Lay-Z-Spa Hottub

A

Alistair1980

New Member
Hello
not sure if anyone can help me.
I've got a Lay-Z-Spa Vegas hot tub that i've had for over 2-3 years, it has now decided to stop heating up.
I took unit apart and found the heater clogged up so ran it through an ultrasonic bath, cleaned it out and run descaler through it.

when attached to the little descaler unit it seems to heat the water up perfectly to 40C but when i reconnect to the hot tub itself it doesn't seem like it wants to heat ive had it running for past few days to see it it would just take time because of the sixe of the tub but still no luck

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Your post isn't clear, you say you've cleaned and descaled the heater. Then you say you've attached it to a descaler unit?

Do you have a multimeter?
 
The heater has 3 elements in it as can be seen from the 6 wires going into it. Possible two of the three elements have failed through overheat caused by reduced water flow. You need a new heater.
 
@Alistair1980 hi Alistair, no disrespect intended, if you are not competent with electrics? I would strongly advise you do not attempt any repairs to the pump.These units are not intended as diy serviceable. Descaling the pump can be achieved by connecting hoses to the inlet & outlet of the pump & then submersing both hoses into a bucket containing a descaling solution, the pump is then operated to start the descaling process. Regards, Steve
 
Teki said:
Your post isn't clear, you say you've cleaned and descaled the heater. Then you say you've attached it to a descaler unit?

Do you have a multimeter?
Click to expand...

what I ment to say is I attached the descaler unit and descaled it but while it was attached to the little unit it heated up perfectly fine but when connected back to the tub itself it wouldn’t heat up, I do have a multi meter and got there 2 readings on both the heater wires 434 and 375 Ohms
 
sparky steve said:
@Alistair1980 hi Alistair, no disrespect intended, if you are not competent with electrics? I would strongly advise you do not attempt any repairs to the pump.These units are not intended as diy serviceable. Descaling the pump can be achieved by connecting hoses to the inlet & outlet of the pump & then submersing both hoses into a bucket containing a descaling solution, the pump is then operated to start the descaling process. Regards, Steve
Click to expand...

hello steve,
I work in the main electricity utility industry so always working with electrics,
I fully took the unit apart and noticed it was fully clogged up with white deposits, I have descaled it with a proper descaler unit as seen in the picture
 
Bob Rathbone said:
The heater has 3 elements in it as can be seen from the 6 wires going into it. Possible two of the three elements have failed through overheat caused by reduced water flow. You need a new heater.
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it has 4 wires going to it the other 2 are to the air blower, it would seem possible that one of the elements has failed and other on possibly on its way out, do anyone know the Ohms a good unit would be giving ? I’ll see if I can source a new heater thank you
 
Your heaters are faulty, the 375R heater will deliver only 141 watts and the 434R one will deliver 121 Watts. 262 Watts in total, that's about 10% of the normal heat. The resistance of the two elements in parallel to give 2000 Watts should be around 26 Ohms. You are going to need a new heater. I used P = V2/R for my calcs.
 
Bob Rathbone said:
Your heaters are faulty, the 375R heater will deliver only 141 watts and the 434R one will deliver 121 Watts. 262 Watts in total, that's about 10% of the normal heat. The resistance of the two elements in parallel to give 2000 Watts should be around 26 Ohms. You are going to need a new heater. I used P = V2/R for my calcs.
Click to expand...

The elements are PTC (ceramic) so may not have the same resistance as conventional heating elements? I believe PTC elements self-regulate and don't reach as high a temperature as conventional heating elements.
 
Teki said:
The elements are PTC (ceramic) so may not have the same resistance as conventional heating elements? I believe PTC elements self-regulate and don't reach as high a temperature as conventional heating elements.
Click to expand...
Yes, they start of cool with a low resistance, cooled by the water passing over them. As the water heats, so does the PTC element and it's resistance increases and it draws less current, until at the target temperature it draws little current.
 
Hi, I don't know if you solved your problem by now but if it heats ok with just the descaler fitted it must be a problem with the tub liner. I have read posts saying they have had problems with the B / C tubes in the tub liner becoming kinked causing a restriction. ....Something to look for, this should throw up an E02 error though.

PS, I have known the heater over temp switch to trip after switching the pump off or selecting the bubble function, especially if its heating at that moment and you have the temp set very high, like 40°c. If it has tripped, let it cool a while and press the reset button on the side of the egg (Vegas).
I always switch the heater off first with the pump still running for a while to let the heating elements cool before switching the pump off or selecting the bubble function.
 
Mines the same and have replaced heater for working one mine when connected to descale tube heats up to 40c but when attached to liner works for 5mins then doesn't as I can see from my smart meter, my b and c pipe are straight, any ideas
 
Bazza-spark said:
Flippin heck, I asked that question the other day and happy chappy went nuts. He wasn't a happy chappy at all.
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Multimeters are absolutely fine for dead testing to find the resistance of the heating elements.

However it no use at all for measuring the insulation resistance and I would want to put the unit back into service after a serious descaling without doing some insulation testing, however there’s not much in the way of earthing conductors in the photo.
 
The Happy Builder said:
Multimeters are absolutely fine for dead testing to find the resistance of the heating elements.

However it no use at all for measuring the insulation resistance and I would want to put the unit back into service after a serious descaling without doing some insulation testing, however there’s not much in the way of earthing conductors in the photo.
Click to expand...

Didnt say it was.

Really? And you call me?

All I said was

Bazza-spark said:
Flippin heck, I asked that question the other day and happy chappy went nuts. He wasn't a happy chappy at all.
Click to expand...

I never mentioned testing on either thread. YOU did.
 
That should have said wouldn't, predictive text issues again.

Dead testing the heating elements in a Lazy Spa unit with a multi-meter to check their resistance is perfectly okay.

Any live testing needs consideration, however it's requires Cat II testing equipment, the unit should be protected by:
  • The 10 mA RCD in the unit flex.
  • The cartridge fuse in its plug.
  • The socket circuit MCB or fuse.
  • The socket circuit 30 mA
  • The suppliers main fuse.
also the short circuit and fault currents are greatly reduced due to the cable lengths and sizes, so a reasonable quality Cat II multi-meter should be okay, but the user does need to be careful to select the correct tests.

The same cannot be said about using the same multi-meter to test circuits within the installation that may only be protected by circuit MCB/fuse and suppliers fuse or within the consumer unit which may only be protected by the suppliers fuse.

There's a hell of a difference between using a multi-meter to test a Lazy Spa unit with multiple layers of protection and within a consumer unit, or an old cooker circuit, or the like.
 
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