Leaking Hot Tubs

Where did all the water go? Wasn’t the hot tub filled up yesterday ? Could we have splashed all that water out of the tub? These are all the common thoughts that can run through your mind when you open up your hot tub cover and notice that you are missing some water. What should you do? Well, unfortunately many hot tub leaks should be handled by a professional serviceman, but there are some things that you can check for before you make that call. Hot tubs can leak from a few different places. For example, an ill fitting spa cover, the equipment, the jets and fittings, the plumbing or the hot tub shell itself. In order to determine how bad your leak is, you should try to narrow down where you think the leak is coming from. Do a 'walk-around inspection, walk around the outside of the unit to see if you can see any obvious water and or mold growth on the floor, deck, cement or grass near the tub. Check for "steam-outs" all around the cover especially at the fold. During cold weather, icicles are your sign. If you can, try to follow the water back to the tub and determine what area it is coming from. Unfortunately, just because you see the water on the back-right-side, that does not necessarily mean that is where the leak is, but it may help. If you cannot see an obvious amount of water outside the tub, the next place to check is the equipment compartment. This is where 90% of all leaks occur. People do not realize that a small dripping leak out of a fitting in your equipment compartment can account for an 1/8 - 1 inch per day leak. Drip, drip, drip adds up to a lot of water over 24 hours! If you can see the leak by the equipment, try to determine exactly where it is coming from and why. Look for white hard water deposits, especially in the area beneath the pumps wet-end. Dry off all suspect fittings and/or equipment with a paper towel. Then, turn on the hot tub and see if you can see water drips under pressure. If you can, use common sense to decide if it is fixable by you. A loose fitting can be tightened or re-gasketed. A small seepage at a jet back can be siliconed. But a cracked pump housing or a split or corroded heater may require the assistance of a trained hot tub repairman. If your leak does not appear to be in the equipment area, then you have to move towards the most dreaded possibilities. You either you have an internal plumbing leak or your actual spa shell is cracked. On a positive note, spa shells rarely crack. Less than 1% of all spa leaks are in the shell itself. And if your shell is cracked, you can drain the tub out and usually see where the crack is. At that point you should definitely call a hot tub repairman, do not attempt that repair yourself! Assuming that it is not your hot tub shell, that only leaves one place; your jets or jet plumbing. If you can get under and around your tub, this will be easy to locate and repair. Simply replace the jet or cracked fitting and glue it back together. If you have a full-foam, or one that has densely been coated with foam over the plumbing, then this repair is a nightmare!! Very hard to find the leak. Definitely call a pro for that repair and have your checkbook ready, and brace yourself for the all-to-real fact that you will have to pay the service company even though numerous attempts, and hours have been spent to locate the leak come up empty!! (no pun intended)Garywww.spafixer.com