Assess my frozen hot tub

[Testakount]

This is a continuation of my previous thread about my frozen hot tub.

http://imgur.com/a/KWEgb

Basically it froze and has been sitting in my backyard for a few years.  I was wondering if it was worth fixing.

You guys suggested I fill it up and see what happens, so that's what I did, and there were 2 leaks:

1) It seems one of the pumps/motors is broken as it was leaking water like crazy.  You can see in the imgur album where the water is flowing out.
When I turn the pump on, the motor just hums/stalls.

2) There's a PVC pipe section with 8-12 hoses coming out of it. I'm guessing this will be the least expensive to repair.

The third problem, which is not a leak, is the heater.  At least I suspect it's the heater.  The two error codes it gives me are RHNH which means heater failure and RHHL which means the temperature is too high, which it obviously isn't because the hot tub is empty.

What should I do here?  The hot tub was $8000 a few years ago and it seems both the heater and the pump would cost $300 each.

Should I just forget the repair and accept my hot tub's fate?  Should I scrounge craigslist for free hot tubs for the motors?  Thanks.

[av8r]

I'd probably try to get the motor to spin.  It's likely that it's frozen from corrosion and may work once freed up.

If that works, I'd try to fix the leaks.

If I could do that I'd buy a heater or see if there is a way to test/replace sensors that send temp data to the controller.

But, I like to tinker.

[Vinny]

Here's my opinion...

Based on the photo of the pump, it looks like the pump is leaking from the seal area at least that's what it looks like to my eyes (could be wrong). If it is, you can probably look at taking those screws out and seeing if an o-ring or whatever is destroyed. You may be able to get wet ends for about $60 if you can't get just the o-ring. The heater should be activated and deactivated by the flow switch and it may be possible that the switch is stuck on causing the heater to come on and possibly burn out - a meter may be able to tell you that or the error codes for no heat is what you are seeing - IDK. I would open up the pump that is humming (assuming the screws will give you access to the impeller for the pump) and turn the pump to see if it moves, as av8r said you might be able to move it to free it up. As for the PVC pipe, I didn't see any photos but I have successfully used epoxy putty for a recent leak repair on a PVC pipe in my tub; someone here told me about it and it worked great so far, only time will tell.

If the tub was bought new and you invested that money for it then it would be a shame to junk it because of a few hundred dollars ... just if you do fix it don't let it get that way again and call it a costly learning experience.

[Tman122]

If you paid 8000 bucks for a Tatum product you made a mistake. No big deal. Looks like the housing is cracked on the pump, could be seal also but seems awful leaky for a seal.

Fix the leaks. Heater likely overheating because of no flow.

[Testakount]

It's a Gulf Coast LX 11000 if I recall correctly

Alright I'm gonna check the motor tomorrow.  If I can get it running but the pump is still leaking then I can just replace the pump part right?

The PVC part I'm talking about is beyond repair - the end of the pipe completely busted off and the heater was also acting up even before the hot tub froze up.  The heater would randomly shut off showing the RHNH code and the hot tub would go cold.  That's how it froze up in the first place.  The RHHL code is new though.

[Tman122]

Yes replacing just the pump is an option. If the pump housing is cracked (common in freeze ups) Do the seal between the 2 also. The manifold is also replaceable. Are the hoses clamped or glued? Or both?