How to repair a leak?

[LarryL]

I have a 2001 Sovereign that started leaking about a year after we go it. After putting up with the leak for a few months I jacked it up got underneath, hacked out a little foam, found the leak in a tube and repaired it by cutting out the leaking section and inserting a repair piece. After a while it leaked again. Repeat. After a few more years it developed a slow leak that went undetected for quite some time. Eventually it got worse, to the point that the cost to keep it hot went up due to foam saturation and loss of insulation value. A few weeks ago I went after the leak again, this time up the right (as you fact the pump end). After considerable digging I find the leak in the backside of a 6 X 1 fitting that connects 5 small tubes to 1 larger one (1 small has a plug inserted). I also managed to nick one of the small tubes and now have a leak there as well. The usual instruction to the owner who has found a leak is to cut out the leaking part, take it to the dealer, get a replacement part, install, and all is well. Well, how should I imagine it will work in this case. cutting out the leaking part is easy. Maybe getting a new 6 X 1 will be easy too. Now what? All the tubing is now too short to reconnect. Splicing in extensions seems to be tripling the available failure points. Does this mean that I now have to dig out foam and follow the 5 small tubes all the way to fittings and replace the whole bunch? Should the whole thing just go to the dump?

[Hot Spring Ace]

I have a 2001 Sovereign that started leaking about a year after we go it. After putting up with the leak for a few months I jacked it up got underneath, hacked out a little foam, found the leak in a tube and repaired it by cutting out the leaking section and inserting a repair piece. After a while it leaked again. Repeat. After a few more years it developed a slow leak that went undetected for quite some time. Eventually it got worse, to the point that the cost to keep it hot went up due to foam saturation and loss of insulation value. A few weeks ago I went after the leak again, this time up the right (as you fact the pump end). After considerable digging I find the leak in the backside of a 6 X 1 fitting that connects 5 small tubes to 1 larger one (1 small has a plug inserted). I also managed to nick one of the small tubes and now have a leak there as well. The usual instruction to the owner who has found a leak is to cut out the leaking part, take it to the dealer, get a replacement part, install, and all is well. Well, how should I imagine it will work in this case. cutting out the leaking part is easy. Maybe getting a new 6 X 1 will be easy too. Now what? All the tubing is now too short to reconnect. Splicing in extensions seems to be tripling the available failure points. Does this mean that I now have to dig out foam and follow the 5 small tubes all the way to fittings and replace the whole bunch? Should the whole thing just go to the dump?

No, you've done the more difficult part which is getting to the leak so now you just need a few couplings and a little bit of hose and maybe the manifold. Take a picture and bring a piece of the hose to the dealer and if they don't have the parts call this site:

 http://backyardplus.com/tubing.php

[stuart]

The manifold leak is a common one and yes, you will usually have to extend the hoses thereby increasing the chance for leaks at those points. That's why bringing in a professional that does this every day might be advisable for something of this magnitude.

Experience is worth a lot in repairing this type of failure and a good tech can greatly minimize the possibility of a recurrence

[TwinCitiesHotSpring]

I would just pickup some couplings and extend the pipes making sure you prime/glue properly...yes you are creating more fail points but its not like your doing it to pipes for your swimming pool that will be buried under a stamped and colored concrete deck.....we're talking about a 12 year old spa that your trying to get a few more years out of...just my .02

[Hot Spring Ace]

I would just pickup some couplings and extend the pipes making sure you prime/glue properly...yes you are creating more fail points but its not like your doing it to pipes for your swimming pool that will be buried under a stamped and colored concrete deck.....we're talking about a 12 year old spa that your trying to get a few more years out of...just my .02

Once fixed just run it for a few weeks as is to make sure its still dry before you reinsulate that area.

[Chas]

When I work on any type of manifold leak, I go out of my way to extend the inlet and move the manifold so that I do not have to  add couplings to the smaller outlet lines. I, like you, do not want more joints for future leaks, and as you are finding out, joints glued into old flex just don't seem to want to last as long as joints glued into new flex.

Also - and you may be doing this already - I use a heat gun to warm the flex even if I do not need it to bend. I find that making the end of the flex warm and soft really increases the quality of the glue joints.

Here's one I did recently - I used a larger manifold than Watkins put in, with some reducers on the outlets, and it quieted things down. Plus the piece I used was much longer than the original, so I was able to glue directly on both ends with no extensions - so no extra glue joints. Well, I would have been able to - the owner had cut out more than we needed so I did have to add an extension on the inlet side. But I used hard PVC pipe between the manifold and the coupling, so no fear of failure in the future.




HTH

 

[LarryL]

Some good suggestions. I'm probably going to need to extend something anyway as I nicked one of the small tubes digging out foam. The place where I found my leak is in a 6 X 1 fitting. I don't seem to be able to post a photo here so, photos at: http://www.luckham.com/Spa_Leak/album/index.html

It doesn't seem to me that the connections are glued with regular PVC primer and glue. Would that be the case?

[TwinCitiesHotSpring]

Some good suggestions. I'm probably going to need to extend something anyway as I nicked one of the small tubes digging out foam. The place where I found my leak is in a 6 X 1 fitting. I don't seem to be able to post a photo here so, photos at: http://www.luckham.com/Spa_Leak/album/index.html

It doesn't seem to me that the connections are glued with regular PVC primer and glue. Would that be the case?

if your comment is based on the fact the joints are "grey" then that is normal...Hot Spring's uses a Medium body glue which is a little more heavy duty...as seen here: http://www.ipscorp.com/plumbing/weldon/pvc/781 the "blue" will work fine for repair, I've used both and prefer grey because it is slightly easier to work with because it's not as "runny" as the blue stuff, but again that is just personal preference

[Chas]

I would get the fitting, cut the smaller tubes as short as you need to get past the nick, and then heat them up till they are nice a workable. Then dip them into the primer, spread the glue on them liberally, and press them into place.

Extend the inlet side, and use hard PVC pipe for that.

HTH

 

[LarryL]

The grey glue didn't look like the grey PVC I'm used to, but on thinking about it that's probably because it was all covered with foam. But, I'm sure you are correct.

Good thought on trying to make the repair connection to 5 shortened, but not extended, tubes rather than extending everything. It may prove challenging getting them all the right length, getting them all primed and glue applied all over then mated before the glue starts to set up but it's definitely worth the try.

This may be a dumb question, but although I've worked with LOTS of PVC pipe, I've never worked with the PVC flex. And, I don't have a piece on hand yet. Is it the case that the flex uses the same fittings, i.e. couplings, etc., as the rigid?