Hot Spring heater repair?

[Isaac-1]

I have a 1998 Hot Spring Jetsetter that I bought used about 4 years ago it came to me equiped with the current style twin tube no-fault heater.  After changing the water today (sat empty over night, lows in the 40's so no freeze involved) I discovered a small drip coming from the plastic end of the heater away from the wiring and plumbing connections.  My question is, is there anything serviceable under the plastic,  should I try to repair this heater, or just go ahead and spend $300+ on a new one?  I hate needless spend the money if it may be something simple like a screw that needs to be tightened or even if it is an o-ring that can be replaced.

thnaks

[Tman122]

I have a 1998 Hot Spring Jetsetter that I bought used about 4 years ago it came to me equiped with the current style twin tube no-fault heater.  After changing the water today (sat empty over night, lows in the 40's so no freeze involved) I discovered a small drip coming from the plastic end of the heater away from the wiring and plumbing connections.  My question is, is there anything serviceable under the plastic,  should I try to repair this heater, or just go ahead and spend $300+ on a new one?  I hate needless spend the money if it may be something simple like a screw that needs to be tightened or even if it is an o-ring that can be replaced.

thnaks

Isaac, ask yourself this question, how old is the current heater? If your answer is 4 years because that's how long you owned it I would say that is not a very good life. But if it was installed 4 years before you got the tub then its good life from a heater. Replace the entire unit.

If it's 19 years old wow.........

[BullFrogSpasMN]

the only repair on that style of heater would be a "rig job" with some epoxy or other material...I believe that heater is available online from backyardplus.com for around $335 plus thermistor probes if you need them

[Isaac-1]

Ok, heater is shot, one more question, is it worth spending an extra $75-$80 for a genuine Watkins branded No Fault heater, vs the Laing  generic dual tube heater that looks identical except has the manual reset button?

[Tman122]

For a tub that old spend as little as possible.

[Isaac-1]

For its age the tub is in really good shape, having likely spent its entire life indoors, other than the fading on the waterline tiles and styling one would hard pressed to guess its age.    Thankfully it is a 1998 model which was the last year for real redwood slats, not the color shifting prone fake redwood that was introduced in 1999.     If nothing unrepairable fails on it I may well keep it another 10-15 years,  or more as  I just can't  justify spending $10,000 on a new Jetsetter just to get the improved Moto--masage DX as I don't care about color changing lights, or internet conntivity.

[Tman122]

For its age the tub is in really good shape, having likely spent its entire life indoors, other than the fading on the waterline tiles and styling one would hard pressed to guess its age.    Thankfully it is a 1998 model which was the last year for real redwood slats, not the color shifting prone fake redwood that was introduced in 1999.     If nothing unrepairable fails on it I may well keep it another 10-15 years,  or more as  I just can't  justify spending $10,000 on a new Jetsetter just to get the improved Moto--masage DX as I don't care about color changing lights, or internet conntivity.

There's no other brands still going that are that old after 10-15 more years. Good luck, 24 is the oldest I have seen and it was a HS

[Hottubguy]

For its age the tub is in really good shape, having likely spent its entire life indoors, other than the fading on the waterline tiles and styling one would hard pressed to guess its age.    Thankfully it is a 1998 model which was the last year for real redwood slats, not the color shifting prone fake redwood that was introduced in 1999.     If nothing unrepairable fails on it I may well keep it another 10-15 years,  or more as  I just can't  justify spending $10,000 on a new Jetsetter just to get the improved Moto--masage DX as I don't care about color changing lights, or internet conntivity.

There's no other brands still going that are that old after 10-15 more years. Good luck, 24 is the oldest I have seen and it was a HS

Oldest I've seen is 23 years old. Also a hot spring. Just replaced a older marquis with a new one. That tub was made in 1997.

[Isaac-1]

In case you are wondering what this tub looks like, here is a photo from about two years ago.  (had the photo on my phone already)