Hi, I'm needing some advice on my recently purchased pre-owned tub. It is a Tiger River Sumatran 2001 and I want to convert it to 220 but I don't know what parts to order. Also, when we bought it from a private individual, it was empty but he assured me that everything was working fine. He used it on 110. But after we got the tub, set it up, turned it on, the jets work fine but when we turn the heater on, it doesn't get warm. It is currently on 110 so I know that both will not work at the same time hence the need to convert it. SO I guess I have a few issues...I was hoping to do the conversion myself but I'm not sure what all needs to be replaced. I looked at my manual & it says a subpanel and control wiring box require a change. I had a Nordic prior to this & never had any issues with it at all but the Tiger River is much different than the Nordic and it is much newer than my Nordic. I live in PA and the weather is getting cooler so I need to get this thing up & running as soon as I can. I have an electrician coming Monday to do the wiring from the house to the tub but he doesn't want to work on the tub. I do know the part number for the heater but I'm not sure that it is done for & I hate to order a new one if it's something like an air lock or other simple thing. Thanks!!
Tiger River Sumatran Spa 2001
- Thread starter Vicki5112
- Start date
I am sorry there has not been any replies. Here is a bump to get it in front of more eyes. Here is hoping it can be fixed.
- Oct 25, 2015
- 5,807
- Pool Size
- 28000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-60 Plus
Vick,
There may be nothing wrong with your spa. The heater and jet pump do not operate at the same time on 110 v. Turn off the jet pump and the heat should work. Here's an excerpt from the manual:
In the 115 volt configuration, either the heater, or the jet pump can operate, but they can’t work at the same time. In a 115 volt system, as long as the jet pump is activated, the heater will not turn on. On the other hand, when the spa is converted to operate in the 230 volt configuration, the heater and jet pump can operate simultaneously.
Chris
There may be nothing wrong with your spa. The heater and jet pump do not operate at the same time on 110 v. Turn off the jet pump and the heat should work. Here's an excerpt from the manual:
In the 115 volt configuration, either the heater, or the jet pump can operate, but they can’t work at the same time. In a 115 volt system, as long as the jet pump is activated, the heater will not turn on. On the other hand, when the spa is converted to operate in the 230 volt configuration, the heater and jet pump can operate simultaneously.
Chris
- Oct 25, 2015
- 5,807
- Pool Size
- 28000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-60 Plus
Vicki,
Re-reading your post I may have misunderstood your question. I had inferred you may not be aware that it is normal for the pump and heater not to operate simultaneously.
Looking at the manual I downloaded for your spa it says only the model "N" is convertible. Can you confirm you do indeed have a model "N"? I don't know if the manual that I found is for your year but if this is the case all you need is to make some minor wiring changes in the power distribution panel inside the spa and add a sub-panel for the 230v power. The sub-panel will contain two breakers,one for 110 v and one for 230. It appears conversion to 230 v can be done with no change out of the heater and the pump just continues to run at 110v. The only part they reference is the sub-panel and it looks like a pretty generic sub-panel to me. Your electrician should be able to wire this up, if he can't you should get one that can. Provide the manual to him and make sure he prices in the cost to make the wiring changes at the spa. The manual describes these minor but very important changes. This installation may require a building permit that any licensed electrician can obtain and all work should be to local code. I'd be surprised if he won't do the simple connection but if not you'll need to get the dealer to do this or do it yourself. Unless you are very familiar with 240 v wiring you should get a qualified tech to do this for you. I've attached below a copy of the wiring diagram from the manual I found. Does this look like the one in your manual?
I hope this helps.
Chris
Re-reading your post I may have misunderstood your question. I had inferred you may not be aware that it is normal for the pump and heater not to operate simultaneously.
Looking at the manual I downloaded for your spa it says only the model "N" is convertible. Can you confirm you do indeed have a model "N"? I don't know if the manual that I found is for your year but if this is the case all you need is to make some minor wiring changes in the power distribution panel inside the spa and add a sub-panel for the 230v power. The sub-panel will contain two breakers,one for 110 v and one for 230. It appears conversion to 230 v can be done with no change out of the heater and the pump just continues to run at 110v. The only part they reference is the sub-panel and it looks like a pretty generic sub-panel to me. Your electrician should be able to wire this up, if he can't you should get one that can. Provide the manual to him and make sure he prices in the cost to make the wiring changes at the spa. The manual describes these minor but very important changes. This installation may require a building permit that any licensed electrician can obtain and all work should be to local code. I'd be surprised if he won't do the simple connection but if not you'll need to get the dealer to do this or do it yourself. Unless you are very familiar with 240 v wiring you should get a qualified tech to do this for you. I've attached below a copy of the wiring diagram from the manual I found. Does this look like the one in your manual?
I hope this helps.
Chris
Hi Chris, thanks for your reply. Yes it looks similar if not the same as to what I have found in our manual. It is a 2001 Sumatran N Tiger River. We had a regular electrician complete the new 230 wiring to our hot tub this week. He doesn't do a lot of work on hot tubs but but he was able to tell us that the heater seems to be functional and that it should be heating unless there is something wrong with one of the circuit boards. He wasn't able to tell if that was the case so I have a call in to another electrician who will hopefully get here soon as we had our first below freezing night tonight. I'd say that here in PA we only have a week or two till the weather will be pretty consistently at or below freezing at night. I guess now I just wait for the other electrician to call me back & hope ;-) Thanks again, Vicki
DangerBoy
Well-known member
There could be a lot of other reasons your heater isn't heating besides a problem with the motherboard. For example, the temperature control thermistor may be bad. If that's the case, your motherboard will be getting bad sensor data and may not know that the water temperature is below the set temperature. In that case, there will be no call for heat and the heater will not be turned on. If that thermistor is original to the tub, it's quite old and could very well have gone bad. They have a finite life span and it's likely 18 years is well beyond it.
Fortunately, there's an easy way to test that thermistor. Get a thermometer and measure your water temp. Disconnect the thermistor plug from the control box and use a multi-meter to measure the resistance of the thermistor. Compare that resistance and temperature to this chart:
https://www.backyardplus.com/pdf/thermistor-testing-chart.pdf
So let's say your water is at 70F. According to the chart, it should read between about 11.5 and 12.5 Kohm. If it doesn't read within that range, it has drifted out of spec. If the reading is lower than that range, it would be a strong indication that you may have found the source of the problem because if you look at the chart you can see that at normal hot tub temp (104F) the thermistor should read somewhere in the range of 5.5 - 6.5 Kohm. If it reads lower than that, the system's going to think the water is too hot and won't call for heat. That would then explain why your heater is not coming on at all or is only heating the water up a little ways and then stopping well short of the target temperature; the water may be sitting at 75F but the sensor is telling the computer it's at 104F so the call for heat will end.
You need to eliminate this as the cause of the problem before you pronounce the motherboard bad and try to replace it. That control system is obsolete and NLA from Watkins. That means you'll have to upgrade to a newer control system which will entail replacing the control box AND the control panel which will be very expensive. The two thermistors only cost around $54 USD in total plus maybe some shipping so if you're not able to reliably test them and can't find anything else that's causing the problem, try replacing those thermistors before shelling out the big bucks for a new control system.
The part number for that thermistor is 38415. If you replace it, you should also replace the high temp cut-off thermistor which is part no. 38416. I have made the part numbers links to pages on Backyardplus where you can order those parts. You should also be able to get them from a local Watkins dealer. They were used in Hot Spring and Tiger River spas from 1995 - 2002.5.
Fortunately, there's an easy way to test that thermistor. Get a thermometer and measure your water temp. Disconnect the thermistor plug from the control box and use a multi-meter to measure the resistance of the thermistor. Compare that resistance and temperature to this chart:
https://www.backyardplus.com/pdf/thermistor-testing-chart.pdf
So let's say your water is at 70F. According to the chart, it should read between about 11.5 and 12.5 Kohm. If it doesn't read within that range, it has drifted out of spec. If the reading is lower than that range, it would be a strong indication that you may have found the source of the problem because if you look at the chart you can see that at normal hot tub temp (104F) the thermistor should read somewhere in the range of 5.5 - 6.5 Kohm. If it reads lower than that, the system's going to think the water is too hot and won't call for heat. That would then explain why your heater is not coming on at all or is only heating the water up a little ways and then stopping well short of the target temperature; the water may be sitting at 75F but the sensor is telling the computer it's at 104F so the call for heat will end.
You need to eliminate this as the cause of the problem before you pronounce the motherboard bad and try to replace it. That control system is obsolete and NLA from Watkins. That means you'll have to upgrade to a newer control system which will entail replacing the control box AND the control panel which will be very expensive. The two thermistors only cost around $54 USD in total plus maybe some shipping so if you're not able to reliably test them and can't find anything else that's causing the problem, try replacing those thermistors before shelling out the big bucks for a new control system.
The part number for that thermistor is 38415. If you replace it, you should also replace the high temp cut-off thermistor which is part no. 38416. I have made the part numbers links to pages on Backyardplus where you can order those parts. You should also be able to get them from a local Watkins dealer. They were used in Hot Spring and Tiger River spas from 1995 - 2002.5.
OK, so we are back up & running and it's so soothing to these old bones. One of the boards needed replaced and the spa tech did that for us, he had one with him. I do have some more questions though...We have only ever had a Nordic hot tub & the operation seems so much different than that of our Tiger River. The Nordic jets would run periodically throughout the 24 hour period. The jets on the Tiger River don't run unless we turn them on. There is, what the person we bought it from called, an ozonator which sends a constant low stream of bubbles up from the floor of the tub. This is also where the heat comes up from when we are in the tub and I guess when we aren't in the tub because it has always been warm when we go to get in it. My question is is the ozonator (if that is indeed what it is) adequate to keep the hot tub at the temp we have it set at when we aren't in it? We also aren't sure what temp to set it at when not in use. It seems to be so much more insulated than our Nordic, as well as being many years newer so we have been keeping it around 84 then turn it up to 94-96 when we are in it. Hubby & I both have high blood pressure so we don't let it get much above 98 even in the coldest weather. Thanks.