Spa Service Manuals | HELP! | Forum

Hi Folks

I'm a MAJOR do-it-yourselfer; I hate to let anyone fix my stuff if there's a chance in Hell of my fixing it myself.  I guess it just comes naturally from being a mechanic for most of my working life.

I've been tearing up the internet looking for a service manual for a Saratoga Spa "Putnam" model, to no avail.  It has a Balboa "Whisper-Clean" SAR-200 control system in it; vintage around 2000.  I found the thing at a yard-sale for FREE; just take it away.  Owner said it had an electron system glitch tat he didn't want to mess with,  Having worked with microprocessor-controlled lffit trucks for the last 27 years, I figured that fixing it (or at least coming  up with a firm diagnosis, would be no problem, so I dragged it home.  Right off the bat, there's broken fittings; replaced those and filled it up.  Dead, dark topside display.  Found oxidation on interconnect cable contacts; cleared that up with DeOxit ("repair-in-a-can").  Fired it up; got circulation and bubbles, but no jets.  Cleared an airbound condition and tried again; blew the cap off one of the diverter valves. It had a crack in the threaded sleeve that engaged the valve body that went most of the way around; the pressure blew it loose.  Temp fix with glue and re-tried; Seems good.

Came out the next morning, found a LOT of water around the Spa, and the level had fallen by almost two inches overnight.  Did some searching in forums like this one, and started digging out foam (this is a full-foam unit).  Found one (double) leak in one of the big flex-hoses  near the bottom of the tub.  That's kind of where I stand right now.  There's still wet foam further past this leak, so I have more digging to do.

I've found the manufacturers/Dealers DO NOT release their service manuals to the unwashed public.  I guess my question is: does anyone know where there might be a downloadable copy of the service manual for this unit?  Failing that, perhaps somebody could slip me the account number and password to the dealer site at Saratoga via private email, or something, so I can download the relevant manual/schematics and possibly fix this thing much faster than  by blundering about semi-blindly.  A plumbing layout would be really great, too!

I get really hot when someone sits on information like that because of such a STUPID reason as " liability."  I've worked with multi-phase high-voltage electricity, electronics troubleshooting and repair for almost 30 years; my home hobby bench has oscilloscopes, Signal generators, multiple power supplies, several Fluke DVOM's, a couple of LCR meters, a home-built micro-ohmeter for ferreting out defective traces, etc, etc, etc..   I think I'm 'reasonably' qualified to work on a damned spa, but NOOOO, they don't want to let this information loose 'cause some clown might take a fancy to stick 220 on his tongue as a 'test."   What the hell's happened to this country??

Al done ranting now… any help or productive suggestions gratefully received.  I know SOMEBODY out there has this info; what I DON'T know is how to find it.

Thanks in advance