Ask 'Dr. Spa' Q & A Message Board

: Thanks for the tip on the GFCI breaker, John.. will definitely look into
: putting one of those in during the repair. Do you know of any
: lower-amp heating elements that could replace the 12kw one and have
: the correct thread size, height, etc? The tub is indoors so there
: really isn't a need to heat 15-20 degrees per hour. We usually leave
: it on the low heat setting and have that set modestly (88-90 degrees
: if I remember correctly).. and would just turn it on high for 10
: minutes or so before jumping in to heat it up a little more.

: I attached pictures of the underside of the heating element.. definitely
: cooked one of the coils that corresponds to the "high temp"
: breaker/relay. The low temp side looks like the insulation's pretty
: melted too, somewhere in there must be making a connection to ground.
: Haven't pulled it out yet, looks like we'll need to take the control
: box out to really be able to work on it. Would like to figure out if
: there's an alternate heating element I could use there before
: ordering the exact replacement since it wouldn't be bad to have less
: amps running through the circuit since it's indoors anyway.

I'm not aware of any alternative replacement heaters for the Quanta and I've been doing repairs to these tubs since 1984. I still have plenty of customers with Quanta's. I'd recommend that you obtain the correct 12 kW heater and replacement wiring. You'll want to replace that heater wiring with nothing less than 10 AWG THHN or better. That heater indicates just how close you came to a fire because of the damaged heater and the lack of a functioning GFCI. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has been recommending since the early 90's that all of these older tubs should be upgraded to GFCI protection. This is a prime example why.

John