Spa Leaking, no idea why

[brewski]

We have owned a hot tub, Artesian Island Spa (sp?) for just over 11 years now. In the past six months or so we have noticed that the spa is leaking water. We have had two different spa service companies out to look at it and neither has been able to identify the source of the leak. In fact the best they can offer us is to suggest using some sort of spa leakage solution poured into the spa. That has been tried and works only on a temporary basis, 4-5 days maybe a week or so at best.

My question is this, is it normal for a spa to develop leaks after so many years? Should we continue to seek a source of the leak and try for a repair? It seems like the used car syndrome of throwing more money in to repairs when maybe we should consider buying a new model. One downside of buying a new model is that we anticipate relocating in about 3-4 years due to retirement. Any suggestions? Thank you.

[Vinny]

Hey Brewski,

My Artesian had a leak for a while as well so maybe it's an Artesian thing ... LOL!!

Seriously, I recommend repairing it if you have the time. I think I left my tub go too long and it sucked too much air and now one of my pumps is making a lot of noise (of course it could be that just the pump is going). I wouldn't buy a new one if you plan on moving.

Do you see water around the tub? My tub is on a deck so I definitely noticed water on one side so I had a big clue! The water level would drain to a certain level and stop so I knew about where to look as far as height. What I did was stick my fingers into the foam to locate the area that was wet, moved left and right and felt either dry or wet and moved up from that spot. Wasn't too hard to locate and I used epoxy putty to do the repair. For me it was a joint for an air control must have unglued/cracked and the epoxy putty worked great. And it only cost me a few hours on a weekend and $4.00.

About that car analogy, IMO if you put $1000 a year (not including regular maintenance) into car repairs it sure is cheaper then a car loan. But once it gets to the point that anything major happens or too many repairs are happening then it's time for another car. I feel the same about a tub ... if you put $500 in parts (assuming you can repair things yourself) and it gets you through then it's better then buying another tub for $10K. You may be lucky and the repair will cost you less than $100 (remember mine cast $4) and your tub is good to go!

[brewski]

Vinny,

Thanks for your help and suggestions. Our spa is on a concrete pad and we definitely see water around the tub, generally in one corner location where the hose is connected when draining the tub. I'll try and follow your idea and see what we can determine. I admit I'm not much of a fix it up guy but will give it a shot.

[Vinny]

I have the Grand Cayman and there's really nothing there by that output; I would assume that they're all in about the same location. Check to see if that lever is stopping the water all the way; maybe get a hose flat washer and put that in the cap to see if that works. I think you can see the hose for that if you take the panel off that's under the control panel; my drain is to the left side of the tub looking at the control panel. I had one of my seals to the pump go once and it was a fairly easy fix (looking back at it) and that was in that general vicinity.

Hopefully it's something easy!