I bought a Gulf Coast Englewood 8000 in 2001, last summer (July 2008) the spa stopped working, I've been busy so just now have time to diagnosis/fix. Drained all the H20 for winter (I live in Michigan).

The Pump 2 works, the pump1 does not, I can hear a relay try to kick in but nothing else happens.

Please advise me some diagnostics steps.

Here are some picts of the control:




I also got this error code


Here is pict of my spa pack:

U need to first determine if there is something wrong with the control panel or the motor. You could start by plugging motor1 into the place where motor2 connects. Or by checking the voltage at the motor1 connection when pumps are turned on. Not uncommon for motors that old to have problems.

I swapped Pump1 and Pump2 plugs, when I put the circuit breaker back in the GFCI beeped and shut down instantly.
Pump1 is also the heater circualtion loop.

Now that I think about it, back in 2006 and 2007 when everythign was working fine, when I was using the hot tub for extended periods of time, say 2+ hours, once in a while the GFCI would trip (beep beep beep). I'd just wait 2-3 minutes, re-set it and seemed to work fine. I've taken the GFCI box apart, all wires securley connected. I've checked the leads into the gecko pack, all secure.

These 2 picts I took just today.




What to check next?

(thx for advice)

I've made some short YouTube Videos to help diagnosis, I'm feeling Pump1 is bad more and more.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3pekqCRSb0

Pump2 works fine, and control on top turns Pump2 on when plugged into the Pump1 or pump2 connection end, so appears the top control is fine?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87MO4QQoHSM

Pump1 tries to kick in, you can hear it go hmmmm, then kick out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSEQjoyNgK8

What I would do is pull the motor (and pump) and check it out. Pull the end off the motor and have a look at all the wiring. Its not uncommon for the centrifugal thingy to get loose or for some wiring to come loose. If nothing else you can power up the motor (carefully so as not to electrocute yourself). Or take it to a shop that can check it out (an electric motor shop not a hot tub shop). Do not run the motor with the pump attached for more than a few seconds - you can destroy the pump. Another thing to check is the heater. In my limited knowledge if you check continuity between either of the connections and ground and get anything other than an open circuit the heater is shorted out. internally (assuming you have a 220VAC system not a 110VAC system). Hope that helps.

Denny;

Thx for your help, I appreciate it.

What a nice way to spend Sunday mid-day, working on my hot tub......at least it should be working soon.
I think you appreciate things more when they don't work and you go w/o them for a while.

Took off Pump1, as I was undoing it the white gasket on the pump side was crumbled and I can see how it leaked, looks like that accelerated pump failure:


In process removed spa pack unit


The middle gasket here shows what I call failure mode, honestly it looks like bad install job, it's never been serviced.
I'll get all new gaskets to make sure.


Pump removed.
It was siezed, I took the vise grips to the shaft between the elect motor and the H20 impeller and was able to un-sieze it.
Lots of corrosion there.


So now I need to get replacement pump, I wonder if the pump impeller portion is sperate or comes with the pump?
Guess I'll be calling Tech Support: 813-235-4574 Parts: 1-866-364-9681 Monday to find out.
I have no idea what $'s to expect either.


Again, Denny thx for your help.


Admin/Mod:
Shold this thread be moved to another sub-forum here (bad pumps) or "ok" to keep in this forum for consistency?

I tried to take off the front H20 Pump portion, I'm stuck.
Took off the front 8 screws, removed the faceplate, there are no apparent fasteners inside.
Is it held on just by the pal nut that appears to be holding the pump turbine itself to the shaft??
I don't want to break anything.


By the way, when you look at the bottom of the pump clearly there was H20 leakage....
So, my shaft seal went bad, caused my pump motor bearing to sieze....can I just replace that bearing to save some $$$'s?



Edit:
I'm reading in the "Pump Issues, Jet Pumps" sub-forum, http://spaforums.com/Spa-Repair/Pumps , how to remove the impeller - there are a few threads there with exact same Q as mine, hopefully I can do it.

It looks to me like you need the whole schmear, pump and motor. They generally come as a unit and most places recommend you buy them together to avoid problems. Try Discountspaparts.com and there are several other internet sources for spa parts. Compare price with your local dealer and buy where you can get the best deal. It looks like the seals in your pump have been out for quite some time. In the future its a good idea to keep an eye on them and if leaking fix it. Now to the pump impeller, it unscrews but you have to secure the motor from turning to unscrew it. I took the electrical stuff off the other end of my motor and used (cant remember if it was vice grips) or something to stop the shaft from turning. IIRC the impeller has reversed threads and unscrews the "wrong" way. Good practice for future seal replacement jobs but like I said I think you need to but an assembled pump and motor. Probably 200-300 bux - not a bad deal. On the positive side you are getting an education in how the spa comes apart........... BTDT.

I do have a 4hp Waterway pump impeller, from what I can make on the inside center portion of the impeller.
Pt# 310-4190. circa late 1990's or early 2000's, since I bought this tub Aug-2001 from a warehouse dealer (my loghome builder knew him) I suspect my tub is late 1990's manuf.

Ha, the 5HP sticker on the outside of the waterway housing is a lie (earlier pict in this thread), the molded 4hp must be the real spec.




The impeller spins clockwise to shoot water out the center hole, so the threads are not the std "righty tighty, lefty loosy", but reverse so they stay tight.
(like you stated)
google found the impeller manuf website, http://www.waterwayplastics.com/.

I'll do as you recommend, check local vs web. I do like to support local person, but if their mark-up is too high I'll go with web.

Yea, I'm taking ownership of my spa, and learning/saving $'s in the process.

As an Engineer, I wonder what the mtbf design spec for the pump seal(s) are? 10 years?
The pump1 has high duty cycle.

edit:
This site has good schematics, http://www.aqua-man.com/schematic.asp?kc=S1938
Mine is the current style

Interesting that HP is printed on the pump. Seems like pumps don't make HP, motors do. Maybe that is the recommended motor size for the pump. FWIW, while they rate these motors at 4HP I think that is startup HP and actual HP is more like 2. MTBF, well my first replacement was 4-5 years after I bought spa new in 2000, next was last year, so MTBF=4-5 years. Fortunately they are cheap and pretty easy to replace. Sounds like you're well on your way to a working hot tub.