Refilled my 6 year old tiger river sumatran, and hi limit switch wouldnt reset. Power light blinking, circ pump working fine (very good water flow out of outlet). Tried resetting the power etc, took filter out and reset, but still nothing. First problem ever with this tub. Called dealer, who sent a tech out. Tested leads on heater - got resistance to ground on one lead (not sure what scale, but I thought the reading was 60 something), zero off other power lead to ground. Heater was working at the time, but he said I needed a new heater, - could have lasted a day, a month, he had no idea. I agreed to replace the heater - my luck it would have died before he got out of the drive. $285 for the heater, 95 for the service call. (unfortunately, he took the old heater with him) Tub came up to temperature, then about a day later, power light blinking, and water at about 80. Reset power, etc, worked for about an hour, then tripped again. This time, I noticed no water flow from circ pump. Called dealer, who told me I needed to replace pump. Wants to charge me another 95 for a service call, two days after he was just out. My questions are as follows: could changing the heater have had ANYTHING to do with the subsequent pump problem - I know the pump is before the heater, and it is unlikely - but how likely is a second major part failure within 48 hours of a service call? Did I need a new heater to start - or was the circ pump the problem - feel like I got scammed for a heater I didnt need.
Read your forum, and whacked the impeller on the pump a few times - could hear it moving, but sounded like a box of rocks, then froze again. Is it worth taking the impeller apart to clear what had to be a very sudden blockage(pump was totally silent yesterday.....) especially if I have to replace it anyway - seems worth a shot.

Gonna replace it myself if I have to though, not going to give this guy another dime - I dont mind replacing the pump - but his unwillingness to forgo the second service call fee just cost him about 5 grand when I replace this tub in a year or so.

Thanks for the input

pfa1

Is the 95 dollar a minimum charge, or an hourly rate, (1 hr. minumum? ) It shouldn't take more than 20 or 30 minutes to replace the circ pump, that should be a portion of the hourly rate, not a new 95 min charge.

But anyway, no, there isn't much he could have done to ruin the circ pump. It was just time.

However, I'd ask him to change both temp sensors at this time as well- an extra ~16 dollars each.

Always our policy to leave old parts with the customer.

If the heater is heating, a little curious that he's getting OHMs to ground on only one lead, since one lead is just the opposite side of the "other" lead. If he's getting resistance toi ground on one side- he should be getting it on the other, and your GFCI should be tripping as well- maybe I don't have all the information, but that doesn't sound quite right? (or that he'd even bother checking for resistance to ground unless the breaker was tripping-

Here's my version of what happened:

You mentioned you refilled your tub. These mag drive circ pumps are slow starters, especially when going down-hill. When you refilled the tub, the circ pump was slow to get going, and tripped the electronic high-limit. Sometime after the high-limit tripped, the circ pump finally got going. The tech comes out, sees circ pump going, figures flow isn't the problem. Starts looking for other problems, thinks he fiound a problem with the heater. Replaces it. 2 days later- original issue is still unresolved, the bad circ. pump.
If it were my business, we'd send someone out there and bill you for the pump, and no labor charge. But that's at the discretion of the dealer.

Good luck- I'd try to nicley urge the dealer to discount the labor.

~Swine

S- The 95 is the cost of the service call - he was only there for 15 minutes for the heater as well. GFI was NOT tripping at the time. I was looking over his shoulder when he tested the leads, and one was zero, and the other was 60 or so - like I said, not sure what he had the scale set to, and I am not an electrician. Short on one tube of the heater and not the other? He couldnt tell me why it was doing that, just said it was a "sign" of a bad heater - but the heater WAS heating when he replaced it, he just said it would go any time now.- he also replaced temp sensors - and charged me for those as well. I tried to get the dealer - who is very reputable in our area - has been in business for 20 + years - to do just that - lower or 86 the service call charge, but he said he had to "cover his costs". My guess is his profit on that 150 heater is probably 50 bucks or so, which would probably cover the cost of the tech for the 15 minutes he would be at the house - and if it were MY business ( I have owned a service business for 20 years as well) I would also put the pump in and not charge labor. His choice, and I will NOT be buying the replacement hot tub next year from him (whats the profit on a 5k hot tub?? A bit more than the 95 bucks I think.....). Thanks for the info - its been quite an education in hot tub hydro dynamics over the last few days......
this is a great site - wish I had known about it last week!
pfa1

Just a follow up note - I was able to take the circ pump out, and take apart the impeller - some scale build up in there. Put it back to gether, and its running like a champ.... Dont know how long it will last, - its running totally silent, and even if it only lasts a month or two, its better than paying another 95 bucks!

Well done- hope it lasts and lasts for you

A few things I ask of my techs to record on every service call on a hotspring regardless of what we're doing to it-
1. amp draw of heater
2. ohms reading of both thermistors
3. one minute flow test of circ. pump
Since I do all the calls after the repairs are done and the invoice is written, it gives me the tools to assure other items are working properly, or I can suggest replacing something the next time we're in the area.

On the other note about needing a return trip, one of my guys will be in Northwest CT in the A.M. for a no labor visit. It's been -10 degrees or there abouts and he took a short cut and missed a ground faulting heater on a no-flow call. No big deal, we won't charge for the labor.