The most common spa pack, or control system in the hot tub industry is Balboa. Balboa systems are equipped with sensors to make sure there is water flowing through the heater, before the system turns the heater on. This is a safety feature to ensure that the heater does not turn on when there is no water, so the heater doesn’t burn up. If there’s no water and the heater turns on, this is what’s known as a “dry fire”. In very rare occasions this could actually cause a real fire and set fire to the equipment and hot tub around it. Most times when you pull the element out, a section of it will be burnt up, molten metal. Even if there is just an air bubble in the tube, the metal will be weakened or damaged, and it could fail in a week, a month or a couple of years.
Which brings us to our point, error codes. This article will focus on the error codes specifically indicating that the system thinks there is not enough water to turn the heat on. Some of the most common codes are dr, FL, FLO, dry, HL, HH, OHH, hfl….the list goes on.
First and foremost, turn the power to the hot tub off, wait 5 minutes, and turn it back on. Modern hot tub equipment are computers like all others, and simply cycling the power could get rid of some little glitch that’s causing the error.
Didn’t work? Bummer. That brings us to the second most simple possible problem: Your filters. Turn the power off again, remove the filters, then turn the power back on. No more error code? Congratulations! It’s (maybe) your lucky day. All you (should) need to do is buy new filters. Don’t get them locally unless you want to pay 2 to 3 times more than you should. Get them from SpaDepot.com. Here’s the link –
The reason I included “maybe” and “should” a moment ago is because just as there are no guarantees in life, there are never, ever any guarantees when it comes to hot tub equipment. Computers and sensors can have weird quirks. If you replaced your filters and the error remains, replace the sensors. Most of the modern Balboa systems need two, both screw into the heater, and you can get them here –
If you replace the sensors and that didn’t fix the problem, that’s not great. Now the problem is very likely the circuit board. If you want to replace your Balboa circuit board, you can find the chip number and make sure you’re getting the right one. As usual, SpaDepot.com makes it easy! Here is a link to instructions on how to make sure you find the correct Balboa board replacement –
Once you’ve verified which board you need, you should be able to find it here –
Make sure you check prices before you buy a circuit board! I’ve replaced circuit boards many times, and it’s a pain. Also, I’ve spoken to WAY TOO MANY customers that have replaced circuit boards and had their heater terminals burn up shortly after. Balboa used copper tabs to connect the circuit board to the heater terminals, and those burn up all the time. Hopefully they have fixed that obvious failure point by now, but from around 2005 to at least 2020 I’m sure they sold millions of them. Anyway I’m getting off topic. The punchline is that most times it is way more economically sound to replace the whole Balboa pack. That way everything is factory set, you get a new board, heater and topside control, and often times it’s a couple hundred or less to just replace everything. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll not be surprised to learn that the best place to get a Balboa pack at the best price is….wait for it……..WAIT FOR IT!!!!!!!! SpaDepot.com! Here’s the link –
Hope this helps! Have any questions about this article? Email us using the contact form. I could leave the section for comments on these blog posts, but are you kidding?! It’s 2025, you know how many spammers are out there?! Gross.
Your hot tub helper –
Hot Tub Mark