I had a tub years ago and instantly became addicted. Who can resist a bubbly hot caldron of water??? Anyhow, I picked up a smaller 4-5 person Morgan tub off of Craig's List for free and got it going. It suffers from some plumbing leaks and thin cracks in the shell. Single pump and a blower. Only 10 jets. Nothing fancy. But it was free and I got it running with minimal repair. I was pleased.

Now, tonight I came dragging home a BEAST!

A 6-7 person Morgan extra deep, extra large (8'x8') tub with two pumps and a blower. 23 jets plus the bubble holes all throughout the tub. Plus it has a Delzone Ozonator installed and it came with stairs and a cover lifter... ALL FREE!

It doesn't work, of course. lol It has the Morgan digital control panel and under the hood the control board is Balboa.

The shell is in great shape. No cracks, no fading. A good cleaning and the shell will be like new. Plumbing also looks to be intact so far. Haven't given it a water test yet, but that will all come tomorrow.

Anyhow, the owner said the pumps should be good, that the serviceman said the control board has problems. I looked over the board and it has some corrosion on some of the traces and relays. I'm anxious for daylight to arrive so I can clean out the shell and then manually power up the pumps. if the pumps run well, I'll then dig into the printed circuit board and go from there. If the controls are too toasted to save, I may order a whole new board (the Morgan digital control panel is really cool looking all lit up!) or just put in a whole new control. We're talking $300 for the Balboa board or $500 for a new third-party controller.

Enough rambling... Here are photos. Stay tuned for photos of it cleaned up.

Steve in Texas

The Balboa control board. It may work with some cleaning, it may be fried. I see no visible burned components. Just some light corrosion on a few solder points and the relays. I'm going to clean it up, free the sticky relays, and then power it up and see if we get smoke or get life out of it.

I have found new Balboa boards on the web for $289-350.

Don't yet know if I'll replace the Balboa board and keep the Morgan spaside "digital command center" or just get a new contoller and new pneumatic spaside control.

I really like the hightech look of the Morgan control board, but it may be too far gone to save....

Hi Steve,

Looks like you got a really good freebie there! Little work and you'll definitely be in hot water. Thanks for all the great pictures too. It will encourage others to go ahead and take that free hot tub home!

It always amazes me how many people are told by technicians that their hot tub just needs to be replaced (with a new Hot Tub)) Just about ANY hot tub, as long as the vessel itself is in good shape can be returned to working order with minimal expense. A new spa control or spa pack can provide an almost instant fix to a tub that as been negelcted. What a small investment to have a great working tub!

At SpaPartsNet, we love working with people who've taken on this project. We supply a large variety of Brand Name hot tub systems for anyone who has inherited a 2and hand hot tub. We have a great deal on all of our Digital systems with Names like Applied Computer Controls, Balboa, Spa Builders and Hydro Quip. Pricing on these digital controls starts at 399.00 and INCLUDES the touch Pad! We also have mechanical systems as well.
We are ready to help you anytime you get stuck!

Good luck to you on this project Steve, we're here to help!

Barbara Langford
President
Spa Babes Inc
http://spapartsnet.com
813 235 4502

(I edited this post to remove the malformed quoted text from Barbara.)

Hi There, Spa Babe (Barbara):

I love to tinker with electronics/electrical/mechanical and so I can't reists free or cheap "toys." I was on a hunt for a free or cheap dysfunctional hot tub and got all excited when I got the first free Morgan about three weeks ago. The shell cleaned up beautifully and the pump and blower are both functional now with very minimal repairs (basically two relays and a timer were replaced). Even the heater looks and works great (no corrosion). However, the shell is starting to show lots of hairline cracks in the acrylic, most of the jet inserts are deteriorated from chemicals and age. Plus the check valves for the blower are starting to leak and more than once water has backflowed into the blower. A couple of the nipples on a manifold are leaking... In the grand scheme of things, it's really minor stuff and $100 could fix me up and I'd have a nice enough tub for very little. But being smaller, having few jets, the shell starting to age.... I was on the hunt for another freebie... And I got a beast!

I never expected to find another Morgan in my area for free. And it's great that it's an extra deep and extra large model. Two pumps, a blower, an ozonater. It looks as if the owner had already replaced a few things like one pump motor, both wet ends, and the check valves on the blower plumbing.

It's shell is a royal blue and despite being so filthy right now, I checked over it and no cracks or bubbles starting!! So after I get the mechanicals up and running, Ill eventually replace any dysfunctional jets and it will be like new again.

After the big tub is up and running, the small tub will be put back on Craig's List, offered up to someone else for free. Maybe some other handyman will get enjoyment out of it like I have.

The "small" tub was nice, but this big tub is going to get money invested in it. New jets, new controller, whatever is needed to make it proper.

It's something that I find FUN and interesting and in the end will have a very nice hot tub for maybe $500-1000 invested.

I've already been checking out your website and have been getting my list together. As soon as payday rolls around I plan on ordering some goodies.

BTW, I'm originally from Florida.
I grew up in Stuart (Martin County) which is over on the east coast. My brother still lives in Jensen Beach. My first hot tub, bought new for $3500+ was a 4-5 person with single pump and blower. It had a NuWave spa pack. It was a nice spa and is what got me hooked!

The Big Blue Tub is finally cleaned out and ready for a water test to see what shape the plumbing is in.

It's like a night and day difference. The shell is so shiny now.

Not too shabby for a free hot tub, huh?

Can't wait to get it up and running!

Well, I finally got the new blue tub set on a solid foundation so I could fill it and wire it up.

It passed the leak test with flying colors. Only a few drops from one union nut at one pump. Relubing the O-Ring and reseating the nut and it's dry.

Saw that the heater was manufactured in 2004, so the previous owner installed a new heater not long ago. That explains why the pressure switch was so clean and new looking!

I cleaned up all of the dust and crud from the motors, control, plumbing etc. Just some well needed tidy up work.

This is a 1995 Morgan with the digital controls. Basically it's all Balboa. Well, the topside control is shot... The LCD doesn't show anything and the screen itself is all hazed and cracked from age/moisture/heat.

The actual main "brain" circiut board was totally disconnected from every wire. I followed the schematic and wired it back up. Powered up and we passed the smoke test. No smoke or sparks went flying.

No response at all from the topside digital controls. That was sort of expected given the age of the thing. Since the topside controls are so worn/aged, I don't know if it's the controls themselves or the printed circuit board. More on that later.

After fiddling around, though and manually jumpering relays, I did find out that both pumps work beautifully. The circa 1995 DelZone UV Ozonator fired right up and is producing ozone, but very weak. Time for a new UV bulb. No biggie.

The blower motor is rusted away to nothing and will have to be replaced. Darn. That's $90-100.

The heater does work, but when I jumpered the relay, it sorta spit and sizzled. So I bypassed the relays completely and the heater heated right up!

Let the pumps run a bit and YAY... the plumbing doesn't leak with high pressure, either.

YAY!!!! What a great find this free tub was. Too good running pumps, ozonator installed, a beautiful solid shell, newish heater, and leak free plumbing.

All I need to do is replace the dysfunctional Balboa control pack and topside controls and we will be ready to soak in a big tub!!!!!

So maybe $600 invested and I have an extra deep, extra large tub for very little!

Very Nice!!
After you get it runnin', go ahead and pop for the "Jumbo Jet Internal"
Well worth the investment!.

http://spapartsnet.com/Jets/212-7000_497_1_1.html

Just unscrew, and re-insert.

Also make sure that the spaside remote cable isn't nicked. The outside brown wire powers up the Balboa 8 button ( I think ).

Good Find !!

(I can't seem to get HTML quotes to work right, so I removed it again)

I already have a spare jumbo jet and it has been installed since the photos were taken. It doesn't spin, but I'm hoping to fix that before I spend $90 on a new one. (BTW, is it supposed to spin on it's own or just adjust? I think mine has spit it ball bearings out.)

If you search for all posts from me, you will find a thread I started when I first found this forum. I picked up a 5 seater Morgan tub from a buddy and had somewhat rehabbed it. It had pneumatic controls and so it was easy to get going. Just a single 2-speed pump and a blower. Nice tub, I was planning on keeping it going.

Until this big blue monster came up for free on Craig's List and I hauled it home.

Now the poor little green tub is stripped of all it's jets, heater, and pump. That nice jumbo jet included!!

As soon as tomorrow rolls around and I pick up the tools, clean up the skirting a bit, and generally make it look nice, I'll post new photos of the big blue tub up and running.

It's so very nice to have the extra horsepower of another pump. This blue tub boils and bubbles VERY well with just the two pumps going... I am almost near ecstasy just thinking about how it will rock and rumble when I get the blower replaced!! LOL

-Steve