II. Doesn’t Heat
If the heater light is solid and the spa is not heating, it’s likely the heater.
Remember, spas plugged by a cord into an outlet only gain 1-2 degrees per hour.
Spas hardwired to 220-240vac will gain 5-6 degrees per hour. You might not be
able to feel a different temperature of water coming out of the heater nozzle.
Even touching the heater element doesn’t always “feel” different.
The tech’s method to test the integrity of the heater element is with an ohm
meter. TURN OFF MAIN POWER. Set the meter to OHMS. Place each probe on
the heater posts. You should get 11-15k ohms resistance. If not, you have a failed
element. If the ohms is correct, he next checks:
The power to the spa. A perfect heater without proper current won’t heat.
PLEASE NOTE: that to check current you need a good meter and know how to
use it safely. If you do not, seek help from someone who does or have a licensed
electrician do this test.
When the heater light is ON, the heater should be receiving either 110-130vac or
220-260vac, depending on your spa and incoming power service.
To check canister heater do this: Turn off power and unplug heater cord. Turn
power on. Set voltmeter to above 300vac. When the heater light is ON, careful
place probes in heater socket like you would test a wall outlet. If you have no
current and no errors on the topside, the board has failed.
On spas with connected heater, follow same procedure as with canister except
you do not have to remove the wires from the board to the heater. If you do not
and the heater light is solid, then the board has failed and you will have to
replace.
If you have the proper ohms resistance on the first test AND the proper voltage at
the heater AND you gave the spa enough time to heat, several things could be
the problem.
First, it’s not uncommon for the above test to pass and still be misleading. The
test proves true and then minutes or an hour later the heater stop heating and
the heater light go out. There will be an error code but you are not there to see.
So you have to eliminate that possibility. First, remove the filter(s) and leave out
for a day. Does the spa still not heat? IF not, check to confirm the heater light is
On or a error code is displayed, that will lead you one direction. But, if the heater
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