I bought a used spa a few months back from eBay. The owner said that he purchased it from an old boss, and had never used it. As near as I can tell it is a Cal-X Fun Spa. I believe they were made and sold in the Fresno or Sacramento, CA area. I would guess that this spa is over 10 years old. This is our first spa, and of course it did not come with any directions. My wife and I finished installing it and filled it this weekend.

It appears to be a pretty basic tub. I believe that it has a single two speed pump, and a 9000 series Hydro-quip DS-1 control pack. It's wired for 240 volt 50 amp. There are three knobs to the right of the two button top-side controls. The bigger knob is a diverter from the normal jets to the "rejuvenator" seat. The other two knobs seem to be for the air bubbles for two different circuits.

At this point everything appears to be functioning, except for the following observations:

1. Water flow is weak at the jets farthest away from the pump.
2. Bubbles are generally weak and they become weaker the further away from the knobs the jets are. Bubbles are non-existent at the recliner (the furthest point from the pump and knobs).
3. Heat reaches 100 degrees and stops, but the heat light is still lit on the top-side controls.

When we filled the tub, we just stuck a hose in it and waited until the water had risen over the top of the filter cartridges. I'm wondering if I have air in the system?? Admittedly, I my eagerness, I press the “jets” button when the water was about an inch over the filter cartridges. The water quickly drained the filter area, and I heard a click that I assume was a flow sensor in the heater. I turned it off quickly. Once the tub was full, I pressed the jets button and everything seems fine, except that the flow seems lower than it should be.

I’m theorizing that my problem may be airlock in the plumbing. Is there a procedure for filling the tub to prevent airlock, and/or is their a procedure for bleeding air out of the plumbing? Or, am I likely to be experiencing a problem other than airlock?

Thanks,
Daris

For issue 1, since it sat so long try removing the jets to see if there is any debris inside them.

For issue 2, it is related to issue 1

For issue 3, is the spa covered? What is the outside temperature? You could be loosing heat as fast as the spa can produce it. Always have a good quality cover on your spa.

The spa is covered whenever it's not is use, although the 4" thick folding cover broke in one spot recently. It will definitely have to be replaced if we get the tub running correctly. Even in it's current condition, the cover sits pretty flat around the top of the tub rim.

We live in Southern California. During the day, the temperatures have been in the 70's lately. I set the timer to run the tub for two hours per day (4 PM to 6 PM). My wife or I turns the jets on between 6 PM and 7 PM, and let it run for a couple more hours before we get in it. Even so, the water temperature seems to stay around 98 to 100 degrees at all times.

I should make it clear, that that when we turn the jets on when we get home from work, we still leave the cover on. The cover is only off when we are in the tub.

Couple things. What kind of thermometer are you using? The floating ones are inherently inaccurate. Can you preform an amp check on the heater when it is running? If it is a 220 5KW heater it will pull about 20 amps. Look on the control and see if it is a possibility that the time cycle is linked to the heat cycle, some controls are set up to only heat when in a filter cycle. If it will heat on its own, get it to where it is out of a filter cycle, the pump is not running, turn the t-stat up and the low speed pump should come on and it should begin to heat.

Jeff,

I really appreciate the advice. Some of it's a little over my head at this point, but I have a pretty good mechanical background so I should be able to pick it up. Yes, we are using a brand new floating thermometer, however:

I don't have a meter to measure the amps. A buddy who is an electrical contractor said that he can come over one night this week and check it for me.

I have four lights on my topside controls. The labels are not readable, but I believe they are (from left to right) #1 Ready, #2 Heat, #3 Jets & #4 Lights. The light indicator (#4) comes on when the lights are on and the #3 Jest idicator comes one when I turn the jets one.

My observations are that the #2 heat light is on almost all the time, whether or not the jets are running. The #2 heat light will go off an if it turn the thermostat toward warm. I hear a click and then the #1 ready light comes one. It seems like the #2 heat light goes on and off depending on the position of the thermostat dial switch. I always hear the clicking sounds in the control pack at the same time that the #2 light goes on and off.

With that said, I have the heat thermostat switch turned all the way clockwise. I was hoping to come home and find it at 104 and then turn it counter-clockwise until the #2 light went out. The #2 heat light appears to be on all the time now whether the pump is on low speed (filtration cycle??), high speed (jet cycle??), or not running at all. The only time the #2 light goes off is when I turn the thermostat toward the cold.

Of course, my theory could be way off and I could very likely be operating the controls incorrectly.

Get it to where nothing is running and t-stat is all the way down. Turn the t-stat up (calling for heat), the low speed pump should turn on and you will here the heater contractor energize. Since it is a Hydroquip 9000, do you by chance have a blower?, perhaps no blower but there is a blower circuit. If the blower circuit has been activated, even w/o a blower being there HQ paks will shut off the heater, it is an total amp draw issue. See if that is it. Try that. Look for the air blower air button, check for voltage in the blower plug.

Thanks I'll take a look at it tonight. What I wouldn't do for documentation on the Hydro-quip DS-1. I called Hydro-quip for a manul, or even some guidence, but they were completely useless.

I've noticed some other tests while reading posts. I have a digital multitester. I saw one post that recommended removing the power leads to the heater and testing the resistance.

The other one was testing the voltage. That one confused me. It said to measure the volts across the two power leads and not the leads to ground. How do I know which lead to put on which terminal, or does it not matter? I tested the two leads to the ground and got 110 volts at each lead, when the heater light was on.

The power test you did is a common mistake. You must put your leads on each terminal of the heater at the same time, unless the heater is 11 KW there should only be 2 terminals, to get a proper voltage check. Checking one terminal to ground will not tell you if you have what you need. (220 volts probably)

Thanks Jeff. It looks like I have got some homework to do. I love new projects. I learn so much.

While I was doing research I also found something on the SpaSupport site (http://spasupport.com/airlocks/) about air locks. The diagram is the exact configuration of my pump and control pack/heater. I'm going to look into that also.