Hot Tub Forum
Original => Hot Tub Forum => Topic started by: liberty610 on November 25, 2021, 02:30:00 pm
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Hi all. I'm Hoping that you guys can help me out. I have had a smaller hot tub for about 6 years now. It's a 6 person hot tub from Aquarest Spas; model number AR - 600. A Home Depot purchase in 2015.
Recently the pump seized up because the seal wore out on it and there was calcium that built up inside the pump. Long long story short, the person that was supposed to fix it did not do it right, has been ghosting my calls a lot, and now I have a tub that is losing water at a rapid rate every few days with a poorly "rebuilt" pump. The only reason why the option of rebuilding the pump was put on the table was because they are currently sold out of all the pumps, and with the supply shortage there is no window of when they will be back in stock.
Today I drained it and attempted to winterize it. The tub is on the deck outside and I am in the hills of Pennsylvania where it gets to be 20ﾟduring the winter, if not lower. A couple years back it was 20 below 0 for a good week. So until I can get a new pump installed properly on at, I need to winterize it.
I drained all the water out of it. I then I then took my shop vac and sucked out the remaining water at the very bottom of it. I then use the blower mode on the shopvac and I covered every single jet with the blower and blew out the access water in the lines. I did this around the tub 3 different times and waited 25 minutes and did it again just to make sure I got all the access water out. I then wiped out the inside of the shell with a couple of towels and made sure it was dry and I put the cover back on. I then put 2 thick pieces of plywood over the cover to protect it from any falling debris (like ice) off the roof.
Looking at a couple of YouTube videos, I am seeing that some tub models need to have the pump or some part of that area disconnected with extra water drained out of it. I am not sure if that applies to my specific tub or even to my situation since the pump is already bad and needs to be replaced. I would like to make sure that there is no water that's going to freeze inside of it.
This is the link to my hot tub. Is any information, feedback, or help any of you can give me would be great.
https://aquarestspas.com/product/ar-600/
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Put a thermostatically controlled space heater in it and get it fixed asap. I stopped Winterizing spas several years ago. Get at least 3 calls a week. Very difficult to get all the water out. There could be one way check valves, hanging manifolds, looped plumbing lines etc. Recommend you remove the diverter caps and suck and blow them out. You can take the post the sits under the cap and divert the water and remove the 2 o-rings that are on it and the put it back in upside down and then be able to divert the air you are blowing with the shop vac to each side of the 3 way diverter valve getting more air pressure to each side as well as remove it and blow straight down the tubing. Don't forget the waterfall they often get missed. Remove the cap for it and the post and suck/blow. With the caps removed I use a funnel and place a bit of RV anit-freeze down each side of the diverter and well as down the center and the blow it through. When you see it come out each set of jets you know you are good...ish..lol On the front of each pump there are usually small plugs that can be removed to drain water out of the wet end and allow for some expansion for ice if needed. If accessible I disconnect the pump unions and get water sucked out through the pump wet end and add a bit of anti freeze. Under a 1/4 cup of water left in the wet end can lock an impeller in place. A frozen wet end can take days to thaw.
Removing water from a spa for an extended period is always a bad idea any time of year and IMO a VERY high risk maneuver in Winter. There are many many folks that winterize every year and don't have issues but there are also many many that don't get it right and end up with costly repairs.. sometimes spa ending costly. Hope you can find someone to come out.