OK, I've been reading all through this forum and have tried everything I've gotten my hands on. Everything seems to be working just fine. The only thing is whenever I try to turn on the hot tub while the heater element terminals are connected to the system, the breaker trips instantly. So I changed out the heater element and when I re-installed it, everything looked to be running fine, but the heater wouldnt turn on. Silly me forgot to re-prime the pump so the water pressure would let the heater turn on. As soon as I re-primed the system and had water pressure in the heater, the breaker trips as soon as its turned on again.

Something I noticed as I was testing everything is that at the main breaker box for the house, the neutral and ground buss bars are connected. There's a grounding stake just below the breaker box that has o resistance between it and the neutral lines for the house.

I read on another post that this could be my problem. So here's my question; Do I need to have the neutral and ground lines completely separated? and if so why is that?

Everything in this tub is brand new, it has a 2 spd, 240v 3HP water pump, flow through 240v heater, ozonator, and I cant remember the brand of the control box, but it has a digital readout/temp gauge. I'll try to look at it again soon and update the post w/ more specifics if needed.

Thanks for all the help!

the neutral and ground bus must be bonded in the main box of the house. that is code. What is important is that the neutral and ground leaving the GFI breaker are separate. I would remove the wires from the heater element again, and then see if it trips when the heater is turned on. If so, it could be your circulation pump. If not, you have a defective element.