Ask 'Dr. Spa' Q & A Message Board

: 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

Hi John, have you had to repair many bad heating elements in the Quanta on your service repairs? Just wondering from your experience how common it is for the heating elements to go bad. I can't say I'm fond of how this element is installed vertically from the bottom, with the wires directly beneath the element. It seems like only a matter of time for the seals around the coils to age and allow water to make its way down the coil with a straight shot to the wiring beneath. Judging from the rust on the screw & conduit box there must have been a small leak on the "high temp" coil side which eventually allowed water a direct path to the wires on that coil below and caused a short over time.

Still trying to figure out exactly how it failed since initially when we had found the heating element was malfunctioning the controls to the tub were all turned off, but the heating element had come on out of nowhere.. without the filter motor turning on (otherwise we'd have noticed). I can only see this happening a few ways from the schematic and can pretty much rule out the thermostats / thermo-relay since the filter would have kicked on. From the schematic, it looked to me like Relay #2 and Relay #3 (for the heating coil) are energized all the time unless the high temp limit switch is kicked. So then the heating elements are just waiting for Relay #1 to be activated (via Relay #6 thermo-relay)... Relay #1 completing the 240v A/C circuit for both of the heating elements. At this point thinking the heating element leaking very slowly allowed it to rust & that element heat up more and over time start burning the insulation on the wires & eventually burnt enough insulation off that it shorted itself to the conduit box. So then the heating element had done side connected to the high temp 240v A/C breaker & other side connected to ground. Does that sound logical?

I have another question for you regarding removal of the heating element. It seems a real bear to remove the hex nut on the old element.. it won't budge! That and you can't get in there very easily with large channel lock pliers or get much torque on it. I found I could snap off the wire contacts from underneath and that allowed me to pull the heating element wires out from the top, and that allowed me better access with channel locks but still couldn't get the hex nut to budge. Is there a specialized tool or some tricks of the trade to getting the hex nut off if it's corroded/rusted onto the threads of the heating element? Also, it's looking to me like the metal conduit box below will have to come out. And if that's the case, sadly also then looking like the entire hot tub service panel might have to come out if we need to properly seal everything at the bottom again. Would be interested in hearing your thoughts there.. I'm not near your service area otherwise might consider having you come take a look =)

Picture below, but some additional pictures here: http://www.techdose.com/temp/quanta.html