Hi,
I have an old spa that I am rebuilding. The pump is a 2 speed pump that I want to wire directly to a light switch to turn it on or off. I am not sure what type of switch I would need, as this pump has a low speed and high speed. I also wanted to wire the heater circuit up to its own switch and the light to its own circuit. The whole circuit will be on a dedicated 20A GFCI breaker, as i will be wiring everything to the same breaker. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Thanks,
Chris
Since you're rewiring this thing and I presume eliminating the power pack, I hope you have some rational plan for how you're going to control the temp and have safety temp cutoffs incase the primary temp control fails. My spa has the primary temp control by the power pack, then a high temp cut off, and finally another high temp cutoff on the heater itself. And you obviously need to mount the switches in a safe and code compliant location.
All, in all, if it were me, I'd go buy a new power pack. Think about what position you;d be in if something happened to a guest.
Is this a 120V or 240V spa? Since you're talking about a 20A circuit, I would guess it's a 120V one, as the 240V units I've seen all require
40-50A. If it's a 120V, you need to be aware that you usually can't have the heater on at the same time as the pump is on high speed. The 120V unit I'm familiar with had the power pack designed so only the heater and low speed pump would go on to keep the current under 20A.
I have the old pack, however, it is a 120V pack and is a Ramco 1115A. Right now, the spa was given to me and I don't know if the thing even works. Would hate to buy a new spa pack and find out that the spa leaks or something. Rightfully, I should buy a 50A load center and put in a 240V spa pack and then I know it would be the safest bet being that everything is new. Altogether, it may cost me in the neighborhood of $1000 for the spa pack, modifying the plumbing, and possibly a new pump, if the old pump doesn't work. For all that matter, I may be better off buying a new spa, if I am going to sink that kind of money into it. I am trying to go the best way out without having to put a lot of money into it.
Thanks,
Chris
Not sure what plumbing you're talking about modifying. If you did go with a new 240V powerpack, you may just have to change that, and not the heater, pump, etc. That's how mine was set up. It uses the same heater at 240V, it just puts 240V across it instead of 120V, giving you 4X the watts. The pump, blower and light in mine all work on 120V either way.
If it were me, I think I'd just rig up power to it temporarily to verify what works and if it's worth salvaging.
Test the pump first by connecting a couple lengths of big hose to it and running both to a big bucket or tub of water. Fill the pump with water through one of the hoses, then power up the pump. It'll pump a lot of water - especially at high speed. If it's already hooked up to the tub, just fill the pump up and put enough water in the tub to cover the water intake at least a few inches. Don't let the pump run "Dry". It will quickly destroy the seals.
As someone else said, the pump will probably not run at high speed with the heater on - unless you wire them on different circuit breakers.
Make sure all metal parts are properly connected to the power ground conductor.
You'll probably need two switches for the pump - one to turn it on (SPST), and one to select the speed (SPDT). The first switch switches the power on. The second routes it to the high speed or low speed connection on the pump. Both the switches need to be rated for switching motors of the pump motor HP or larger. If the pump is 1 HP, you need a switch rated for 1HP or more.
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