Locating the Leak
Removing the pan revealed that the Wad was indeed a Wad of extra-hard foam beneath the central jet. The leak we had seen occurred exactly where the pipe entered the mass of the Wad.
After years of soaking, one of the wood members had almost completely rotted away.
We chipped away at the Wad with a chisel. Charles cut himself and nearly lost a digit. After much work, we cleaned the foam off the plumbing leading to the central jet. None of the foam was tinted blue: the whole colored water exercise had been pointless, and it wasn't obvious how we would ever spot the leak.
We continued chiselling away at the Wad. It was hard work. At some point, Clyde had a brilliant idea: why not slice the wad with The Circular Saw? This would facilitate removal with a chisel. Yes, we said, great idea! Clyde applied the circular saw to the Wad, and chips of foam flew. Suddenly, he shut the saw down and rubbed his eyes. What was wrong?
The photo below sums up the problem. The Wad was deceptively thin. The circular saw had completely sliced through the Wad AND the inner shell. Clyde was tipped off to this small yet significant problem when he saw the golden light of the California evening sun streaming through the void.
the slit
Chastened, we put the circular saw away and continued with the chisels.
- Here's a picture of Clyde at work.
clyde w/ chisel
Note the Slit to the right of the pipe.
After a bit more work, we removed nearly all of the foam surrounding the central jet plumbing. Still, we couldn't discern the source of the leak. Once again, I was ready to give up. As a final attempt before retiring for the evening, I shoved a garden hose up the central jet while Charles & Clyde stood at the opposite side, examining the plumbing. Success!! Charles and Clyde spied water! The plumbing leaked where the flexible tubing interfaced with the PVC assembly, within the innermost core of plumbing. The hot tub could not have picked a worse place to spring a leak.
leak location
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