Hi All,

I was hoping that all the experienced hot tub people here might be able to help me out. I just fired up the tub and there is no heat and no jets. The bubbles and light do work.

Some background:

My wife and I bought a house in Sept which had an outdoor hot tub. We used it September through November without issue (except for some drunken antics). I decided to empty it early December for a number of reasons.

I pumped out all the water, then hooked up the wet/dry vac up to the water intake in the tub to blow out all the water in the pipes. I think I did a pretty good job as after about 10 min, there was very little water coming out and it was mostly “spitting” at me. Not being terribly technical about this stuff, I was fairly confident that there wasn’t enough water in the tub or pipes to create an issue when the temps plummet.

Fast forward several months to this weekend.

I fill up the tub and turn on the heater/jets, etc. No heat . The tub is hardwired to the breaker inside the house. The reason I know the heater isn’t working is b/c the electricity meter is still slow—when the heater is on, the thing flies.

So here is the scoop

Jets don’t work
Heater doesn’t work ( only for 5 secs at a time)
Light and bubbles ( see pics), work

One thing of note is the main hydrospa control box, clicks ( in a good way) every few minutes. Heater sppears to turn on. For 5-7 seconds, the electricity meter speeds up as if the heater is on, but then shuts off. This happens continuously until I shut everything down.

Here are the pics of the equipment under the tub and the jets on the side which dont work and the holes on the seat which do work.

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

There is a reset button--which doesnt help. After reading a bunch of threads, Im hoping there is air in the system which might be causing this?

This one's easy.
You've got an airlock in your pump.

Note how the pump discharge is rotated sideways.

There is an air cavity in the top 1/4 of that thing - you've got to bleed it out by slightly loosening the couplers, (so air and water will come out), either or both of the pump discharge and heater discharge. Do this on low speed mostly... it may help to try it on high speed for short periods. It may take a while. Eventually the air will bleed out and your pump will work steadily.

This problem is a real pain in the ass sometimes and all air locks are different. But at least you've got easy access to your equipment.

Thanks for the info!! is this a normal occurance when its blown out for the winter months?

pardon my ignorance--but which one is the pump? and the couplers?

Can you indicate on the pics?

the learning continues!

LOL

thanks!!

Pump is on the back left, it has two pipes connected to it.

Thanks Page.. Ill try it as soon as it stops raining and report back...

I had some time, got a pipe wrench and was able to try this.

I was able to loosen the fittings on the dry and wet end of the pump.. water came out of both---a little air--but not as much as I had hoped.

I also bled the connection just before the heater ( which is hidden behind the control box)--and water came out of there too.

Im not sure how LONG I need to keep those slightly open--as the water coming out had me unnerved with all that electricity.

So---still have the same problem..thoughts?

also.. I noticed that the output shaft from the motor which goes into the pump, never turns.. Im assumed that could be an issue if everything is bled properly?

<now edited for the 2nd time>

The motor is hot to the touch. I check the output shaft and it is easily turned using a needle nose pliers---

With my limited knowledge, do we have a frozen motor?

Lol... yeah, that could entirely have a lot to do with it. No rotation+hot motor=dead pump.