PROTECT YOUR HOT TUB IN WINTER WITH THE SPA DRAGON!

You have to fill the hot tub with water (if it has emptied or lost water).  It is best to remove all of the panels while doing this so that you can see where any obvious leaks are.  If you haven't lost any water then you just need to find out what stopped working in the hot tub to cause it to freeze and get that repaired.  You can use our troubleshooting guide to figure out what caused the shut down.

If your hot tub holds water you have most likely avoided costly and time consuming freeze damage!

Unless you are running the pumps to look for leaks make sure the breaker is off at all times while working on your hot tub.

Anywhere you see water pouring out of the cavity of the tub needs to be addressed.  Try to find as many obvious issues that you can and mark them with a sharpie or large marker.  You MUST mark the leaks as you may not remember them later and some are hairline cracks that are hard to see.  

If your hot tub leaks slowly (and the pumps still run) make sure to look for leaks with the pumps on high speed as some leaks only occur when the pumps are on and all leaks will leak faster/more obviously when the pumps are running.

If you have a full foam hot tub this can be very time consuming and difficult.  If you see water coming from any location in the foam you have to start digging out the foam until you get to the plumbing part that is leaking.  

Any parts that are damaged will need to be replaced.  Plumbing parts are under  immense pressure when the pumps are on and pipe tape, putty and glues are not going to hold.  If you use these you are wasting your time.  Do it right and do it once.

You will need to cut the damaged pieces out and replace them.  All hard fittings that are glued together have to be replaced at the same time--you can't separate them.  You can cut at the flex hose and when you put the new pieces together you can use a coupler with an extension of hose to regain any lost length from cutting out parts.

Note that there may be damage at very low spots on the tub and you may need to put the hot tub on it's side to see/repair.  If you do this you need to secure bracing onto the tub so that it doesn't tip over.  If the tub falls on a person/animal the could be severely injured and or killed.  DO NOT take this lightly.

You only want to do these repairs once so make sure you use primer and glue on all fittings and be generous.  If you try to save money by using less of either and you don't fix it properly you will have to cut everything you put in and start over if it still leaks.

Once you have glued all your plumbing back in place you need to fill the tub and run it to see if everything has held and that there weren't any leaks you didn't address.  If there are still leaks you need to start back at step #2 and repeat and please note with extreme damage it isn't uncommon to have to do this 2-5 times.  

This may seem obvious but we would also not recommend putting your panels back on for a day or so to confirm the water level holds as it is tedious to keep removing and replacing the panels.

Get in your hot tub, you deserve it!  This can be very backbreaking and time consuming work so get some hydrotherapy and relax!