newbie with full foam leak, leaks

[tim8686]

Hi, I am trying to resurect a 10 year old sundance 800 series spa that i was given. I have worked through all the electrical issues and now have a working spa. I also have a big leak, leaks. I have started to repair the leaks and have fixed several. My problem is with the foam i cant find the big one. Any tricks..   Tim

[spahappy]

tim8686,
What a bummer for you. Keep trying, once you've found all the leaks you'll love your Sundance.
Spahappy

[naperguy12]

the trick is to add food coloring to your water then when it leaks to trace the coloring in the foam.  Good luck on your project.

[doodoo]

the trick is to add food coloring to your water then when it leaks to trace the coloring in the foam.  Good luck on your project.

Very clever method.

[spahappy]

I think it's really a shame that the tech's and dealers on this site can post 27 times on a post that discusses the benifits of full foam vs thermolock.  Newbie posts concerning  a leak in a full foam spa asking for help and it gets buried on the back pages of this forum.  
I wish I could help him, but as most of you know I sell Coleman and we don't have the full foam type of insulation.
Most of the full foam patrons have delighted in pointing out "It's no big deal to find leaks in full foam".  Why aren't more people helping this guy to fix this problem?
Why is this industry so enticed with proving that their technology is the best and yet when asked for help there's no one there.
I'm not knocking Sundance, IMO they have a good product.  
With all the knowledge on this board, why do posts such as this one get buried in the back.  Come on techs share your knowlage with newbie so he can enjoy his spa.
Spahappy  

[empolgation]

everybody duck!

[ZzTop]

the trick is to add food coloring to your water then when it leaks to trace the coloring in the foam.  Good luck on your project.

Spahappy this is the answer,  no further advice is needed.  It is that simple.

[Chas]

Spahappy this is the answer,  no further advice is needed.  It is that simple.

Agreed.

I will generally only post if I have something to add to what has been said.

Sorry, but this problem is so simple it doesn't need more than one answer.

[wmccall]

asking for help and it gets buried on the back pages of this forum.  

How is it buried in the back?  My understanding is that everytime you log into the forum the threads with the most recent replies are at the top.   If there are no replies then it drifts downward as new threads are created.  The original post is less than 48 hours old and I've read every reply.

[Spatech_tuo]

The question wsa posted about midnight and by 10am the guy got the proper answer. Spahappy was way off base but we'll give him a mulligan for that one.

[tim8686]

Guys thanks for the help. I just found the leak, not that easy by the way. Ten year old foam is hard as a rock. I just kept chasing wet foam untill I found it. Tomorrow it is off to the dealer for parts.   tim8686

[spahappy]

Good for you tim, hopefully you'll be enjoying the weekend in your spa!
Spahappy

[stuart]

Tim,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but that vintage of Sundance had a big leak issue on all of their jet plumbing. If the leak you found fixes it then great! I doubt it will. The is a boot available to go over the joints at the jet. We have repaired several of these and although it might sound a bit intimidating it's harder to talk yourself into just doing it than actually getting it done. Here is what we do:

Turn the spa over on a carpet or something to protect the shell, dig the foam out of the cabinet (it's easier to do it all than just spots), clean around the connections at the jets and glue the boots overtop (be sure to use primer), Turn the spa back over, set it on blocks, water test, re-foam. I guess I shouldn't say its easy but with someone to help it is very doable. If your careful you shouldn’t have to mess with the air injector connections. BTW, These are just now coming to an age that tons of this vintage is now popping up with this problem. Also, when we do this with a “thermo-pane” spa we usually have the same amount of man hours involved and do everything about the same except we don’t pull out as big of chunks of foam and its easier to refoam most of the cabinet than to try and replicate their origional dead air space.

[rick]

Stuart, are you saying that it is necessary to upend a thermopane spa to get at the leak?  To me that is the biggest piece of labor, even over the digging and searching.  And if the spa in question doesn't have a good pan (ABS), if the leak has been happening for some time, I would be very leary on upending the spa as the wood frame tends to be a bit more fragile and rotted do to the moisture.  When my old Cal Spa had a leak, I found it funny that it was suggested that I drain it and upend it.  As soon as I tried to move it, it started falling apart.  When I decided to get a new one, they had to literally cut my spa in pieces to get it out of there as it was rotted  to the cement.  For this reason alone, is why I decided to go with the Coleman, galvalume frame and no full foam.
I was not aware that thermopane leaks required one to turn their spa on end.  Please explain.

[stuart]

No you don't have to upend it to do this but it is much easier. Yes you have to be careful, I'm just sharing how we do it and we've done quite a few of them. On the Coleman even with the galvalume frame it's easier to tip it up and work in an upright position with full light rather than crawl around under the spa. You can see everything better. Hopefully though, a Coleman with gavalume is easier than the Coleman of old and you won't have a problem like this 10 year old spa (they’ve only done galvalume for a few years). Anything with galvalume that has several joint or jet leaks would be replaced by MAXX right now anyway.