Hello,

Have an older jacuzzi brand (Caressa model). The heater failed. I installed a replacement 110v heating element but it is unable to heat the water over 87 degrees. There is some leaking around the heating element and the water pipe. I asked the salesman about putting some plummers tape before install as it is metal to metal and he assured me that this would be bad. (seems odd to me to have water leaking around high voltage). I put a bridge ground from the heating element to the water pipe to the common ground in case the issue was low ground due to the water leakage and no change occured. When the control box was removed for the installation the thermostat was bench tested and was in good working order.
The control panel had some cooked wires on the heater relays that were replaced (same gauge wires, connectors, etc.) and the relays all appear to be functioning.

The new heating element had two tubes for the temp sensors, one long and one short, the old element had two long tubes...would this make a difference?

Also, there was no instruction manual, so the installation was a reverse engineering excercise based on photos and drawings of what it looked like broken. (operator error is a potential factor here.)

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

-Erik

First, you should have a gasket between the metal to metal junction.

Second, the length of the tubes shouldn't cause this problem.

My question is first, is your thermostat turning off at 87 degrees, or is it still showing that it is calling for heat? If it's still calling for heat, does it seem like it takes an exceptionally long time to get to 87 degrees? I'm thinking that the heating is not by the heater, but by waste heat from the pump instead. Your heater may not even be working at all.