How To Find a Small Spa Leak?

If your spa or hot tub has developed a leak, here are some ways of finding that leak yourself.  Leaks are hard to find and they take a long time to find. We frequently get calls to locate leaks. The customer is reporting seeing water coming out from one side of the spa and they naturally assumes that the leak is coming from that side of the spa.  However, that is rarely the case as you will see in the explanations below.

Step 1 - Check for leak in the equipment area

Most leaks in spas, hot tubs and jacuzzis happen in the equipment area. Follow these steps to quickly discover where the leak is coming from.

1. Open the panel on the spa that covers the spa control equipment.

2. Make sure that you can see all the pumps.

3. Use a flashlight to look for visible water

4. Especially look for leaks where the motor meets the wetend of the pump. This is where the pump seal is located and a very common location for leaks. When you have a leak in that area, very often you also have a noicy motor.

5. Turn on the pump and place your hand carefully in the area between the pump and the motor. If you have a leak there you will feel some water squirting out of the pump. Sometimes that leak is to small that you will need to put a piece of tissue paper there to see if you will be able to detect any water on the paper.

6. If the leak is not coming from the pump, check the ozonator.

7. From the ozonator there is a plastic hose that goes in to the spa. On that hose is a checkvalve (which prevents water from flowing from the spa into the actual ozonator). That check valve frequently malfunctions. This results in leaks and broken ozonator.

8. If the leak is not in the ozonator, then check all heater, pump and filter unions for signs of water. Keep the pumps running. In many situation it is easier to spot the leaks if the equipment is pressurized.

9. If you still see no leaks, proceed to Step 2.

Step 2 - Removing the spa skirt

The next step in the leak finding process is the following;

1. Remove the skirt of the spa on that side where most of the leak is visible.

2. This involves getting out your screw gun and removing the sidepanels

3. When you remove that side panel you will either see a wall of insulation (as in a good quality spa) or you will see plumbing lines with some insulation around them (as in a low quality spa)

4. If you see the "wall" of insulation, take a dry stick or simular and start poking through the insulation. Feel the stick each time you pull it out to see if it's more wet in some areas compared to others.  On a non-leaking spa, the stick should be absolutely dry.  It is a good thing if you are able to feel water on the stick. That means that the leak is around or above the area where you poked in the stick.

5. If the stick is wet. Put on your gloves, grab a plastic bag, and start digging. Carefully remove all foam in the area where you suspect the leak is in. Keep doing that until you have confirmed the location of the leak. Dig vertically down to see if the foam is wet all the way down.

6. If the stick isn't wet. Most likely the leak is not on that side. They you will have to remove one side after another until you find the wet site.

7. Once you have determined the location of the leak then it's just a matter of repairing it.

Step 3 - The Dye Process

If you are not able to locate the leak with Step 1 or Step 2

1. From an online store or a local pool/spa store, purchase a bottle of leak detection dye.  They typically is about the size of a pint.  Follow the instruction on the bottle and put the dye in the water.

2. Circulate the pump as per instructions

3. Check around the spa to see if the dye has colored any of the now visible insulation.

4. If yes, start digging

5. If no, empty out the water from the spa

6. Disconnect the electrical hookup to the spa

7. Bring strong friends or family over

8. Flip the spa onto the side where the equipment is located

9. Remove any bottom covereing

10. Now the bottom of the spa should be exposed

11. Check for signs of dye color

12. Start digging until you locate the leak.

13. Note that even if you see the dye color on the foam, it is actually quite difficult to spot a leak when there is no water dripping out of the leak.

14. If you are sure where the leak it. Repair it.

Step 4 - Building a leak detection platform

If you know that the leak is coming from the bottom but you can not see it, then proceed with the following;

1. Now you need to raise the entire spa up for you to be able to get under it.

2. This has to be done extremely carefully. Build a strong foundation for the spa to sit on. The idea is to raise the spa  12-18", fill it with water and check for leaks again.

3. A spa with water is very very heavy and the weight of the spa HAS to be distributed or the spa WILL CRACK.

4. Create a frame underneath of 8x8's or simular. Most of the time it will suffice to put 4-5 8x8's parallel to each other. That will distribute the weight and make it possible to spot the leak.

5. Once you see the dripping

6. Stand the spa up again and you should be able to pinpoint the location of the leak easily.

7. Repair it

8 Test it with pump running

Bottom Line

Finding leak can be a very time consuming and costly project.  If you have a really hard to find leak, be prepared that the actual detection of the leak can cost you $500-$1000. The actual repair cost is often much much less than finding the leak.

As a homeowner, all of this is something you can do yourself.  Give us a call if you need our help, 310-876-1054

Spa Repair Home

Contact Us