I posted a note a few weeks/months ago about my Jacuzzi Echo/Essence tripping the breaker when it was on high and overheating when it was on low.

The advice was to replace the circuit board. I ordered the board from you and replaced it, but am still having the same problems. I debugged it further, and here is what is happening...

When I turn on the tub (110) the low pump kicks in and the heater kicks on - exactly as it should be. When I try to switch it to high pump, it just makes a awful sound for a few seconds and the pump shuts itself off and all is dead. The GCFI does NOT trip, the breaker does NOT trip, it just goes dead. After a minute or so, it will go to low speed again and be fine unless I try to switch to high speed, then it grinds and goes dead again.

I watch the board and when the low speed is on, the heater kicks in and it goes fine. When I switch to high speed, the low speed does NOT switch off, neither does the heater, so the sound is the pump getting the "go to high speed" AND "stay at low speed" at the same time. I disconnect the black low speed wire and am able to get to high speed without the terrible sound, but the heater also kicks back in again.

So I have replaced the circuit board to no avail, the only other things with brains is the spa side control board. Does IT tell the heater to turn off and on? tell the low speed pump to turn off when the high speed pump is on? I've always questioned the control panel since we got the hot tub, so could this be symptomatic of a bad control panel?

Thanks.

I think I have narrowed this down - see if my thinking is logical...

Let's assume either or both the temperature and Hi-Limit sensor is bad. One/both of these sensors tells the heater to turn on. With the heater being on, the low speed pump must run. When I switch to hi-speed pump, the sensor(s) does not tell the heater to shut off, therefore the low speed does not shut off, therefore the pump gets both the high and low signal, grinds and shuts itself off.

So, replacing the hi-limit and temp sensor would give the correct commands to the circuit board to turn on and off the heater/low-speed switches.

Any logic here?

I don't know if I follow your logic completely. The high limit sensor does nothing more than complete a circuit, it doesn't tell anything what to do based on a jet on/off condition - it simply allows the heater to come on if it needs too, but it will trip (manual resest) if the water gets too hot, 114-120degrees.

Based on what you've said, I'd me inclined to take out the pump and test the different speeds outside of the spa. It could even be something like the bearings going out on the pump and when it kicks into high-speed it gets thrown out of balance...and grinds. There should never be a grinding noise at any time.

You might also consider just pulling out your control station from the spa and take it to a service center. They will be able to run it thru all it's paces and test it for the right signals going to the right places. They can also rebuild your pump motor, usually costs around $80.

I had to beg and plead for a service rep to come out (paid 1 1/2 time for a Saturday service call) and he determined that the lo-pump relay on the brand new circuit board was bad. He said something like the signal to disconnect the lo-speed gets to the relay, but the relay does not disconnect, so he sold me another new circuit board, we installed it and now the tub runs perfectly.

Cost me over $200 in service call and you don't even want to know what I paid for the circuit board, but the tub is finally running and I can now enjoy the water for the first time in '05.

So after all my time, my buying sensors and contol panels, the problem was the supposedly "new" circuit board was bad from the get-go. I figured with parts and my time, I spent enough to buy a brand new tub on this one fix - what a waste.

Well that's great that you got it up and running. Really stinks that you had to sink that much money into it but at the same time there's something to be said for being able to diagnos the problem yourself. Sounds like you were on the right track since you said earlier that it wasn't getting the signal to turn off low speed when it got the high speed signal, good call. But already having the new CB is was threw you the curve ball - that was the part of the equation that didn't add up...seems like it had to be something else since that was new.

Enjoy your tub. Hope you don't have any more problems.