Heater terminal melted circuit board

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FairToMiddling

Member
Aug 6, 2022
5
Connecticut
Just switched spa back on after it had been drained for a few months. Started up fine and then after an hour or so the breaker tripped. Stupidly I just switched the breaker back on to see what would happen and it seemed to start back up fine. Then noticed overnight it was circulating but not heating. Switched it off and opened the circuit board enclosure and the heater terminal and one of the hot terminals are completely melted. My question is, can I safely just replace the circuit board and heater or is something bad with the breaker? The GFCI test button on the breaker does seem to be working. I don’t really understand how the pump was still running with the circuit board looking like this. Photos attached.
 

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Looks like both the connector and, quite possibly, the microchip in lower left of first photo were smoked. Reminds me of when I was in college and shorted out an IC... a grad student said I'd "let the magic smoke out" that made it all work.

Likely not an issue with GFCI breaker. Sounds like it worked as intended and tripped the first time when it sensed an issue in the branch the heater is on. Resetting it likely finished the job for the circuit board. A replacement board will definitely be required. There are others here who likely have experience with board replacements for your particular brand/model of equipment, and who can also help guide your troubleshooting efforts to ensure there's not an additional issue downstream from the board.
 
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