'06 Sundance Spa - Heater or Recirculation Pump Capacitor?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
I

internet

0
Aug 22, 2016
36
Martinez
'06 Sundance Cameo main fuse blowing

Got home from vacation to find no pumps or filters running. Checked and the breaker was tripped. Flipped it on and noticed the same except also my control panel going a bit berserk, though not showing any actual codes. Flipped breaker off and on once more and it then went totally dead. Pulled from panel on the Sentry and the main fuse was blown. Replaced fuse, turned on the breaker and...spa powered up for one brief second and then, pop. Fuse went out and breaker tripped.

Any suggestions how to fix this?
 
Re: '06 Sundance Cameo main fuse blowing

UPDATE:

Some research revealed that IF the breaker also trips when the fuse blows, that is most commonly a sign on Sundance spas that the heater is going bad. Heaters are fairly simple to replace and run around $200, so I preemptively bought one. Apparently purchasing the heater is all it takes to fix the issue, because when I got home and ran through a series of "knock out" tests, the spa was totally fine.

The main culprits for blowing the main fuse are a bad heater and/or a bad recirculation pump. The recirc pump is disconnected from the Sentry board by removing three wires (two from the power and neutral plugs, one from the ground bus). The heater is disconnected by removing the black and red wires from their screw downs above the bank of relays. With the circ pump and heater disconnected, I replaced the fuse and powered up the spa without issue.

Since the heater is the main culprit for tripping the breaker, I first reconnected the circ pump and powered the tub up again. No problem and all pumps powered up without issue.

Third, just to confirm my issue, I reconnected the heater. Except this time, when I powered it up, everything still worked. I suspected the heater would have blown the fuse and tripped the breaker, but this was not the case at all. Everything worked fine and the heater heated the spa in the expected time.

Still no idea why (1) I found it without power and a blown fuse, and (2) it blew a fuse during an all-components-attached test only 12 hours earlier. Perhaps the cold weather (down to the low 40s) had something to do with binding a motor that was no longer seized when it warmed up again. I have no idea.

Hope this info helps someone down the road.
 
Re: '06 Sundance Cameo main fuse blowing

Apparently purchasing the heater is all it takes to fix the issue, because when I got home and ran through a series of "knock out" tests, the spa was totally fine.
Click to expand...

LOL! Thanks for the follow up. Yes, the heater is often the culprit. Now that you have a spare yours should work fine for a while. :)
 
This is continued from another thread where I "figured" that the issue was with the heater...or was it? https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/130853-06-Sundance-Cameo-main-fuse-blowing

Either way, the issue occurred again where the main fuse blew and tripped the breaker. This time I dug a little deeper (though perhaps not deep enough yet). I disconnected the circ pump and ran both jet pumps with no issues. I also connected the recirc pump directly into the wall (110v, even though it's a 220v) to see whether the pump itself was functioning well. The motor hums along almost silently and does not trip the GFCI outlet.

What I have NOT done though is isolated the heater as the possible culprit still. I'll explain. (Also, I'm not sure whether the run capacitor could be an issue, but those are cheap so I might replace anyways just to see.)

Test 1: disconnect circ pump and run jets. Runs fine, BUT, this produces a FLO error since there is no flow through the circ pump which, if I am not mistaken, will also cause the heater not to kick on. So this does not test whether heater is issue.
Test 2: bench test circ pump BUT not while hot tub is on. This only confirms that circ pump functions smoothly. But since I did not do this with the tub ON, the heater did not engage and I couldn't test whether that's an issue.

So I need to isolate the heater and the circ pump.

Planned test 3 (let me know whether this could identify the issue): Plug the circ pump into the wall and get it running to trigger the flow sensor. Turn the tub ON (with the heater connected) and see whether triggering ON the heater causes the fuse to blow and the breaker to trip.

Planned test 4: reconnect circ pump and disconnect heater and run everything for a period of time and see whether the fuse blows and breaker trips.

Remaining question: is the circ pump run capacitor the issue? I don't know. Can I test that with a basic multimeter Ohm reading?


It seems like this only ever becomes an issue when it's cold out, though the tub itself never gets seriously cold (never below, say, 85). Which, being in the South this year, is not a guarantee.

So, any more ideas?
 
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