Self made hot tub almost done!

[walledition]

Ive been working on a hot tub project for at least a year now and here is some progress:



Installed the jets:




Made seats higher on one end to sit a little more out of the water:




Applied some paint/plastic to seal it:


Starting to look like something:



Bought a cover at coverguys:

Heater/Pump box:

Pump:

Heater:

 

[walledition]

Im getting the "HL" Code wish means:
HFL, HL, or HTR FLOW LOW Message
Possibly the "Heater Flow is Low" (HFL or HL).

During Heating, this message indicates a Possible Low Flow Condition. There may Not be Enough Water Flow through the Heater to carry the Heat Away from the Heating Element. Heater Start Up will begin again after about 1 Min. Check for Water Level, Flow Restrictions, Closed Valves, Air Bubbles, and Pump Prime, or contact your Dealer or Service Organization.

Check for All of the following Conditions:
1. Low Water Level.
2. Blocked Suction Fitting.
3. Blocked Skimmer.
4. Dirty Filter.
5. Too Many Closed Jets.
6. Closed Slice Valve.
7. Heat Related Pump Not Running.
8. Heat Related Pump Not Primed.

I see bubbles in my pump basket but how can i prime my pump? all videos i see on youtube they open the prime valve on the top of the filter system till water comes out, i dont have a filter system yet, any ideas? Besides im getting F=, A=, b= codes flashing between showing temperature and i cant find what they mean
Videos:
20160909 121519 - YouTube
20170107 153155 - YouTube
20170107 151134 - YouTube
20170107 142500 - YouTube

Thank you for your help

 

[brajgreg]

It looks like your main pump is primed from the video. I don't think it's a suction side issue. However, if you have something that is restricting flow on the return side (any closed or partially closed valves, if you used any piping that was too small in diameter for some reason, if you have a lot of elbows, or if the run of pipe is inordinately long), you won't get enough flow through the heater, and your heater will overheat. Except your heater can protect itself against that so it shuts itself off. Do you have any kind of measurement on your inlet pressure and outlet pressure of your pump? Or at the inlet/outlet of your heater?

 

[needsajet]

I noticed you have the heater on the suction side of the pump, so I tried to find a manual, and found a retrofit manual for the Balboa VS501Z. I could only see plumbing diagrams which show the heater on the return side of the circulation system. I'm sorry but I have no idea if this is important with respect to the error codes, but maybe it would function better on the return (pressurized) side of the plumbing circuit.

The plumbing diagrams also showed a filter between the pump and the heater, but that's more related to keeping the water clean rather than hot, but begs the question of what might be accumulating inside the heater.

The valve position on the suction line appears to be partially closed, which would restrict the suction line a bit, which should be avoided.

There are many experts here that I'm sure will chime in, but if it was mine, I'd add a filter and put the heater on the return side of the pump.

 

[needsajet]

Welcome to TFP! Good to have you here, and the spa looks very inviting!

 

[ntobik]

I think needsajet is correct. I've done some work on the equipment for my spa and the heater is on the return side. The plumbing is suction to pump, from pump to heater and heater to jets.

If you want to reduce elbows you can use flexible pipe. All of our piping is the flex stuff from the suction and returns to the equipment box. In the box it's a few bits of rigid piping, but not much. I don't know if this makes much of a difference.

I have a 300 gal spa and it uses 2" piping.

You build a beautiful spa, excellent work!

 

[walledition]

I worked a little on this problem im having today and didnt have any luck so far, i installed some small relief valves:

Valve number 1 made it worse, if i open it the filter basket at the pump fills up with bubbles but once i close it it gets pretty much clear so i think brajgreg is right, i dont think my pump needs priming
I have voltage regulators for my house so i lowered voltage on both legs to 105 thinking maybe the heater would heat less and not over heat but its the same thing
All my valves are fully open even if one was half way closed when i took one of the pictures, i have 4 fully opended jets in my tub and they all have coming water out strong all the time
My piping is 2 1/2" from the skimmer where it takes the water to the heater wish is 2 1/2" also but then the pump enters and exists 2", i do have a lot of elbows
Maybe i should install a pressure gauge before and after the pump or/and heater????

 

[walledition]

You are right, i downloaded the instructions and thats how it shows

I will change that and see if anything changes, what makes me think here is i dont see any wiring instructions for a single pump and single wish is what i have??? it shows a single pumo but with 2 speeds

Ive been looking at a filter to add, do u have any part number for one i could use here?

- - - Updated - - -

Welcome to TFP! Good to have you here, and the spa looks very inviting!

thank you i cant wait to use it

- - - Updated - - -

I think needsajet is correct. I've done some work on the equipment for my spa and the heater is on the return side. The plumbing is suction to pump, from pump to heater and heater to jets.

If you want to reduce elbows you can use flexible pipe. All of our piping is the flex stuff from the suction and returns to the equipment box. In the box it's a few bits of rigid piping, but not much. I don't know if this makes much of a difference.

I have a 300 gal spa and it uses 2" piping.

You build a beautiful spa, excellent work!

Thank you
I never thought on going with flexible piping but i will if everything else doesnt solve my problem

Thank you guy for the help, i hope i can find the problem soon

 

[brajgreg]

I'd assume there is no issue with the pump wiring since you're priming and have water flow. If you had an issue, it pretty much wouldn't run. HOWEVER, since you have those two relief valves, it'd be pretty easy to put some pressure gauges on either side of the pump. Then, you can take those values and compare them to the manufacturer provided pump curves (either from their website or call them), and that'll show you what your flow rate is out of the pump. You'll need a vacuum gauge on the inlet side and a standard pressure gauge on the outside. For that size pump I'd think a 50 psi gauge would be fine. You can find them on amazon, or a pool store should have some gauges--not sure about a vacuum gauge. Maybe Home Depot or somewhere like that. Anyway, this in my opinion (along with following their schematic for the layout of your equipment--such as running your pump through a filter then through your heater in that order) is what will tell us whether there is a problem with your flow or if it's something going on with the heater itself.

 

[walledition]

I'd assume there is no issue with the pump wiring since you're priming and have water flow. If you had an issue, it pretty much wouldn't run. HOWEVER, since you have those two relief valves, it'd be pretty easy to put some pressure gauges on either side of the pump. Then, you can take those values and compare them to the manufacturer provided pump curves (either from their website or call them), and that'll show you what your flow rate is out of the pump. You'll need a vacuum gauge on the inlet side and a standard pressure gauge on the outside. For that size pump I'd think a 50 psi gauge would be fine. You can find them on amazon, or a pool store should have some gauges--not sure about a vacuum gauge. Maybe Home Depot or somewhere like that. Anyway, this in my opinion (along with following their schematic for the layout of your equipment--such as running your pump through a filter then through your heater in that order) is what will tell us whether there is a problem with your flow or if it's something going on with the heater itself.

Well i went and got 2 pressure gauges and 1 vacuum gauge, you can see the reading in this video:
1 - YouTube
Then i decided i would skip the jets and connect a big hose on the pump see if my jets are a restriction, vacuum gauge went up bouncing but at exacly 15 minutes the pump stops and im getting HL code again, video:
2 - YouTube

That code pops since theres a to big of a difference between the 2 sensors, could it be that one sensor is bad, its weird that exacly at 15 minutes evertime it shuts off even if i change the flow with the hose

Ill follow the instruccions and put the pump before the heater im just trying to order a filter while im at it install it to, i found this one: Cartridge Filter, Pentair Rainbow RTL-25, Top Load, 2 Slip | eBay

Can someone verify thats what i really need?

thank you

- - - Updated - - -

Btw i was wrong about my pvc diameter, jet side is actually 1.5" and skimmer to heater is 2", reason i did the jet side smaller is they came at 1.5"

 

[gwegan]

I'm concerned that you appear to have only a single drain. Do you have an SVRS pump?

Even with an SVRS pump I'm not sure if a single drain spa complies with the Texas building code?

Have you looked at this and whether your design meets VGB requirements?

I'm not seeing dual drains, I could be missing them. If not dual drains how are you complying with VGB for new construction and does that meet Texas code?

 

[gwegan]

Regarding the filter. That is not a filter it's a chlorinator. Go to Inyo pools and search cartridge filter. You need one 100 sq feet or less.

Part of the problem may be that the pump motor is so close and it's heat is registering. Pool pumps are not designed to be operated in a closed box like that and your design, while elegant provides litte or no heat venting.

 

[walledition]

I'm concerned that you appear to have only a single drain. Do you have an SVRS pump?

Even with an SVRS pump I'm not sure if a single drain spa complies with the Texas building code?

Have you looked at this and whether your design meets VGB requirements?

I'm not seeing dual drains, I could be missing them. If not dual drains how are you complying with VGB for new construction and does that meet Texas code?

Thank you for your input, I only have 1 drain that I can manually open and close with a big valve, it does directly into my septic tank when I wana empty it

In the area I live we don't go by the codes, if it works and it's safe we are fine

 

[duanebe]

Looks nice... impressive work!

You might find that dumping pool/spa water into your septic system will cause some problems... your septic tank needs living bacteria to work properly.. the chemicals in the spa water are meant to kill those bacteria.

Regarding your heater problems, there are dip-switches to set the modes of the heater, do you know these are set correctly? The heater needs to know the type of pump (single vs. two speed) as well as the configuration for blowers, second pumps, etc. Looking at the heater specs, your pump specs, and your piping sizes, it's not likely that you really have a low-flow situation here.

From the heater manual troubleshooting section:

dr, dy and/or HL or LF error indications. This could be due to incorrect A5 & A9 settings. Check that you have software revision 43
or higher (third number to flash on start up). Use previous table on page to determine A5 and A9 settings, if software revision is 43 or
higher. If less than 43, then you need different instructions. Contact us.
If this is not the problem, then these are typical indications when there is insufficient flow going through the heater. Check that
proper voltage has been provided to the pump receptacle (i.e., that the W1 wire is set to RED AC if pump 1 is a 230 volt pump). If
this is not the problem, check that are no air locks or flow blockages. If you have a small circulation pump (one with 1” Unions for
example (such as a Laing or Waterway Tiny Might), it may not be delivering the prerequisite 23/12.6 USGPM (5.5kW element requires
23 USGPM 3 kW element requires 12.6 USGPM). The flow either needs to be increased or the wattage of the heater element
needs to be decreased. If you have a 2-speed jet pump, in addition to the circulation pump, the spa pack can be re positioned to the
jets circuit. Contact us.

 

[walledition]

Looks nice... impressive work!

You might find that dumping pool/spa water into your septic system will cause some problems... your septic tank needs living bacteria to work properly.. the chemicals in the spa water are meant to kill those bacteria.

Regarding your heater problems, there are dip-switches to set the modes of the heater, do you know these are set correctly? The heater needs to know the type of pump (single vs. two speed) as well as the configuration for blowers, second pumps, etc. Looking at the heater specs, your pump specs, and your piping sizes, it's not likely that you really have a low-flow situation here.

From the heater manual troubleshooting section:

dr, dy and/or HL or LF error indications. This could be due to incorrect A5 & A9 settings. Check that you have software revision 43
or higher (third number to flash on start up). Use previous table on page to determine A5 and A9 settings, if software revision is 43 or
higher. If less than 43, then you need different instructions. Contact us.
If this is not the problem, then these are typical indications when there is insufficient flow going through the heater. Check that
proper voltage has been provided to the pump receptacle (i.e., that the W1 wire is set to RED AC if pump 1 is a 230 volt pump). If
this is not the problem, check that are no air locks or flow blockages. If you have a small circulation pump (one with 1” Unions for
example (such as a Laing or Waterway Tiny Might), it may not be delivering the prerequisite 23/12.6 USGPM (5.5kW element requires
23 USGPM 3 kW element requires 12.6 USGPM). The flow either needs to be increased or the wattage of the heater element
needs to be decreased. If you have a 2-speed jet pump, in addition to the circulation pump, the spa pack can be re positioned to the
jets circuit. Contact us.

Where can I contact you?

 

[duanebe]

You can PM me here on the site if you like... we can exchange information in private that way if we need to. Might be best if we just work through this thread however, because it leaves a permanent record for others who might have similar problems in the future. I'm not a professional... but happy to help others here wherever I can.

 

[gwegan]

Compliance with drain requirements is not the same as most building code issues. Drain requirements are in place to prevent deaths - plain and simple. I really don't want to sound like I'm lecturing but failure to have dual drains or some form of compliance with VGB requirements is a serious problem.

 

[walledition]

Compliance with drain requirements is not the same as most building code issues. Drain requirements are in place to prevent deaths - plain and simple. I really don't want to sound like I'm lecturing but failure to have dual drains or some form of compliance with VGB requirements is a serious problem.

Explain to me how a single drain can cause a death and how and second drain can prevent it

 

[duanebe]

Two drains allows the second drain to flow all the water if a persons hair/body gets tangled or caught against the first drain by the pump suction. They are connected in a tee... like this...


(D)---------(D)

|​

|​

|​

----> to pump suction​

imagine if someone with long hair gets sucked into the first drain... the pump can't hold them to the bottom because the second drain gives an alternate path to draw the water from.

Here are the drains in my inground pool... minimum of 36" apart here in Canada for an inground pool. I'm not familiar with the details for a spa in your area.

 

[pabeader]

A child can get stuck on one, but not two. When there are two, the proper distance apart, you can only block one, so the suction isn't as strong.