sarahmbuc
first timer
Reged: 02/12/10
Posts: 1
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Hi,
I got home last night, turned on the kitchen light, and it did a little surge (not sure if that’s the right term – basically it got bright and then dim over about a second). I turned it off, went to the bedroom turned on the light in there and it did the same thing. I turned everything off and heard my hot tub turning itself (the filter/heater) on and off in about 1 second increments, same duration as the lights. I went to inspect it and saw the panel flickering all kinds of half letters that made no sense. Hot tub still surging on and off. So I flipped the emergency breaker and turned the whole thing off. Wondering how to investigate it and discover what’s going on.
Little history, it’s 4 years old, last month we replaced the heater (ourselves) and two month before that we replaced the motor (ourselves). So I guess this electrical issue is the next (and hopefully last) thing to go in it, but since we’ve already invested so much in the other things, I’d like to get at least another couple of years out of this guy. Any suggestions about where to start looking for this current problem?
Thanks!
Sarah
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MCA
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/09/06
Posts: 2554
Loc: Illinois
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With the hot tub off do the lights still get bright?
Brightening of lights is a sign of a loose neutral which will cause voltage fluctuations. It can be a loose neutral in a multi-wire branch circuit or if all the circuits do this then it sounds like a main neutral issue.
If the lights get bright only when the hot tub is on then what you may be seeing is the sometimes normal dimming of lights when a large load kicks on (when it kicks off it looks like it gets bright). This may be a problem with the controls on the hot tub. Maybe a problem with the electronic control unit.
If the lights still flicker with the tub off then its a power issue, it may be in the power company's equipment, call the power company. If the lights flicker only when the tub is running (kicking on and off) then it may be an issue with the tub since it is kicking on and off. Maybe the tub is in the "on" mode and there is a loose connection somewhere on the tub circuit or internal wiring.
If you have brightening when the tub circuit is off then I suspect a loose neutral, a probable cause of damage to the tub's electronic control unit.
Edited by MCA (02/12/10 04:23 PM)
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ront02769
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/03/04
Posts: 8337
Loc: New England
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no possible way that a hot tub turns on and off that quickly. I would check out the web pages for the mfgr. of the tub or check w/the local place where you bought it.
ront
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