Well, I went and bought a "fixer upper" hot tub. I used to have a Morgan and thought this one would not be a problem. However, the problem is: Where do I start? Let me list my problems and pics of the Heater and control center.

1. When I turn on the heater, the low speed pump does not come on
2. When I try to run the pump motor, It will pump for maybe five minutes and then trip the GFI 60 amp breaker I installed. (heater is off by the way.)
3. It came with this funky looking control switch with three wires on it that goes on the tub itself, It is a pressure touch type switch .

So, where do I start with my trouble shooting? Any help will be appreciated

Here is the control box:
<a><img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/clydecoles/HotTub001.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

Here is the heater:
<a><img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/clydecoles/HotTub002.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

Here is the Control switch:
<a><img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/clydecoles/HotTub003.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

This 1980's style Purex spa control system is a rare one... was quite expensive when new.

Some quick advice on this thing... it should have a circuit board inside the control box with switching transistors and reed relays. Unless you've got the ability to deal with electronic component level troubleshooting I'd seriously recommend ditching this entire unit in favor of something a little more simplistic, or possibly even upgrade to something that's got digital capability, and is more pallatable to your situation.

Without someone that knows this system literally hopping on a plane to help you out, you'd be much better off starting from scratch - honestly.

I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but heck... look at that thing, at least they had the foresight to print the entire schematics directly on the top cover of the main control panel!

To answer your questions...

1. The thermostat doesn't control the pump on this system - Your automated Morgan spa kinda spoiled you to that.

2. This could be anything... from the pump motor having water/corrosion built up in the back part of it, to the heater having a hot leg even though it's turned off (not too likely, but still needs to be checked) - I certainly would disconnect the blower while attempting to check this system... if you're running with an old blower on it I'm sure it's been compromised enough to trip a GFCI.

3. The funky looking control switch, and all of the internals of this control haven't been available for ages. 4th and 40... good luck.

This control system was not very popular. I've seen and rebuilt an entire system like this (in 1997) - ONE - to be exact in 12 years in this business. It was the only one I've seen - your photos make #2. In some areas of the country (and depending on contractor preferences/sourcing at the time when they were sold), more prolific implementation would be seen.

IE, someone may come along a year from now and see this post - and say... hey... I got 36 customers with these things! And he/she may just be able to provide more info - but I kind of doubt it. Nevertheless it still leaves you with a problematic spa.

Best recommendation is to get rid of everything and go with something that is more up to date.

Give us a call sometime.

Thank You for your quick reply. I kinda figured in my heart that this would be the smartest thing to do. What the heck, I paid $250 for all of this mess. At least I have the leaky hot tub shell! "lol".

So, I am going to fix the small leaks and look into rebuilding all the "important" stuff from scratch.

I am going to wait a few months so I can improve my cash flow in order to do this. (code for: "Oh hell, where am I going to get the money!" )

Thanks again for your honest answer and I will be perusing the web site in order to see what I should purchase.

clyde