January 11th, 2010 at 4:19 am
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Heater Element Replacement, Flow-Through Style,
Cal-Spa
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Safety Warnings!
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Remove Power
from the spa/hot tub BEFORE
performing thisprocedure. Failure to comply with this
requirement, can lead toelectrical shock and/or electrocution!
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Disclaimer
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Theinstructions here are intended
for
general reference only.
Many hot tubs and spas are
different from the one depicted here, and may require more or
lessmechanical effort or knowledge in order to achieve the
desiredresults.
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READ FIRST BEFORE YOUCONTINUE
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Note that this
section is intended for replacement of a standard flow
 through heater element that is
contained within
a stainless steel housing.
In this particular example, we
are demonstrating the procedure as done on a 1995 model Cal-Spa, with a
Cal-Spas electro-mechanical spa control system.
While
most spas that have stainless steel flow through heaters are
almost identical, your heater and/or control system may not be, so,
this procedure used may not work for your unit. Your
particular heater element may require more effort and technical
knowledge to replace. If this displayed procedure is
inconsistent with your system design, then do not use this information
to service your spa. This is page 1 of this procedure.
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First
things first... You MUST remove all sources of power to the spa
to prevent electrical shock. In these two pictures we see the
left and right side of the control pack with the heater casing
extending
out from the bottom. This particular Cal-Spa is a little more
unique than most (that use this type of controller) because it is
plumbed with a low volume circulation pump. Note that the 2"
heater union on the left has been reduced to 1" flex hose to connect
directly to the circulation pump output. The right side of
the heater uses conventional 2" fittings at the heater, and is
subsequently reduced to 1" plumbing at the flow switch.
Our first step in removal is
to loosen the black 'split ring' collars and remove the plumbing from
the stainless steel tube..
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Most
of the time these split ring threaded collars can be removed
simply by turning them, however, sometimes it will help to loosen the
phillips head screws that hold the two piece clamp together. Your
heater may use a solid ring that is not split, negating the requirement
for loosening the screws.
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Now
do the same for the other side. Now sometimes these
collars can be quite difficult to remove or even budge just enough to
make the screws accessible. In this case I tap the collar
using a heavy tool such as the pliers shown here, and the screw driver
to get it rotating. It's important to remember that the
collar must turn in a counter-clockwise direction to loosen
it.
After this, we need to remove
the spa control pack from the base mounting and remove the heater from
the spa control pack.
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With
the power to the spa turned off, and the control panel removed, we
will remove the terminal power leads to the heater element.
They're always very noticeable, simply because they're like the largest
wires in the spa pack, almost as large as the main power leads coming
in from the house.
 In the left picture I'm using
my fingers to hold
the wire lug in place, to keep it from turning. Then in the
right, using a pair of pliers to loosen the nut that secures the wire
lug to the element.
You must follow this precisely
to prevent damage to the stud coming out from the heater
element. If the nut is rusted or too tight to hold the lug
still with your fingers, then use a second pair of pliers in lieu of
your finger to hold the wire lug while you loosen the nut.
Some might say why not use a nut driver or box and open end wrenches to
perform this procedure, but, I'll tell you from experience, it's easier
said than done, because of the precarious position of the components
and the fact that you can very easily over stress the components using
tools like this. In about 99 percent of all heater element
replacements, using a pair of pliers and my fingers is fast, easy, and
in my opinion, safer.
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On
this particular spa pack, the heater tube is attached to the pack
with three small nuts and washers. Simply unscrew them and
put them away.
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Next, on the Cal-Spa pack, there are two threaded
finger knobs on the
back of the pack that are used to secure the box to the base mounting
frame. Once they are removed, the entire pack can be lifted
up, and at that time, the heater tube removed from the assembly
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Carefully
remove the heater from beneath the spa pack, and remove the
high temperature limit sensor from the sensor sleeve. This
will require loosening the nut that attaches it to the heater tube.
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With the heater fully removed, it's time to remove
the heater element
from the stainless steel case.
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Tags:
cal spa,
electric heater,
heater element,
replacement
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