to 99 then the green light comes on. Then i raised the temp to 102 again and waited a day. Two days later green light is still not on. Lowered temp setting again and at 99 comes back on. Manually checked temp and it is at about 98-99.

Then unplugged spa for 3 hours, turned back on and pushed reset button on heater. Temp set at 102 and waited again for 1 day. Temp still does not rise and no green light.
Could this be the heater itself or is there such a thing as just a temp sensor?

Also about 2 months ago when we start the jets, a pump makes a shearing kind of noise. The jets do work and water circulates. Does this suggest the pump is going bad? Also, would this be causing the heater problems too?

Thank you.

The noise is probably the bearings in the motor. If the motor is pretty new (2 years or so), you could consider bringing it to a repair shop to have the bearings replaced. But that usually runs almost as much as a new motor. You probably have a small circ pump on this tub that is separate from your jet pump, so this shouldn't be affecting the heat.

Strange that the tub can get to 99 only. The temp sensor is ok since it can tell you the correct temperature and it should be calling for heat since the ready light goes off. What's the outside temp there? I assume you have the cover on the tub?

You may have a bad high limit probe or the reset on the heater itself may be bad, but the heater switch would stop you from heating at all until you manually reset it thus dropping below 99, so my vote is for the high limit.

If you open your control pack there should be a few status lights on board. One of them says "High Limit OK" or "Limit OK" and has a green light next to it. That light should be on at all times when the spa is on. If it is not, that's your issue.

What are you basing the temp reading on....a duck thermometer or something else cheap? Use a medical thermometer to check the temp. Even if it is in fact 99 and the temp is set for 102, the temp sensors are only accurate to within a few degrees. You can still turn the temp up another 6 degrees to get the temp that you want.


...or, as spishex hinted at above, it may not be heating at all and just maintaining heat. In which case you would need to check voltages and continuity at the heater board and heater.

The temp tonight is down to 90. I shut power off and back on. Heater feels slightly warm and can feel small vibration when putting hand on it. Ozinator and pumps working. Yes, did use cheap thermometer, howevert emp variance seems to be getting larger.
thanks

Then it must not be heating at all...you need to do some metering.

opened control panel: green light is lit for LM Ok
red light is lit for HTR ON- goes off when u turn the jets on
Is the heater an item i can change myself or do i need a service tech? either way does the spa need drained to replace?
thanks
j

The "heater on" light just means that the thermistors are ok and the board is sending power to the heater relay to allow the heater to come on.

You still need a meter to check if the relay is sending voltage to the heater (110 or 220 depending on how the tub is set up). If not then the relay board is bad.

If there is voltage at the relay then you need to check for continuity between the black and white heater leads. It should read about 10 ohms. If there is not then the heater is bad.

I don't want to see you spend $300 on a heater if it is not that.


***after reading again I see that it must be 110volt since the heater light goes off when the jets come on, so you need to see 110volts at the place where the heater wires attach. My guess is that it is the relay board.

Either way, you won't have to drain the tub. The heater board is just electronics and to replace the heater you can clamp off the lines with needle-nosed vise-grips.

Great, thanks for the suggestion. I will borrow a meter from a work friend tomorrow to check that. And I will look to see if the parts i need are here on this site.
I did also try that reset button on top of the heater and it doesn't respond at all. When i push it, i dont feel an indentation or button or here any clicks or anything.