2004 Dimension One Aurora with leaks - repairs and pictures!

[nhd1guy]

Hi All-
New forum member D1 Aurora II 2004 leaks/damage.
On the good side, I bought it used last year- tub and delivery only cost me $600 used if May thru March.
On the bad side, I had a 250-lb person in the tub after the snows started and after that it was leaking about an inch per day.
Damage turned out to be cracks in footwell due to disintegrating high density foam repaired in white marine epoxy and fiberglass cloth.  I plan to use new post fix urethane foam (Sika 33 fl. oz. Fence Post Mix) that I picked up at Home Depot to refoam the damaged area.
Rotted underframe and termite damage- no live termites- I had a concrete pad placed down last year but the the original owner location was on 12" squares that had sunk about an inch in the center and the original source of the termites.
http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z349/nhthinker/20170414_155915-2_zpshjcaarnj.jpg

But found extremely wet foam surrounding a pipe with disintegrated seal where it enters pump compartment...
It seems to be a black rubber gasket/hose material completely disintegrated surrounding a 2" pvc pipe.  The other thing I noticed was a blue hose where I was expecting to see a degassing chamber.

http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z349/nhthinker/20170414_180009-2_zpsggqk6vrg.jpg

Any old hands out there with some advice?  Much Appreciated!

[Tman122]

Umm, wow. 13 years old is all. Seems there's been support problems from the past and now with an inch sag in your pad. That has to be addressed first. Then fix the tub leaks.

[nhd1guy]

Thanks for the reply - my original sentence was ambiguous[I now edited it].  My concrete pad I put in last year when I bought it is flat and solid 5".   Understanding the plumbing intended by Dimension One versus the plumbing the prior service repair created.  I may need to get a plumbing schematic from Dimension One.

[nhd1guy]

More investigation- The spa light had burned out.  It had moisture on the bulb.  The light socket is indirectly over the top of the pipe I thought was leaking and there was a wet and rust stained insulation trail going up in the direction of the light.

I'm going to assume the remaining leak was the light and replace socket.
I'll report back if it worked.

[nhd1guy]

Follow-up.
Indeed leak on the light fixture but it was basically impossible to remove so I epoxied it in place.

The source of the other major remaining leak was the o-ring on the heat return jet.  Also basically impossible to remove so I ended up epoxying over the o-ring. 

No more leaks!

[JacuzziJack]

Glad you got it fixed. What I would do is pull out some of that foam, then replace the wood as needed, then re-foam with some Great-Stuff, or similar product. The Spa-guy has a bunch of DIY Youtube videos if you haven't watched them already. Might give you some ideas on future problem if any come up.

[nhd1guy]

Hi!
I replaced all the major rotten lumber and reinforced under the foot well with pressure treated lumber.

I have never had good luck with using GreatStuff to fill large voids and under the foot well needed something that could support some weight.  The right way to do it would have been to get some 4 or 6 pound foam from a place like fibreglast.com for any positions supporting weight.  Or hire a professional with proper equipment and respiration mask, but that would likely have cost more than what I paid for the hot tub ($500).
The fast way to do it was to use the new expanding foam fence post mix available at Lowes/HD.
I find the post mix fills much better than GreatStuff and is significantly stronger- certainly not as strong as the original foam but it has held up for over 6 months now.
Here is a pic of the reenforcement and you can see the foam fence post mix expanding around the edges.
http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z349/nhthinker/1417_zps2uq4tgl9.jpg

I have not found a good DIY foam to refill all the areas I had ripped out- Mostly I just pushed the ripped out pieces back into place.  Now that it is not leaking anymore- I will probably address better more complete foam insulation job  next year.  I would probably need to fill at least 3-6 cubic feet of insulation and didn't want to spend a huge amount or spend more than a few hours to get it done.

[JacuzziJack]

Sounds like you did it like I probably would have. I was not aware of the expanding foam for posts product. Something to keep in mind.

Here's something to log in the back of the ole brain for future projects: you can take odd spray foam projects to some guys' spray foam shops. I've had big tanks insulated via spray foam (for industrial construction projects). We'd ship the tanks down there and they could do a nice job and seal the exterior with a UV resistant rubberizer. They could do it on-site too, but the guys gave me some reasons why they could do a better job in their shop in a more controlled environment. In talking to the owner of the operation, guys bring down small stuff (including hot tubs) their shop and leave it to the side and they can get to it when they get enough for a day or half a day's work, or when something larger comes in (like our tanks). It's not too hard or expensive for them to walk over and shoot some foam on the smaller items.

In your case it would be almost impossible to get them to come by for what you needed, you'd likely need to put your hot tub on a snowmobile trailer and leave it there when they can get at it. So all in all, you did it the right way. But just letting you know how you can have stuff spray-foamed in case you had a future item. I had a wall and ceiling one time at my house where I needed to re-do some spray foam. It was really hard to get them to come out, but eventually they did after a lot of badgering of the owner. I got a chance first hand to see that it was a fair amount of work for the guys to suit up, plastic everything off, mobilize their tools, undo it all, then purge the lines and put everything away. It doesn't pay for them to travel hither and fro for a small job. If you or a neighbor has a compact tractor or skid loader, moving around a hot tub with long forks is pretty easy. 

[nhd1guy]

Thanks, JaccuziJack for your long thoughtful reply.
Sorry it took my so long to read it!
Excellent suggestions.

The other approach I ended up using is stuffing pink fiberglass insulation in plastic bread bags for the few larger gaps that I had to rip out after the hot was set in place and post foam wasn't a practical option.  It provides no structural support but hopefully it will provide the thermal barrier.

The hot tub has been free on any leaks for many months and I decided to buy a new cover for it to replace the original one from 2004 that finally was getting too water logged and weathered to continue fixing.  Hopefully the tub will last at least another few years before needing replacement.

Costs
 500   12yo working D1 Aurora II tub
 100   delivery
 350   6" reinforced 9x9 slab pour
 900   electric service for hot tub
   50   pressure treated wood/ post foam
   25   marine epoxy
   20   fix-leak
 100   new filters
   40   flow sensor
 100   2 years/chemicals
 440   new cover - SunStar (same as original)
   30   beer for friends that helped move tub

less than 100 or so hours effort