Hot Tub Leak

[Dimitrios Paskoudniakis]

I noticed perpetual dampness around my hot tub foundation, opened the panels, and see a drip where the tub water PVC connects to the pump. I notice that the drip only occurs when the pump is off, but stops when the pump is on, then starts again when the pump cuts off. There is a PVC flange connecting the tub water PVC to the pump, and I can't get it to budge to tighten it with my bare hands. The flange looks several inches in diameter, so I don't have a tool/wrench that large, and am also wondering if I could break something even if I did have a tightening tool.

Also, last month I had a service call to replace my heater element, and now by coincidence (?) I have this leak. I didn't notice that this was a leak last month as we have had snow and ice (in Maryland) the past month, and I thought it might have been melting snow/ice I saw around the foundation. Could the service call have led to this leak?

I have a LA Spa brand, Islander 2900 model.

Any suggestions on how to repair?

[Berkshire Bill]

Did the system freeze while you were awaiting the heater element repair?

Bill

[gfretwell]

That sounds like a union. If so it has an O ring in there that may have been dislodged when the heater guy had it open. This sits in a fly cut groove on ther opposing faces of the union. I had a hard time finding one for my system but I did find a flat washer at Ace hardware that worked fine. It filled the whole face of the flats. The problem is when you open up that fitting the water is coming out. You can probably find a plug that you can stick in the side suction of the pool to hold the water back. It may even be threaded for a 1 1/2" NPT pipe plug.