14 year old Jacuzzi repair or replace?

[Fungi]

It's a 14 year old Jacuzzi J-345. It now trips the circuit breaker when the pumps come on. It's middle of October in central Illinois. I'm going to have to drain it due to upcommin freezing weather and the fact that I can't run the heater, filter pump, and ozonator if it can't be operated without running the pumps at startup. I can tell you none of the valves valve anymore. Anything adjustable will break off in your hand if you try to adjust it. Should I buy a new one? I don't know if anyone rebuilds them, or is it just junk? I am not physically able to rebuild it myself. I learned a bit, like speakers in a hot tub is dumb. haha! Looking for some helpful advise. Thanks

 

[cranbiz]

There are people that can certainly rebuild it. If you want one to rebuild it for you, it will probably cost a minimum of a couple thousand and most likely, it will need to be done at their shop, so it add in a cost factor to move it to and from.

A new J345 Retails for around $13,500 pre covid. I have no idea what they are selling for now but even if it's $14,000 you are looking at a decent wait for a new tub unless you either find one in stock or someone cancelled their order. I would also expect an in stock tub will have a premium attached to the price.

Your rebuilt tub will still have a 14 year old shell and you still may have a long wait as parts are hard to source right now.

I have the ability to rebuild a tub providing I have access to the parts but even I would think long and hard about a total rebuild of a 14 year old tub.

 

[Fungi]

Thanks for the reply cranbiz. I was thinking about getting a smaller bulldog but they are 6 to 9 months out and the price was double what this tub cost me. Interesting development though. This tub has two motors. I opened it up and pulled the wires from the second motor off the relay board. It worked. The tub now comes on and stays on! Half the tub has no jets, but it still has two good seats, and the working motor has two speeds. This is way better than not having a hot tub for months. So I guess we're going to try and limp along this winter and think about rebuilding it next summer. The shell itself should last 100 years right? I'd like to replace the jets, the part that connects the tube to the shell. as many of them have low output and can't be adjusted.

Also, what would cause the circuit breaker to trip when that motor is connected? I mean what goes wrong with the motor? I have some experience with electronics, and a hot tub is not really complicated to control. Some relays and an arduino board could do it easily. I guess what I'm saying is even if the electronics fail it's still just a tub with pumps and timers and a temperature controller, etc. Thanks again!

 

[cranbiz]

I don't know for sure if you will get 100 years out of the shell but Jacuzzi has a great shell that should easily go for more than 20 years.

There is a black plastic plug that covers the motor shaft. Pull the plug and see if you can spin the shaft with a straight screwdriver. If it spins, I would start with the start and run capacitors. There is also probably a centrifugal switch that could be bad. Worst case is the brushes are shot and you would then be better off to just replace the motor.

If the shaft doesn't spin, pull apart the wet end and see if it's a frozen shaft seal or impeller.

Yeah, the missing jets are plumbed into the bad motor.

 

[Timmbo23]

Thanks for the reply cranbiz. I was thinking about getting a smaller bulldog but they are 6 to 9 months out and the price was double what this tub cost me. Interesting development though. This tub has two motors. I opened it up and pulled the wires from the second motor off the relay board. It worked. The tub now comes on and stays on! Half the tub has no jets, but it still has two good seats, and the working motor has two speeds. This is way better than not having a hot tub for months. So I guess we're going to try and limp along this winter and think about rebuilding it next summer. The shell itself should last 100 years right? I'd like to replace the jets, the part that connects the tube to the shell. as many of them have low output and can't be adjusted.

Also, what would cause the circuit breaker to trip when that motor is connected? I mean what goes wrong with the motor? I have some experience with electronics, and a hot tub is not really complicated to control. Some relays and an arduino board could do it easily. I guess what I'm saying is even if the electronics fail it's still just a tub with pumps and timers and a temperature controller, etc. Thanks again!

Replace the pump and you will be set! Old bad motor shorting out.