I must not be living right....

[lawdawgva]

You might remember I had a leak around the impeller housing a few weeks ago on a fresh fill....that fixed itself for the most part after the water heated up.

Well, now I have a leak at the back of my 97 Sovreign (end opposite the controls and on the opposite corner of the moto massage).  Of course, I realize water takes the path of least resistance so it could be leaking from a totally different area.

Does anyone have any pointers before I go digging around in my spa?  I'm thinking specifically about the best way to go about removing the wood slats to keep from damaging them.    I assume you just dig the foam out with your fingers?  It is leaking at a rate of about 1/2" per week if you dont run the main pump.

Again, any advice will be appreciated.  I guess this will be my project this coming weekend.  Thanks!

-Sarge

[Vanguard]

Call your dealer.  Let them do it.

[st18901]

I am speaking with the knowledge of an '86 sovereign, so it might not be applicable to you...
However here goes anyway:

I had a leak in the same place. It turned out to be a cracked jet housing. It is the most likely part it seems, so when you start digging, I'd aim right for a jet area. In my case it was easy because there was only 1 there.

The slats are stapled (with long wood flooring type staples) and also glued on. I needed to pull the staples out with a pair of pliers, a small screwdriver and patience. I'd grab the staple with the pliers and pull straight out. (unfortunately this does do a little damage to the redwood - so the more needle nose the pliers, the better) Once I had the staple pulled a bit that I could get behind it, I could wiggle it out easily.
After the staples,  from the bottom of the tub, gently tap a large screwdriver behind the slat. Tug outward gently as you tap upwards. The glue will eventually pop - and the slat should come free. The trick here is to make sure you are patient - impatience may cause a slat to split, rather than the foam and glue giving way. If it happens, curse a bit and then continue. You can glue them back in such a way that you'll never see the split.

The slats overlap right to left, so you may have to take several off to get to the area you want to work on. A close visual inspection will make it obvious.

Foam digging:
Use a large screw driver to dig into the foam. Fingers won't work.
Don't use a knife. I read on another forum from a guy who pierced tubing with a knife while digging foam.

As you dig, you should find wet foam pretty quickly. If you don't, you may not have found the right place.

Now - the bugger with the leak is repairing it.
If it is a jet housing, replacement is a pretty major job.
What I opted to do instead was a repair job.
If your leak is a jet housing leak, I'll explain what I did.

Happy digging.

By the way, all of this may sound tough. It's not too bad really.

[lawdawgva]

Thanks for the suggestions and the info guys.  I might wind up calling a dealer.  I don't have an extra 500 bucks lying around and from what I've heard, its entirely possible for a repair bill to approach that quickly.  It's not that I'm cheap mind you, I'll do what needs to be done, but I am fairly mechanical minded and I guess it is more or less a challenge to me.  Hopefully things will calm down at work and I can focus on this thing and get it done.  I'll try to keep everyone posted on what I found.

-Sarge

[st18901]

Off the top of my head, when I repaired my jet, the costs were:
10 dollars for the epoxy,
3 dollars for pvc glue, and
6 dollars for great stuff foam.

[TN__HOT_TUB]

I've seen epoxy for $3.  

Off the top of my head, when I repaired my jet, the costs were:
10 dollars for the epoxy,
3 dollars for pvc glue, and
6 dollars for great stuff foam.

[hottubdan]

To help diagnose, if you have the patience, you can let it leak to to the point where it stops leaking.  It should come to a fitting and stop.  Voila, you know where the leak is (maybe )

[Vanguard]

Very good suggestion HTD.  If you are going to do this yourself, this is always the best place to start.  Then, when the water gets down to that level, you can get some phenol red from your pool dealer.  Drop some in around the each jet at that level.   The phenol red will get pulled to wherever the leak is as it will also leak out.  You can also use anything with color that does not dilute right away.

[hotubinn]

To help diagnose, if you have the patience, you can let it leak to to the point where it stops leaking.  It should come to a fitting and stop.  Voila, you know where the leak is (maybe )

I guess you can try this, just doesn't usually help.  The leak may require the pressure of a full tub to appear, when this pressure is lessened (lower water level) it stops leaking.  This doesn't mean that the leak is at that level, it could be a fitting lower that requires that pressure above to leak.  Most leaks I deal with are not in between the jet and shell, so this really wouldn't help.  Most leaks I find occur at the joint where plumbing meets jet.  Start by exposing jets that have wet foam around them.  Then move onto manifolds, etc...

[hotubinn]

Off the top of my head, when I repaired my jet, the costs were:
10 dollars for the epoxy,
3 dollars for pvc glue, and
6 dollars for great stuff foam.

If you are using epoxy to repair a crack in a jet (pvc), I hope you didn't blow in too much foam!  It is very likely that you will be repairing this area again.  Epoxy will not bond with pvc, it will eventually flake off.  If you do go the route of repair, call your tech and get a product called plast aid.  This is a two part compound that chemically adheres to pvc.  I have seen this stuff do amazing things, yet I have also witnessed it fail in situations that I thought would be fine.  Either way, a quick fix is a temporary fix.  Just my two cents

[hottubdan]

Have you tried some leak seal type product?

[st18901]

If you are using epoxy to repair a crack in a jet (pvc), I hope you didn't blow in too much foam!  It is very likely that you will be repairing this area again.  Epoxy will not bond with pvc, it will eventually flake off.  If you do go the route of repair, call your tech and get a product called plast aid.  This is a two part compound that chemically adheres to pvc.  I have seen this stuff do amazing things, yet I have also witnessed it fail in situations that I thought would be fine.  Either way, a quick fix is a temporary fix.  Just my two cents

Um, Plastaid  is an epoxy.
I didn't say which epoxy specifically so I suppose I can see where you might have assumed something incorrectly.

Specifically, the epoxy I used is "Hercules Plastic-poxy".  
Good stuff.

[lawdawgva]

I still have not had time to try to dig to the leak yet.  I haven't tried any leak stop... is that worth a try and would it be a permanent fix?  I can't say that I've ever heard much, good or bad, about it.  Anyone have any experience with this stuff?

-Sarge

[hottubdan]

I still have not had time to try to dig to the leak yet. ÊI haven't tried any leak stop... is that worth a try and would it be a permanent fix? ÊI can't say that I've ever heard much, good or bad, about it. ÊAnyone have any experience with this stuff?

-Sarge

We have sold it to customers with many brands.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  But, it only costs $20-$30 and is noninvasive.

Think medicine vs. surgery.  Worth a try.

[Chas]

I haven't had good luck with leak stop remedies.

It isn't really that hard to track down the leak, dig out some foam and then glue in some PVC bits and pieces.

Once the foam is open, look for other leaks - it is not unusual to do a bit of tugging and pushing on other plumbing and open up a joint. Also, it is possible that a tiny leak is hiding near your main leak - rare, but who wants to have to open it back up again?

Fix the leak, and then run the tub for a couple of weeks before closing the 'wound' back up.

If you put the spa up on blocks, be sure to put two or three in the center/middle as well as the four corners.