WE have had trouble in the past with this Spa being a nuisance and tripping the 40Amp GFCI. The GFCI is wired correctly with the load neutral going to the breaker and the line neutral going to the neutral block. The tub is on its 3rd heater element in approx. 1 year. When the original went, we replaced it and the new one lasted about 5 months, and now with the second new one in it lasted maybe 2-3 months.. or so I assume that is the problem. The GFCI has been tripping with turning the breaker on, we disconnected everything, one thing at a time, and couldn't find the problem. That included disconnecting the heater element power wires right from the board. With the cold weather here now, the lines were starting to freeze a bit, and with a bit of help from a heat gun I got water flowing again. Both 1 and 2 pumps still push water. The control displays a FLO message on the display.. and that was with everything except for the Circulation Pump plugged in (due to freezing and not running just making a whirring sound) I did just get the circulation pump running but it trips out the GFCI after about 10 seconds.... is this because it does not detect heat from the heater element? With this issue before, disconnecting the transformer the GFCI did not trip either. If I connect the heater element wires and the Circulation pump is running, the GFCI trips instantaneously. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks, -Dan

Which ever item is disconnected and the breaker does NOT trip, is your problem. Therefore if your circulation pump can be connected and your heater element disconnected, and the breaker holds, then the heater element went bad again. I do wonder if you have the proper sized element for your spa. One thing you can try to do is go to a slightly smaller element and see if that helps. For instance, if you have been using a 5.5KW heater element, try using a 4Kw element instead. The element may be having too much of a rise for the flow rate and is overheating and shortening it's life. The "on time" of the heater will be a little longer, but not my much. The overall cost savings in elelments and headaches are worth it. It's never a good idea to replace an element with a larger one, but it is always safe to use a smaller one.

The thing is, the circulation pump still trips the GFI after about 10 seconds of running?? I do believe the heater element is a 5.5kw pigtail heater element and runs me around $110cdn each time. Its getting ridiculous having to replace it every few months. I am going to do some tests tomorrow with my meters and see what I can come up with, I'm starting to wonder about the circulation pump drawing too much and by hooking up the heater, it draws waay too much right away and kicks out the GFI immediately. Otherwise the element could be shot because of the circulation pump failing or not moving enough water past it. Thanks. -Dan

Does your circ pump trip without the heater element disconnected? If so then that is definentally one problem you need to address. As far as the element goes, you could subsitiute a non leaded element and add the leads yourself, might be able to find a cheaper one that way.

OK, upon further investigation, I have noticed that I have a "Pilot Duty" type of setup and that I have two wires for the Hi limit, two wires for the pressure switch, and 2 wires for the element. Everything is fine as long as neither of the element wires are hooked to the control board. If I attach the black wire, the 40 amp GFI trips immediately, if I disconnect it and connect the white wire the GFI trips within 10 seconds... not right away. I guess before when I thought it was the circulation pump I did still have the one white wire hooked up to the board for the element. My question is... what would cause this? Remember, the heater is not fully connected, only one wire is, and either way the GFI is tripped... with the circulation pump connected, but does not trip when connected alone. I am only one person, so I cannot see what is causing the amperage draw as its merely impossible to make it from the basement to the back outside of the house to see what spikes. So unless anyone can tell me what this may be, I am going to try getting a new 4kw pigtail type heater element to replace the 5.5kw one with. Thanks again, -Dan

It looks like your element is indeed bad. With a 240V heater, you will have two hot leads going to the element. Either one will have 120V any time the heater element is "on". That is why either lead hooked up will trip the breaker. I think going down to the 4Kw heater will help increase the longevity of the element, not to mention the wiring, and especially the relays controlling it.