What should I do if my Spa leaks ?
 

Where did all that water go ? Wasn’t the spa filled up yesterday ? Could we have splashed all that water out of the tub ? These are all the common thoughts that can run through your mind when you open up your hot tub spa cover and notice that you are missing some water.

What should you do ? Well, unfortunately many spa leaks should be handled by a professional serviceman, but there are some things that you can check for before you call in the “big guns”.

Spas leak from a few different places—the equipment, the jets and fittings, the piping or the spa shell itself. In order to determine how bad your leak is, you should try to narrow down where you think the leak is coming from. First, walk around the outside of the unit to see if you can see any obvious water on the floor, deck, cement or grass near the tub. If you can, try to follow the water back to the tub and determine what area it is coming from. Unfortunately, just because you see the water on the back-right-side, that does not necessarily mean that is where the leak is, but it may help.

If you cannot see an obvious amount of water outside the tub, the next place to check is the equipment compartment. This is where 90% of all leaks occur. People do not realize that a small dripping leak out of a fitting in your equipment compartment can account for a 2” - 12” a day leak. Drip, drip, drip adds up to a lot of water over 24 hours ! If you can see the leak by the equipment, try to determine exactly where it is coming from and why. Dry off all suspect fittings and/or equipment with a paper towel. Turn on the spa and see if you can see water seepage or drips. If you can, then use common sense to decide if it is fixable by you. A loose fitting can be tightened. A small seepage can be siliconed. But a cracked pump housing or a split or corroded heater may require the assistance of a trained spa repairman.

If your leak does not appear to be in the equipment area, then you have to move towards the most dreaded possibilities—either you have an internal plumbing leak or your actual spa shell is cracked. On a positive note, spa shells rarely crack. Less than 1% of all spa leaks are in the shell itself. And if your shell is cracked, you can drain the tub out and usually see where the crack is. At that point you should definitely call a Spa Guy and not attempt that repair yourself !

Assuming that it is not your spa shell, that only leaves one place—your jets or jet piping. If you can get under and around your tub, this will be easy to locate and repair. Simply replace the jet or cracked fitting and glue it back together. If you have a “full-foam” portable spa, then this repair is a nightmare ! Very hard to find the leak. Definitely call a pro for that repair and have your checkbook ready !