Hot tub buttons and dials causing issues

[DavidInLA]

I'm not sure why my post was deleted. I mistakenly made the post in the hot tub water chemistry subforum and then deleted it and posted it here. Now they are both gone

Anyway, can anybody identify what manufacturer made this hot tub and what the buttons and dials do? It's about 6 ft across and in-ground. I know one button is for the air jets and the dial is to control that, but not sure what the other button and dial are for since they're unlabeled. My kid pushed one of the buttons and it turned off the water pump, which I don't think is connected to the hot tub electrically. I thought maybe there was surge protection, but the solar heater controller on the same electrical panel didn't shut down. Thanks

here's a photo

27086C6A-116F-438F-9E6D-4DFC9EE6833C.jpeg

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[ajw22]

I this a standalone hot tub or connected to a pool?

@RDspaguy ever see these controls?

 

[DavidInLA]

It’s a standalone. I don’t know the age for sure

 

[RDspaguy]

All I see is two air buttons and 2 air knobs. The knobs turn to allow air to mix with the water at the jet, and the buttons control functions via a small air hose going into a controller (relay/timer box). Usually one will turn on the high speed, booster, or jet pump and the other is the blower or light. Some controllers have a "function stepper" that runs through a combination of jets/blower functions. Temp control and such will be in the controller box.

 

[DavidInLA]

We don’t have a separate pump for the hot tub. Instead. I have to turn the valves to go from main pool to the hot tub. When my kid pump one button, the pump turned off. Not only did it stop pumping, the whole pump shut down (LCD turned off). Why would pushing one of these buttons do that?

It would make sense for one knob to control the amount of air jets, but I don’t see how the other know controls the temp. Are hot tubs usually directly wired to the heater?

 

[RDspaguy]

The knobs control air to different jets, or perhaps air and water flow, temp control is in the electric controls.
It turned off the pump because it actuated an air switch, possibly controlling a relay or function stepper, that turned it off, or turned something on and tripped a breaker or fuse.
Post A FEW pics of the equipment area (I don't have time to peruse your whole photo album) and maybe I can identify the controller for you.
You'll need an old guy to fix it. They pretty much stopped doing this about 25 years ago and went digital.

 

[DavidInLA]

Thank you. I’m havint trouble getting photos to upload but I’ll do my best to describe

The 2 air switches go to 2 electrical boxes.

One box has a wire going to the Intermatic timer and power switch, and another wire going to a small box attached to the pool pump, with another wire going to the heater.

The second box has 3 outgoing wires— 1) the fusebox, 2) air blower, 3) a nonfunctioning water pump. It looks like at one point the hot tube had its own water pump, but it’s broken now so now the hot tube and main pool share the same pump, with a valve determining where the water comes from or goes to.

In terms of function, one button turns the power on/off for the water pump completely. Not just “stop”, but basically disconnects it from power. The other button turns on the blower at full strength. If I push it again, it lowers the amount of bubbles a little and then again for the lowest setting, then off.

The dials don’t work so I can’t confirm what they do. Since the blower speed is adjusted with the button, I now the dials aren’t involved in that. One dial probably operates the temperature from the gas heater (broken right now so can’t confirm). Perhaps the other dial adjusts the water pump speed? The pump only has 3 speeds, so it seems unnecessary to have a dial for that when button pushes make more sense.

 

[RDspaguy]

I'll need pics inside those boxes too.
You have an old-school control, little to no electronics (likely only the blower control board) and hardwired components. Even a brand name won't help since those can be (and often were) rewired for different applications or repairs.
The knobs are air controls. They will only have an effect with the jets or possibly blower on, assuming they are plumbed in. They control how much air is mixed into the water stream at the jet. If not working they are either plumbed into the blower or the o-rings are bad. I'm pretty sure they will unscrew to remove.
Temp is likely set at the heater or one of the control boxes.
You cannot control a new vf pump with an old on/off pump switch, other than to turn the power on/off.
You will likely have to hire someone to handle any problems with this, tracking wires and testing components via TFP is virtually impossible. They were phasing these controls out when I started in this business 27 years ago, so most techs today won't know what they're looking at.
I'd suggest a new control system if you want spa-side controls. They have floating remotes nowadays.