Troubling shooting mechanical questions

[curranb79]

My new house came with a hot tub that we were unclear as to whether it worked. Last year I filled it up and fired it up - and found that it worked perfectly! I tested it for about three days and everything was great. So I started doing research on what chemicals I needed to buy, got the stuff together, and started it up again (it had been sitting for a week with water in it while I figured out what I needed to do to the water); this time the motor came on and everything sounded normal, but no water was pumping. I looked around on line (the repair manual's troubleshooting basically said to have the dealer come out and bill for any problem), and it looked like a blockage in the pump was the most likely problem. I finally got around to opening the pump today, and no blockage. I filled it up and flipped the breaker and the breaker (a GFCI) immediately went to the reset position (the digital display window on the pool's operation panel shows a boot up sequence for an instant then goes dark). Any ideas? Should I replace the GFCI? Or is it more likely that the pool is throwing the GFCI (and will do the same to any other GFCI)?
Thanks!

 

[Isaac-1]

Perhaps you could share a bit more information with us, like brand, model, age, etc

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

The GFI breaker was working when you started having the problem with the pump not working. You were in the pump and now the breaker is blowing. I'm not trying to be cruel but I'd check the wiring at the pump for something you may have changed. I doubt the breaker went bad.
Did you disconnect the motor from it's wiring when you pulled the pump apart ??

 

[curranb79]

Perhaps you could share a bit more information with us, like brand, model, age, etc

Sorry, I thought I'd set this up to email me when people replied, but must not have set it up right.

The model is a Pro-Form Eclipse, mo. # PFSB61531 I cannot find a year, but am guessing the previous owner installed it sometime after 2003.

 

[curranb79]

The GFI breaker was working when you started having the problem with the pump not working. You were in the pump and now the breaker is blowing. I'm not trying to be cruel but I'd check the wiring at the pump for something you may have changed. I doubt the breaker went bad.
Did you disconnect the motor from it's wiring when you pulled the pump apart ??

Thanks - you've got me thinking through what changed now; very helpful.

Unfortunately, because the breaker was off, I didn't bother any of the electronics. I'll try to reconstruct the process: I closed the gate valves, then opened the collars leader to the pump, and from the pump to the heater unit. Then I had to unbolt the pump from the plywood it sits on (unbolted three bolts, loosened the last so I could angle the pump) because there wasn't enough room between the PVC pipe with the collar and the pump to take the cover off the pump. I unscrewed the 10 screws holding the cover on and took it out, but the bowl and cover were clean, and the pipes leading to and from the pump seemed clean. So I screwed the cover back on, reconnected the collars, bolted the pump back and opened the gate valves.

I had filled the tub full on Mon., when I opened it today it was about level with the seating area. Ground seems dry on three sides of the tub, and the plywood under the pump is damp, so I'm guessing I didn't tighten the collars enough. However I didn't notice any obvious leaking during the filling process, after checking the pump, so it couldn't have been leaking too fast (i.e. I don't think it would have been leaking fast enough for water to have gotten on the motor or wiring that quickly to throw the breaker [?]).

I did adjust the air and waterfall volume valves (near the control panel) while filling the tub; unfortunately I didn't notice what position they started in: could that be a source of difficulty?

 

[curranb79]

Perhaps you could share a bit more information with us, like brand, model, age, etc

I thought I already replied to this, but I don't see the reply, so I'll post again--sorry if there's a duplicate.

I have a Pro-Form Eclipse Hot Tub that was installed sometime after 2003, but I'm not sure how long after. My guess is within the last 5-7 years.

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Model #: PFSB61531

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

It's going to be something physical with the electrical. The position of the valves isn't going to make a difference. IF, IF . . it was shutting off after a couple minutes and blowing the breaker and there was no flow maybe the pump could overheat trying to push against a closed valve but that's not your issue.
Did you notice a ground wire running to the pump ?? Some will have a separate bare copper ground wire running to the body of the pump.
With the breaker off I'd check to see if maybe you pulled a wire loose from it's connection at the motor and if nothing there looks out of place follow the conduit up to the spa pack and pull it's cover and inspect the connections. When you tried to twist the motor to get some room you might have disturbed something.

Make sure the power is disconnected at the main circuit box with the breaker first.
If possible wouldn't hurt to take some photos of the spa pack and motor just in case something jumps out at us.

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[curranb79]

Thanks for the quick reply, and sorry to take a while getting back--I was away on business.

I think I found the reason for the draining: while the collars not being tight enough may have contributed, I think that my leaving the drain valve open throughout the process probably accounts for things!

I took these photos while I was under there, but there were a lot of spiders hanging out all over the place this time, so I didn't want to do too much digging around--I sprayed some spider killer around and will try again soon. I did find a ground wire running from a collar on the motor to a bracket on the heater unit box that seemed properly connected, and tried to the extent I could to follow all the wires I could see from a connection to another connection, and didn't find anything disconnected, but I'll go ahead and post these so hopefully someone can point out something I'm missing.



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sorry they're blurry - I've got one more pic that exceeds my quota that I'll try to post later (is the quota a timed thing?); it's of the bracket on the side of the heater unit box.