josh
appleton,#2UPDATE Employee
Fri, October 25, 2002
I have been a service tech for about five years and have never seen anything like what the consumer has described.As a tech i can think of two reasons this may happen. 1; It seem to me that there was definately an electrical problem with her spa. It is the consumers responsability to test the GFI on a monthly basis i don't believe that the GFI could be working properly to allow a fire of this magnatude to erupt. A GFI will trip from less than one volt of electricity. 2; the consumer stated that she had just cleaned the filter and topped off the water. If there was an obstuction in the filter canister stopping the flow of water to the heater it would allow the heater to catch fire ,however if there was any water at all in the heater the GFI should have tripped instantly
josh
appleton,#3UPDATE Employee
Fri, October 25, 2002
I have been a service tech for about five years and have never seen anything like what the consumer has described.As a tech i can think of two reasons this may happen. 1; It seem to me that there was definately an electrical problem with her spa. It is the consumers responsability to test the GFI on a monthly basis i don't believe that the GFI could be working properly to allow a fire of this magnatude to erupt. A GFI will trip from less than one volt of electricity. 2; the consumer stated that she had just cleaned the filter and topped off the water. If there was an obstuction in the filter canister stopping the flow of water to the heater it would allow the heater to catch fire ,however if there was any water at all in the heater the GFI should have tripped instantly
josh
appleton,#4UPDATE Employee
Fri, October 25, 2002
I have been a service tech for about five years and have never seen anything like what the consumer has described.As a tech i can think of two reasons this may happen. 1; It seem to me that there was definately an electrical problem with her spa. It is the consumers responsability to test the GFI on a monthly basis i don't believe that the GFI could be working properly to allow a fire of this magnatude to erupt. A GFI will trip from less than one volt of electricity. 2; the consumer stated that she had just cleaned the filter and topped off the water. If there was an obstuction in the filter canister stopping the flow of water to the heater it would allow the heater to catch fire ,however if there was any water at all in the heater the GFI should have tripped instantly
josh
appleton,#5UPDATE Employee
Fri, October 25, 2002
I have been a service tech for about five years and have never seen anything like what the consumer has described.As a tech i can think of two reasons this may happen. 1; It seem to me that there was definately an electrical problem with her spa. It is the consumers responsability to test the GFI on a monthly basis i don't believe that the GFI could be working properly to allow a fire of this magnatude to erupt. A GFI will trip from less than one volt of electricity. 2; the consumer stated that she had just cleaned the filter and topped off the water. If there was an obstuction in the filter canister stopping the flow of water to the heater it would allow the heater to catch fire ,however if there was any water at all in the heater the GFI should have tripped instantly
Vickie
Pomona,#6UPDATE Employee
Tue, September 10, 2002
Cal Spas replaced Mrs. Vienna's spa on 6-11-2002 with a brand new spa.
Vickie
Pomona,#7UPDATE Employee
Wed, May 15, 2002
On April 29, 2002 our Warranty Department sent a letter to the conusmer Kathy Vienna. The letter is attached for your review. Cal Spas is still willing to help Ms. Vienna by offering her to purchase a spa at a discounted price. Please keep in mind that her spa was a 1994 and has been out of warranty since 1999. The letter states: "Mrs. Vienna: On March 27, we sent a representative to inspect your 1994 Cal Spa which was damaged by fire. Due to the extensive fire damage, the spa is beyond repair. The nature of the fire is almost impossible to determine in this case. However, one thing is puzzling. If the equipment caught fire, the first thing to be destroyed would be the lexan light lens. It would melt away and allow approximately 25 gallons of water to flow in to the equipment area and douse any flames. After speaking to Richard (The service technician that inspected your spa) and reviewing the picture that he took. It seems that the entire front portion of the spa had melted away. This would have surely allowed at least 50 gallons of water to pour directly into the equipment area dousing the fire. One would think that spas water level was not at required level for fire of this magnitude to start and cause this amount of damage. With all of this, you can see why it would be almost impossible to accurately determine where the fire started or what circumstances could have led the ignition of the fire. Because your spa is well passed its warranty period, we recommend that you contact your homeowners insurance. Although we are not obligated to due so, we would be willing to assist you by offering you a new custom spa or one from our current inventory at a discount. Please contact Andre Maalik or myself with any questions regarding this letter. Thank you, Rob Santos Warranty Claims Manager" &