Intex pure spa circuit board fix

Jump to latest Follow Reply
A

anthony21078

0
Jun 14, 2018
123
Long Island NY
Might be a long shot but I figured I'd post this here. If anybody knows an electronics forum I could post this on please let me know. I have an Intex spa that has been running well for 2 years. At the end of the season last year I remember the spa randomly shutting down every few days and I couldnt diagnose at that point but there were no codes. At the start of this season, within a few minutes of running, the unit just shuts down but does not display a code. A long beep with all the lights illuminating followed by a shutdown. It will shut down if the filter is running solo or if the heatler and filter are running together.

Considering the fact that the unit shuts down with only the filter running, I cancelled out the heating element as being a problem. But once I opened up the unit and after reading numerous threads of black flakes in the hot tub and starting to see that myself, I pulled apart the heater unit and removed all the black paint from the inside.

Taking a look at the circuit board I see two capacitors with some crud on the top so my guess is they went bad. I can solder and I think I can replace these myself but I need some help finding out which ones to buy and where. Can anyone help on that?

The pics show the only writing on the capacitor
 

Attachments

  • 20220529_192646.jpg
    20220529_192646.jpg
    372.8 KB · Views: 18
  • 20220529_195933.jpg
    20220529_195933.jpg
    332.5 KB · Views: 16
  • 20220529_195940.jpg
    20220529_195940.jpg
    348.4 KB · Views: 17
  • 20220529_232959.jpg
    20220529_232959.jpg
    505 KB · Views: 23
  • 20220529_233007.jpg
    20220529_233007.jpg
    377.3 KB · Views: 19
  • 20220529_233454.jpg
    20220529_233454.jpg
    253.5 KB · Views: 18
  • 20220529_233458.jpg
    20220529_233458.jpg
    280.1 KB · Views: 20
1653960157054.png
You sure there's not writing on this side of the capacitors? The writing on the top seems to indicate this should wrap around just like the writing you took a picture of. There should be a size (in μF) and a voltage.

Once you have these, you'll want to measure the diameter of these caps to make sure replacements aren't larger (cause it looks like larger would hit that connector) and measure the spacing of the pins too, so the replacement caps slide fully into the board.

I usually buy electronics parts from Digikey, their site can be a bit overwhelming for new people, so if you can get those measurements plus the μF and voltage ratings (🤞 they are listed where I put the arrow) then I can help you sort through and find suitable replacement capacitor.

However, it also looks like they coated the completed board in epoxy. Getting those capacitors out will not be an easy job if that's the case.
 
Also capacitors can fail on their own, but they will also fail easily if something else failed. Still, they are pretty cheap, so assuming you can get them out and are willing to spend the time needed to do so, you won't be out a lot of money if it doesn't work.
 
Is there any other righting on it? As mentioned you are looking for the volts and μF the only thing I can tell about them is that they are rated for high temps. Can you take a picture of those locations underneath the PCB. The caps should be marked as the picture below.(example)
BA15D162-6F52-4DD6-8677-98D69AC0B494.png
 
Last edited:
Sorry, I am not familiar with that brand or that board.
If that is the transformer connection there by those capacitors I'd suggest a new one of those too, as it could be the cause of those caps blowing.
I do not do electronics repair, and bring circuit boards to a pro myself. I wouldn't know where to source those parts.
 
anthony21078 said:
Might be a long shot but I figured I'd post this here. If anybody knows an electronics forum I could post this on please let me know. I have an Intex spa that has been running well for 2 years. At the end of the season last year I remember the spa randomly shutting down every few days and I couldnt diagnose at that point but there were no codes. At the start of this season, within a few minutes of running, the unit just shuts down but does not display a code. A long beep with all the lights illuminating followed by a shutdown. It will shut down if the filter is running solo or if the heatler and filter are running together.

Considering the fact that the unit shuts down with only the filter running, I cancelled out the heating element as being a problem. But once I opened up the unit and after reading numerous threads of black flakes in the hot tub and starting to see that myself, I pulled apart the heater unit and removed all the black paint from the inside.

Taking a look at the circuit board I see two capacitors with some crud on the top so my guess is they went bad. I can solder and I think I can replace these myself but I need some help finding out which ones to buy and where. Can anyone help on that?

The pics show the only writing on the capacitor
Click to expand...
Kind of a separate issue, but I just took my Intex PureSpa Greywood SB-HW10 control unit apart due to the black specs of paint flaking off from the inside of the 4 chamber heat exchanger. It looks like your heater wafer material dissolved from prolonged use? Maybe the heater element is shorting out? What did the heater element look like when you pulled the black heat exchanger apart? Nothing else is wrong with mine, so I was using an engine cleaning brush kit with a drill, and some goofoff from the automotive store to remove the rest of the paint on the inside of the 4 tubes, and then I plan to use high temp spray primer and high temp spray paint (up to 2000F) to refurbish the inside and try to see if that helps for awhile with just the paint coating coming off into the spa.

How did you remove the paint from yours? And what did it look like before you put it back together?
 
Hey everyone I completely missed any notifications for this thread. Upon further inspection I was able to see the writing on the capacitors so I ordered the exact Replacements and solder them in. Digging them out of the silicone was very hard and the rear of the panel needed a dremel to remove the plastic backing. It did not change the problems with the unit itself. Further reading suggested it was possibly the entire control board itself and a replacement only cost about $13 but they're not made anymore according to intex.

Even more reading suggested that the digital control panel on top of the unit could be the cause of error code "888" and that was a $45 replacement if I chose that route. Since I felt like I didn't know the exact problem I was able to find a an enitre used control base on Facebook Marketplace for 100.

My hot tub has been up and running for a couple weeks. I am in the process of using the old intake and return tubes from the original unit to retrofit a tankless water heater using propane to significantly lower the heating cost in the long run. I leave this spa at 104 all the time for probably five months straight and it does hit the electric quite hard but it does get daily use.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Orion7319
Southern_IN763 said:
Kind of a separate issue, but I just took my Intex PureSpa Greywood SB-HW10 control unit apart due to the black specs of paint flaking off from the inside of the 4 chamber heat exchanger. It looks like your heater wafer material dissolved from prolonged use? Maybe the heater element is shorting out? What did the heater element look like when you pulled the black heat exchanger apart? Nothing else is wrong with mine, so I was using an engine cleaning brush kit with a drill, and some goofoff from the automotive store to remove the rest of the paint on the inside of the 4 tubes, and then I plan to use high temp spray primer and high temp spray paint (up to 2000F) to refurbish the inside and try to see if that helps for awhile with just the paint coating coming off into the spa.

How did you remove the paint from yours? And what did it look like before you put it back together?
Click to expand...
I don't believe my problem was related to the heater because the unit with display the error code and shut down even if the heater was off.

I removed the heater core and submerged it in acetone which completely removed all the black paint from the inside and outside. I don't know why they chose to paint the heater but this issue is very common with the black flakes. I'm not sure what material the heater is made of perhaps iron? The paint may prevent rust.

I didn't take a picture of the unit once I put it back together but there is no black paint left on it
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply