sorry for the long forum entry but its a perplexing problem and I'm trying to give as much info as I can .....

I bought a used spa that sat outdoors unused for over a year. Plumbing was disconnected for that year and the unit was stored on it's side, so I believe all water was drained from the plumbing.

Got new pump, motor, electronic controller, ozonator and top-side from SpaGuts.com. Single 2-speed motor. 220 Volts. 1.5" plumbing.

I installed the new plumbing and parts. I had to re-configure the physical setup since the unit would not fit in the existing housing under my spa.

I filled the tub. turned on electric. Bled the system and it started pumping very strongly. I really don't remember if it started pumping on slow speed or if I had to hit the high speed button to get it going. I turned off the electric for a minute in order to measure the water level (to ensure I didn't have any leaks hidden from view).

Then I turned the pump back on. On slow speed the unit starts clicking on and off at a rate of about once each second. Temperature reading on the topside registers 47. No FLO or FLC messages YET but the heater light flashes on and off with the clicking .....

there is no detectable water flow on slow speed.

turned pump on high speed and clicking stops and water flows through the system

pump will not run on slow speed without cycling on and off every second.

bleed the system again. I get a steady flow of water out of the pump bleeder opening. Bleed at the Heater output ... no air. I do not get any air bubbles coming out of the jets at high speed, so I am thinking that I don't have an air leak problem (IS THIS A CORRECT ASSUMPTION?)

I run the system on high speed .... the heater runs ... and the system, as programmed reverts to slow speed pump after 20 minutes. Pump then still clicks on-off every second when pump is running at slow speed .... the heater light blinks on and off in unison with the pump.

Every 15-20 minutes, I go to the spa and hit the high speed button so that the water continues to flow and the heater stays on. Get the temp up to 95. Turn off electricity to spa for the night.

Next morning, on power up, the spa no longer clicks on and off at slow speed, but the motor seems to hum quietly and I get a FLO message on the top-side.
I go through the bleeding process at the pump and the heater but this doesn't help. The unit still runs on high speed.

I call tech support at Spa Guts ... they run me through bleeding again. Still no good. He then has me switch the red and black wires at the motor. On power-on, the unit starts up with the motor at high speed. When I hit the button on the top-side to switch the controller to high speed mode, the pump switches to low speed (because of the switched wires) and the pump just hums and I get the FLO message.

I then disconnect the motor wiring from the controller and wire the motor directly to 220v. At slow speed, there is no flow detectable but the pump hums.
At high speed, there is water flow.

Spa Guts tech support decides it's a motor problem .... they want me to send it in.

I'm wondering to myself if maybe a wasp's nest or other debris might have dislodged from inside the plumbing (I found wasp nests in other places on the spa) and maybe this was fouling the impeller, thus basically stopping the flow at slow speed. I take the cover off the wet end and inspect the impeller and it is clean.
with the cover off, I can see that the motor is actually running at slow speed and also at high speed. Is it possible that the motor is OK and there is some other problem with the system??? Can the motor run at slow speed with no load, and then not be able to pump water under load????

I'd appreciate some "second opinions" from you folks before I unbolt the brand new motor and send it back to Spa Guts.

THANKS!

Ron

What I would most certainly do is check between white to black and white to red on the output of the controller to be sure that the motor is receiving 230, and not 115 volts.

If so, then this is a configuration issue. There's probably nothing wrong with the motor. This is a common problem - but not unusual as most controls go out the door configured for 115 volt pumps etc so the masses don't make the mistake of connecting a 115v motor to a 230v power source.

Pageup .... a million thanks!!! although my controller was set for 240 volts, your suggestion to test the voltage led me to find out that the wiring at my load center was installed incorrectly! It turns out that I was getting 120 volts on white/black and 240v on white/red. The electrician that did my installation miswired at the load center and had the black wire to Neutral and the white wire to Line One .... I'm surprised it didn't trip the GFCI ....what it did was just run everything on 120 and it wasn't enough juice to power the motor at the low speed.... after switching wires at the load center all is well!!!!

Thanks again. THis forum is GREAT! I was just about to pull the motor and send it back to California ......

FOLLOW-UP Qusetion .... my motor completely quit over the weekend. Started making noises, then quit all together and started smoking. The start capacitor was ruptured. I replaced the capacitor (matching the specs, same mfd rating). reinstalled the motor and on startup I got rapid clicking of a relay and then noises and smoke again. The motor is now in the shop being looked at by the experts.

What is your opinion that this is all caused by the electrician's original miswiring of the GFI output so that the motor was being supplied only 110 volts at the slow speed ?? He had the black and white wires coming off the GFI reversed. Was it the electrician's mistake that caused the subsequent motor problems?

THANKS

Ron