Regardless of how your problem started, it’s now the spring and when you try to fill the hot tub, you’ve got water coming out of the sides. What happened to the hot tub over the winter? What causes hot tub leaks?
Some leaks are caused by deteriorating gaskets, or failing glue joints. This is especially common in older hot tubs. Those type of leaks tend to lose an inch of water over a couple of days.
On the other hand, if the hot tub was fine last year, and after sitting for the winter it is suddenly losing water faster than you can fill it, you may be the victim of a winter freeze up. A winter freeze up is caused by improper draining. At it’s simplest, a bit of water is trapped in a pipe when you drain the tub. Usually it’s because the pipe is situated in a way that water won’t drain, such as on a downward angle.
This manifold is mounted at an angle that makes draining difficult. You can see how water pooled in the lower right side and broke the pipe when it froze over the winter.
This photo is an extreme example but it explains so well what can happen. The homeowner used a pump to drain the hot tub, which got all the water out of the seating area. However the mounting of this pipe on a downward angle trapped water which the pump never removed.
When winter arrived, a few ounces of water were stuck in the PVC piping. The water froze, expanded, and broke the end of the pipe off. In this case, the homeowner was lucky because this damage was easily accessible and involved only a couple of hundred dollars of parts and labor.
There’s usually only one way to repair broken pipes: remove and replace. The cost can get very high depending upon accessibility and the number of pipes damaged. Unfortunately, if water is trapped in one section of the hot tub, it’s likely trapped somewhere else. It’s not unusual to repair one leak, then when trying to refill the hot tub, finding another leak. This can happen three or four times when repairing a hot tub from a winter freeze.
The only preventions are to keep the hot tub running all winter, or to have it properly winterized. Winterizing a hot tub isn’t a difficult task, but it needs to be done properly to be effective.
Jersey Hot Tub Repair offers winterizing as one of our regular services. We drain the hot tub and used compressed air to blow the remaining water out of the pipes. Finally, we add several gallons of antifreeze to protect the lower pipes from any water we can’t get out. To protect your investment in your hot tub, consider hiring a professional to winterize the hot tub for you. Call or email us for more information.