Spa Heaters - How Do I Prevent Repairs To My Hot Tub Heater?

How do I, as a home owner, prevent repairs to my spa or hot tub heater? What can I do to minimize the risk of repair to my spa or hot tub heater? These are two very common questions that we hear from home owners.

Here are a few tips that have helped many customers

Spa water chemistry.

The number one killer of spa heaters is low pH. If you leave your spa water, for an extended period of time, with low pH (under 7.0) you will have problem with your spa heater, guaranteed. When the pH in the water becomes to acid, the acid starts to eat away on the metal heating element, eventually resulting in heater failure.

The spa or hot tub water chemistry has to be maintained for a spa to work properly. There is no shortcut here. And, there is no maintenance "free" spa. They do not exist.

Heating terminals

Another reason for heating element failure is the heating terminals. This is the point on the heating element that attaches to the wires from the control system. As the spa is vibrating mechanical device, the nut that tightens the heating wires to the control system can come loose after a few years. That manifests typically as burn back on either the control system connections or the heater connections. With time, the additional heat that is created by these connections are getting worse. The heat then travels along the wires to the printed circuit board. This results in burn backs on the circuit board traces and the failure of control relays and/or contactors

The way to prevent this is to tighten the heater connections at least once per year and to monitor these connections once per month.

Cracked Heating Terminals

Still another problem that could have been prevented it the cracked heating terminal resin. Frequently during the installation of the heating element the resin surrounding the heating terminals are cracked. This results in that over a long period of time, moisture from the inside of the heater starts to sip up onto the heating terminals, causing the GFCI to trip. The only remedy in this scenario is to replace the heating element.

Preventative Maintenance Program.

A preventative maintenance program monitors these situations and greatly reduces the chance of costly spa heater repairs. Contact us for further details.

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