Spa Heater Randomly Starts During Freeze-Protect

[Johnyri]

OK, I have been a 'lurker' here for a couple years and have pretty much found all my answers (here) without ever signing up to post. But now after the fourth year of pool-ownership bliss all of the gremlins are finally coming out. (almost 5yrs now)

The Pool: ~25k gal Jandy RS (PDA-PS6 Combo / PPD: 3.0) sys/SWC with spill over spa and LXi pool/spa heater in the Keller/Southlake area of North TX.

The Background: I am current on my second SWC cell (~1yr), flow sensor (~1yr) and spa-side ctrl (~2+yr). I have also recently added on a HTML controller from Autelis that lets me have all the PDA controls on a smartphone/PC/tab whatever via wifi/LAN/VPN. I disconnected the handheld PDA after it was dropped and screen broke.

The Problem: There are several, most likely all unrelated, that I would love feedback on based on the above, but lately while the freeze protect has been turning on filter pump the heater has been activating while in spa mode. I have the pump set to alternate between spa and pool in FP mode. When the spa/filter pump activates while in FP mode the heater will come on and the spa heats up to to over 80 before switching back over to pool mode. Cell has stopped producing Chlorine as well but error codes seem to point to sensor again which sadly I believe, or a board?

Things I am Considering:
(1) The spa side ctrl based on another closely related post on here.
(2) Changing the FP mode to do pool only (as a troubleshooting step).
(3) PCB(s)?? (could it be related to cell not producing? I kinda doubt)
(4) The Autelis controller? Although it appears to work fine, but is a new addition... Or may just be bad timing with something else.
(5) Upgrading all electronics/boards/FW

Appreciate all thoughts and comments! Thank you!

John

 

[carolina pool]

This problem was solved on a recent similar post by going into the heater menu and enabling the remote tstat.

 

[Johnyri]

It is, and always has been enabled... I can easy control the heater remotely. Checked just now. Still enabled.

 

[carolina pool]

Did you go to the actual heater and check that menu?

 

[Johnyri]

*ouch* Yes. :/

 

[carolina pool]

Sorry. I'm not a controls expert. When you normally turn on the spa, does the heater come on, or do you have to turn the heater on in a seperate function?

 

[carolina pool]

You can uncheck the spa under the freeze protect menu which will keep the valves from rotating. Then you can adjust the toggle on your JVA to allow a portion of water to flow into the spa and leave the toggle in the center or off position. This will protect everything except the spa main drain line which rarely freezes because its usually very close to the ground. That would be a short term solution if you can't solve it thru the programing.

 

[Johnyri]

renovxpt: The answer to the first question is that 'heat' and 'spa' (or pool) are separate functions. There are no "heat-enabled" setting anywhere in my programing settings. Anything to do with heat is a manual function either at the spa-side ctrl or on the PDA/remote or on the heater itself. Nothing is set to turn heat on.

Your second response is what I was planning to do from the beginning, but its putting a band-aid on the situation. Yes, it stops the spa and heat from coming on but I am no further to discovering the 'cause'.

So, in my completely unprofessional, unskilled opinion, I think it may be one of these:
1) Spa-side ctrl (based on similar post I read here)
2) A possible bad board, or one that may be going bad
3) Something to do with the Autelis module I recently put in (low in possibility but in the mix)

Another odd happening is that the Aquapure settings/info never showed up on the Autelis remote screen which has all of the other normal PDA views emulated perfectly. I was told that could be possible indication that a board may be going. (again, going on 5 years) I dont want it to be electronics but if it is I am just looking for the fastest way to verify/confirm.

Thanks!

 

[carolina pool]

You can disconnect the spa side switch in the panel and eliminate that as a potential source of the problem. They do fail after a few years and randomly turn on lights, blowers etc when going bad.

2 and 3 are beyond my skill set.