[110v]

A year ago, I replaced my Silent Flo 5000 recirculating pump, as it was failing and causing the spa LED to flash (indicating the internal breaker had tripped). I replaced the pump and everything worked fine.

Well, it's been a year since then, and I just drained my spa again (not that I'm lazy; I maintain great water chemistry, and don't see the need to drain/refill often).

To refill the spa, I did as instructed and filled up the filter area first, and let the hose stay there filling up the spa via the overflow. At this point I decided to 'get things going' by plugging in the sap and turning up the heat.

After a few minutes I noticed the recirc. pump started making a loud rumbling noise. I then turned on the jets, which tripped my GFCI at the outlet/plug.

For the past two nights (after work), I've tried again to plug in the spa and let the recirc. pump work... but, again, after a few minutes the pump starts making noise again. I left it on for an hour last night, and finally unplugged the spa after it became clear to me that the noise wasn't going to cease.

Question #1: did I damage the pump by turning it on (via plugging in the spa) before the spa was filled? If so, why is the pump so sensitive? Shouldn't it be able to sense if it's not getting enough water flow and simply shut off instead of failing? I know nothing about pumps; just thought I'd ask these silly questions.

Question #2: is there a way I can fix the noise, or do I have to buy a new pump?

Question #3: does anyone have a good way to diagnose the GFCI trip I'm having when I turn on the jets? Again, the GFCI is tripping at the outlet where the spa is plugged in -- the internal spa breakers are not tripping.

Thanks so much for your help.
-Kevin

The silent flow 5000 is a mag drive pump, meaning it uses a magnetic field to turn the impeller. If there is no water in the housing when you turn this on, it will suffer from friction and could very well cause a serious problem. There is a pressure sensor or a flow switch, but all that does is confirm the circulation pump (the 5000) is operating good enough to turn the heater on. There is no watchdog responsible to ensure your spa has enough water to activate the circ. pump.

Regarding your GFI breaker tripping, you might want to disconnect your circulation pump and see if it still trips. You may find the two problems are caused by that circ. pump having been run dry.

Jer

Well, I managed to resolve the problem without having to buy a new recirc. pump -- while running the pump, I disconnected the output tubing, and -viola- a bunch of 'gunk' shot out of the pump, turning soon to clear water with lots of flow. Reconnected the tubing to the pump and all is now well!

The GFCI is not tripping as of this morning (before I fixed the pump problem). Guess it's now intermittent... Not sure what I'll do with that problem now.

Regards,
-Kevin