Hot Tub Leak Repair

Having a leak in your hot tub can be a real pain, especially if you don’t know what you’re looking for and how to find it. Following a few simple steps, you should be able to find the source of the leak and be able to decide how to proceed with a repair, without a lot of headache.

Before beginning your search for a leak be sure to disconnect all power to the hot tub. Once you are inside the equipment compartment, most leaks can be sourced to certain parts of the tub such as:

  • Pump Wet End Seal

  • Heater Assembly Manifold

  • PVC Plumbing Parts and Tubing

  • Jet Bodies

  • Slice and Gate Valves

  • Connections

  • Pump


Once you are in the equipment compartment the first place you will want to check is the pump, often a bad pump seal can be the cause of the leak. If you find the water to be leaking from the pump you will want to determine whether just a new seal is needed or if the entire wet end should be replaced. Replacing your entire wet end may save you a lot of headache as new seals can be somewhat difficult to install without breaking them or other components within the wet end.

Unions


You will want to check all of the union fittings located around the pump and the heater. Even in brand new spas unions can become loose due to vibrations during shipment. Do not use a wrench to tighten hot tub unions. Unions should be fairly simple to tighten by hand, if not you may need to remove them realign parts for a straighter fit and then tighten by hand. Do not use a wrench to tighten hot tub unions.

Heater


Your heater assembly manifold consists of your heater assembly, pressure switch, and other components of the heating unit. If you find the leak to be within any of these parts you will need to proceed with replacing the necessary parts.

Valves


Next, check all valves in your hot tub as they can be a common source of leaks. On knife style valves, there is a gasket between the two halves that are bolted together that could be causing leaks. Also, some manufacturers build hot tubs with valves installed on either side of the pump so that water does not need to be shut off to allow access to the pump for repair or replacement. In theory the idea is a good one but often owners will choose to remove these valves as they are a very common source of leaks and can be more of a headache than they are helpful.

Connections and Jets


At this point, if the source of the leak has not been located you will want to move on to checking all of your jets, pipes, and connections. Leaking jets can be caused by a bad gasket in the jet body but it is also possible for jets to go bad overtime and they may need to be replaced. When checking connections they may need to be tightened or resealed with PVC glue.

If you do not want to tear into your equipment and spend the time and headache of trying to locate a leak, a great first step repair option is Fix-A-Leak. Fix A Leak is blended concentrated material designed to seal leaks in virtually any material and can be applied for leaks in the shell and works equally well in the plumbing. It is made specifically for hot tubs and can fix leaks up to 1/8” in diameter.Trying Fix-A-Leak first may save the headache of trying to locate the leak in your equipment, if the use of fix-a-leak as directed does not work you can then proceed with the above mentioned steps in attempting to find the leak.

Fix-A-Leak is very simple to use, just complete the following steps:

DOSAGE:
USE 8oz PER 1,000 GALLONS OF WATER FOR MINOR LEAKS. A SECOND BOTTLE CAN BE ADDED FOR LARGER LEAKS.

Steps:
1. First determine water loss in a 24 hour period
2. Fill to original level, mark water line
3. Remove all cartridges or filtering devices
4. Slowly add Fix A Leak with pump running through skimmer
5. Recirculate for 6-8 hours. Shut system off
6. Check water level the following day
7. If level remains the same the leak has stopped
8. Allow 48 hours before resuming operation
9. It's recommended not the use spa till leak is fixed and the remainder of Fix A Leak is filtered out.

If Leak has slowed and not totally stopped you may add more product to increase strength of solution already in spa.

Stir Fix A Leak in the spa with soft broom to get solution back into suspension.

Follow steps 5-8 as before.

Product Note:
Normally Fix A Leak will seal holes 1/8" in diameter. The product requires pressure to ensure it's impacted into the area of the leak. Leaks created by a crack in a pipe in all probability will be sealed. The leak may reoccur due to vibration which in turn will migrate in size, recreating the leak. Most spas are foam insulated, and when saturated with water, will greatly delay the cure time of Fix A Leak. It would be best to drain spa, immediately wipe down shell with a damp cloth to remove any residue of Fix A Leak. Allow 3-5 days before refilling, in most cases this will allow the product to cure.
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Comments

hottubwarehouse
October 28, 2014

I would suspect it is sucking air from somewhere. Have you tried unplugging the drain valve on the pump to make sure there is water in there? If there is plenty of water in the pump and it is air locked it is most likely sucking air in the system from somewhere.

Dave Ghekiereq
November 5, 2014

I have a dimmension one spa its a 1995 year model and the jets automatically shut down after a half hour. Can I overide that somehow? Just trying to figure out how to run the jets the full 8 hours to use the fix a leak?

Thanks Dave

Angie Treasure
November 6, 2014

Hi Dave! Dimension One spas have jet cycles that are programmed to automatically shut off after running for 30 minutes. As far as I know, there is no override for this function. Instead of running the jets, try running a filter cycle for an extended period of time to keep your water circulating so you can use the fix-a-leak. Here is a copy of a Dimension One manual if that helps you figure out your problem: http://thespaworks.com/sites/thespaworks.com/files/1998_d1_spa_manual.pdf. Good luck!

jamie
August 24, 2014

i have small slits or cracks in my 3" flex hose probably 1/2" long and a 1/16" wide and also a drip coming from under my light fixture will fix a leak work on this (Jacuzzi)

Kasey
October 14, 2014

Hi Jamie, sorry for the late response. We will be checking the comments more often now. In my opinion, your best bet would be to replace the flex hose. While the Fix A Leak “may” work for a time, I fear that the vibration from the pump and water running through it would cause the cracks to open up again. I think the Fix a Leak may work well for the drip under your light fixture though, so I would give it a try and you may end up fixing both problems or you may still have to replace the flex hose. Again, sorry for the delay, but I hope this helps.

Gary
October 25, 2014

Interesting blog. I’m having trouble rebuilding my nordic hottub. Control panel went out due to faulty pump. I have replaced the control panel and pump. Now,it appears that pump is air locked and I can’t clear, I get air pumped through water outlet and filter basket. The floor of the control panel is quite warped and it is difficult to get the connections squarely mated, could it be sucking air throught the warped connections ?

Gary
June 11, 2014

Refurbishing a 10yr old Sundance hot-tub I acquired for free. It had lots of water damage when I got it and the whole bottom area of foam was water-logged so I expected that the tub had a leak(s). Replaced the frame and many parts, hoses, etc., cleaned it all up, jet assemblies and gaskets looked pretty good, but the 3 jets in the bottom reservoir where the feet go, that don’t have any removable jet assemblies (just moveable nozzles affixed to the permenant jet housings) are very loose. Housings may be cracked? Seals bad? Not sure, but rain water got into that area and was at a level about equal to those 3 jet/nozzles. Sure enough, the tub was leaking from underneath. I suspect the leak is coming from one or more of these 3 jets. Problem is, there doesn’t seem to be any removable part to these 3 jets so how do I fix the problem there? I dread the idea of digging out all the foam from the under-side to get at these jets from the back. How can I determine if the leaks are in fact from these jets and more importantly, can they be fixed/replaced from inside the tub? If so, how do I go about doing that? Thank you for any advice.

hottubwarehouse
June 24, 2014

Most hot tub jets are installed by inserting the jet in through the front of the hot tub and are held in place by a locknut on the back of the spa. They will typically have use a gasket and on occasion have silicone to prevent leaks. On your particular spa I’m not sure how yours are installed but what I have described is almost universal. If they are leaking from their it could either be a cracked jet body or the gasket needs to be replaced.

It usually isn’t possible to fix from the inside. Unfortunately you will most likely have to repair it from the back.

I hope this helps some.

Tom
May 19, 2014

I have a leak in my spa and would like to give “Fix a Leak” a try. The spa uses 220 gallons of water when filled. So, at the rate of 8 ounces per 1,000 gallons of water fro minor leaks, I figure that I should certainly not need more than an 8 ounce bottle. HOWEVER, I have seen reviews both on your site and on Amazon that talk about spa owners having to have applied several times OR where they used the whole 8 ounce bottle to start with. So, I’m wondering if I may be better off buying the 32 ounce bottle. Can you provide your thoughts? Also, what is the effective shelf life of the product? Finally, I have tried a product named “Spa Choice Seal a Leak” that I purchased at Spa Depot. I tried it multiple times and, at first, I thought it had worked, but then the leak reoccurred within a day. Do you have any idea how “Fix a Leak” compares against that product?

hottubwarehouse
May 21, 2014

It definitely won’t hurt the spa to use larger quantities of Fix A Leak but the product will only seal leaks in cracks or holes up to 1/8" in diameter. The product works really well and is the best selling hot tub leak sealant on the market. I am not familiar with the other product but we have tons of customers who LOVE Fix-A-Leak!

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