Spa Heater Elements for electrical flow through hot tub heaters come in various lengths, sizes, shapes, kilowatt ratings and are usually either 120V or 240V.

A heater element is made up of a special nichrome wire that creates heat by the resistance to the electricity that flows through it.

The heater element with outer titanium, copper, ceramic or other material sheath is mounted inside the heater manifold or "heater tube" with mounting hardware.

Spa Heater Element Troubleshooting

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Heaters can fail prematurely due to poor water chemistry which can cause corrosion of the outer layer, allowing water to penetrate the sheath and causing a short circuit which then trips (or is supposed to trip!) the Spa GFCI.

Heaters can also cause short circuits if the heater element is allowed to touch the outer metal manifold that surrounds the heater element. If this type of short circuit happens, with power off to the spa, a long screwdriver can help position the heater element off of the manifold wall.

If the heater element itself is causing the short circuit, it will need to be replaced with a spa heater element of similar size and specification.

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ELM heater elements include Bowtie spa heater elements and NPT type heater elements. Outdated and discontinued heater elements can be replaced with current spa heater elements by using a matching adapter.

If you are not sure what type of heater element you need, contact us (link to contact page) . We will be glad to help. (images of bowtie spa heater and npt spa heater types with sublabels)

Replacement heater elements fit most OEM models including Balboa M7, Balboa M7 teflon coated, Wicor, Aqua Spa Pac, K Star, Royal, Haughs, Lifestyle and more. Note the different locations of the terminals when ordering bowtie type heater elements.


Many of our heater elements come complete with heater hardware which includes element hardware with Viton o-rings.