Hi, I recently became a new owner of a used hot tub inherited at my new home - and after draining and refilling the hot tub, I noticed a small leak under the hot tub behind the removable panel in the motor housing area. This was clearly a new issue, as the water was dripping onto a formerly dusty area of the motor housing area.
I had removed the five filters for cleaning and then re-filled the tub with fresh water (filters still off), and believe the culprit of the leak was that water was getting in under the filter standpipes which I later discovered had unscrewed very slightly for four of the five filters. I hand tightened the standpipes and a silicone caulk string floated up out of one of them which worried me greatly. Given this, I started to drain the hot tub again with the intention of fully removing the standpipe + washer base, applying new silicone caulk/plumber's tape/etc., and re-installing. However, half way through the drain process the leak stopped, which I attribute to the hand tightening of the standpipes. I have two questions:
1) Do I need to fix to the standpipe issue? You can see two of the five standpipes in the photo link:
https://ibb.co/Yfv9JS3. I would:
- Remove the standpipes,
- Apply bead of hot tub clear silicone caulk to the bottom of the sealing washer (
https://www.spadepot.com/Clear-Silicone-Spa-Pool-Adhesive-Sealant-10oz-P2062)
- Apply plumber's tape as needed to the bottom threads of the standpipes
- Re-install the standpipes.
2) There is also one other possible leak source that I'm hoping this forum can weight in on: See the link to a photo
https://ibb.co/Yfv9JS3. There's a small screw sized hole in the side wall of the filter housing area where I believe a hose of some sort is typically attached in some form or fashion. Do you know what this is? And could water be getting in there and leaking out the bottom of the hot tub?
Background of hot tub:
Make/model: Hot Springs Vista model SS
Gallons: 500