PLEASE HELP!!

I have a Manora by Tiger River Spas, and I am having trouble figuring out what is causing my problem. It doesn't matter if I have the jets on, or the heater running - after about 30 seconds, EVERYTHING turns off. BUT, it doesn't seem to be tripping the GFCI. In fact, we replaced that anyway, just in case. The filter is clean.

Here's the tricky part - I am able to turn the temperature dial to cold, then back to hot, and everything (lights, heater, and/or jets) will start up again, for a short time. Sometimes it will stay on for longer - the other day we thought we'd had it fixed, because it stayed on for several hours. But, once it turned off again, we couldn't get it to stay on for more than 30 seconds at a time.

Could an air bubble also cause the whole unit to shut down like this? I am new to owning a spa, and am not entirely sure about the procedure of flushing out an air bubble, but I think I need to pour water directly into the filter, while attempting to keep the jets on. Should I reset to turn the jets back on every 30 seconds while doing this?

My husband is a disabled vet, in a lot of pain, and he needs this spa to be working, but we are on a very fixed income. ANY SUGGESTIONS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

(Crossing my fingers in hopes that it won't be an expensive repair),
Deborah

That's the indication of a flow switch error.


You'll have to troubleshoot to determine which of the following, but one of these is your problem...
The flow switch is possibly defective, or more likely, the circ. pump is defective (the small, 24hr silent circulation pump), or, less likely but still happens, the circuit-board has failed...

Check the circ. pump for flow. If it's not flowing, replace it, problems solved



But... if you have decent circ. pump flow try unplugging and re-plugging in the flow switch harness, and check for continuity (You'll need an ohm meter as well as very small meter leads... the harness is extremely small, regular size prongs will not be able to fit)

If the flow switch meters out well, the issue lies on the main circuit board... and it will need replacement

Good luck,

~Swine

Prior to receiving your response, we decided to look a little closer at the guts of our spa.

Previously we could hear the circulation pump humming, and since (when the spa was working) the water heated up, it's apparent that there was some flow. Although, the flow seemed rather light - not sure though, since it is new to us, and we honestly don't know how much it's supposed to flow.

From what I understand, the water gets pulled out of the tub into the heater and such from the filter, right? Well, we found the spot in the filter area where it appears that the water should be pulled out, but there was no suction at all. I thought there may have been an airlock, or some sort of block in the line. (Prior to us getting the spa, I noticed that the water was rather filthy - the filter had been pretty gross as well) We tried to spray water directly into that hole, and found that the water came through the end of a hose and started spraying everywhere.

This helped us to notice that the attachment for one of the tubes had broken, so we replaced that part. Not really sure how long that has been a problem. Also, there had been an ozonator that was toast (electrically that is), so we removed it. However, it had only been attached to a hose at the bottom. We weren't sure at the time if there was supposed to be another hose feeding water into the ozonator. When we removed it, the hose that had been attached was sucking air, and we also found another hose that had been just sitting in there, which had some sort of valve on it, but it definitely pushes water, because I accidentally touched it, and then it wouldn't stop pouring out water. Luckily I had a bucket right there. So, we got something to connect those 2 hoses. Was this correct? I'm wondering if it had been sucking in air for all that time, but was supposed to be sucking water from another location - could that have caused the circulation pump to go bad? I wish I could find a diagram showing the anatomy of my spa, INCLUDING the hoses.

After connecting the hoses, it started working again for quite a while. We were so excited because we thought this was it. We left it alone overnight so it could heat up (the temp had been down below 80 degrees). The next day, we went back and the temp was up to 104 degrees. We tested the jets, and after about 2 minutes, it kicked off again. Then it started acting the same way - you turn it back on, then everything turns off 30 seconds later. Again, the lights also turned off. If it was a faulty circulation pump, then would it actually cause the lights to go out as well? Why is this? We got frustrated and decided to walk away.

Ok, now that I've received your response, we just went back to it, Now it won't turn on at all. Thought a fuse had been blown, but that doesn't appear to be the problem. The GFCI is still not being tripped.

I don't have an ohmeter, but my neighbor is an electrician and he has one. Unfortunately, I had hoped that he would be able to test it today, but since we can't even get it to do ANYTHING, it doesn't look like that's gong to happen. Any other suggestions? PLEASE?????

Would it help if I sent a picture of my spa "guts"?

Thanks for any help,
Deborah

Try replacing the small (3/4") check valve on the circ pump intake..... It's cheap (about $5.00) andwithout going into too much detail, can cause the type of problem you're having....

Also, unplug and re-plug in the flow switch harness... try plugging it in upside down, it will make better contact that way.