Hi all. My 2001 hotspring vanguard functions great, BUT...after a power outage the heater never works. I get the flashing red light on the control board. I have to shutoff the breakers for a minute or so, then turn them back on, presumably to reset the heater. Then it seems to work as normal. The problem is that this isn't acceptable. We can lose power fairly often where I live and we find ourselves having to reset everything and reheat our water - an expensive endeavor. So the question is is this normal? I think not but what do I know. How can I remedy the situation? The GFCI breakers are not tripped and I always have full voltage to the spa. Any advice is appreciated!

Sounds like your circ pump is on it's last legs...

If the power is out for a little while, a circ pump near the end of it's usefulness can be slow to start when the power is restored. When the power comes does back online, the heater immediately begins to heat, the circ pump doesn't start right away, and the heater overheats (thus making the red light flash).

In the interim, the circ pump finally gets going. You come home to find a flashing red light, turn it off and on again resets the high limit, and the circ pump keeps ticking without the extended down time.

Keep an eye out for it... or just replace the circ pump with the new E5 model.

thanks for the advice. I think I'll go ahead and get the new circ pump just in case. But here's another wrinkle: the red light is not flashing, circ and heater seem to be working fine, but the spa only heats to about 95 degrees. Could the circ pump be closer to the end of it's life than I think and the heater is continually having to reset itself, never getting to the higher temps? Or is there another problem here that needs addressing? Thanks again!

Rick

Assuming it still has the original heater, there are two "high limit" resets on your spa. One, the electronic high limit, makes the red light flash when it goes off. The second, a tiny red button on your heater, gives no indication whatsoever that it has tripped. Try locating and pushing this little button.

If it isn't heating, the most likely culprits are a bad heater PCB, bad thermistor, bad heater, bad breaker, or tripped high limit. Do you have a voltmeter?