Some times water leaking from the seal in the pump is hard to find. It is usually identified by a drip directly under the pump housing. If that fails and it seems water is leaking from somewhere else, take a very bright flashlight and shine it on the back side of the pump housing where the motor shaft enters.
There will be a distinct white water mark where the water leaks and runs down to a drip. This is a calcium deposit left behind when the water dries up. Is this a huge problem to fix? Not at all.
The pump will have to be removed for this. If you have not changed your water since fall, this may be a good opportunity. Depending on the motor used for the pump, will depend on the difficulty of repair.
I find A.O. Smith motors one of the easiest for a seal repair, but that is only my opinion. Is there anything magical that can be put in the water to stop the leak? Absolutely not! It is a ceramic mechanical seal.
These seals can be purchased either from where you purchased your tub or a local electric motor shop that does pump repairs. If the unit is reasonably new then you might be lucky and only have to replace the seal.
If rust is very evident on the shaft where the leak was, an impeller may also have to be replaced. The impeller is what moves the water through out the plumbing system. The rust usually prevents the impeller from being unscrewed without damage during disassembly and therefore may damage the new seal if reused.
To replace the seal, turn off the power source for you hot tub at the breaker panel in the basement. Disassemble the pump from the rest of the unit. Digital pictures or movie camera of how you took it apart can be a great asset of how to put it back together again.
Place your motor / pump on a work bench and disassemble the front housing which usually consists of about 6 or 8 nuts and bolts. There will be a housing seal around the outside edge. Do not damage this as it will be reused.
The impeller should now be exposed. This is where things get a little more complicated. The motor shaft will have to be held still to unscrew the impeller counter clockwise. The back end of the motor itself may have to be disassembled or something placed in one of the air cooling holes to hold the motor shaft stationary. If you use gripping pliers such as vise grips, be sure there is protection of some sort between the part you will be gripping and the vise grips
Unscrew the impeller CCW and the seal will be exposed. One part will be in the housing and the other part on the back side of the impeller. Carefully remove the old seal and clean the surfaces.
When installing the new seal, absolutely make sure you do not put your fingers on the face of the seal. The oil from you fingers will cause premature failure and will leak. To help remedy this issue, put one drop of dish washing soap on the face of the seal. This will ensure a smooth start and longer life of the new seal.
Be sure the threads are clean and install the impeller back on the shaft hand tight only. Reassemble your pump in the reverse fashion of disassembly. Do not use silicone as it will leak. Replace any other damaged O rings if required.
Check all your electrical connections are tight and no parts are left over. Fill the hot tub with water before making any attempt at turning on the pump. Once full, start up the tub and check for leaks. Be sure to adjust all you chemicals as soon as the hot tub is up to temperature. Always remember, repairs are only as hard as you make them.
January 27th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Great! Thank you very much!
I always wanted to write in my site something like that. Can I take part of your post to my site?
Of course, I will add backlink?
Regards, Timur I. Alhimenkov
March 13th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
This is great information. I’m sure most people including myself would feel a lot of stress if they saw their was a leak. Your instructions are very to the point and make it seem like a reasonable and need task to complete. Thank you for your insight.
March 14th, 2009 at 7:49 am
I must say, I could not agree with you in 100%, but it’s just my IMHO, which indeed could be wrong.
p.s. You have a very good template . Where have you got it from?
April 6th, 2009 at 9:42 am
yes
April 9th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Not that I’m totally impressed, but this is more than I expected when I found a link on Furl telling that the info is awesome. Thanks.
April 11th, 2009 at 7:10 am
What kind of information are you looking for?
April 12th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Very nice blog, I agree with most of what you are saying here X Boyfriend.
June 7th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
I really liked your blog! If you got time, Please check out my blog Civil Engineers and give me your valuable feedback.
June 11th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Please, can you PM me and tell me few more thinks about this, I am really fan of your blog…gets solved properly asap.
June 15th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
How soon will you update your blog? I’m interested in reading some more information on this issue.
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Nice post. Getting the impeller off and getting the old seal out of the impeller can be near impossible but here is a sure-fire way to do it–many won’t like it but it will work.
Cut one section of the plastic protective shroud on the back of the pump assembly–this will expose the motor shaft. Use a hacksaw blade, a jig saw, a rotary bit whatever you can come up with
Next with the pump cover removed drill a small hole all the way through the impeller and through the back of the motor housing. Drill the hole at least halfway out from the center of the impeller to keep from drilling into the seal seat.
Stick a screwdriver all the way through both holes. This will keep the impeller from turning without damaging it.
Loosen (not remove) the bolts that hold the pump assembly to the motor.
Use something that can really get a grip on the motor shaft and unscrew it from the impeller.
Now for the seal:
Sometimes the seal is impossibly locked into the impeller seat and you’ll break the impeller trying to pry the seal out before you get the seal to budge.
Inspect the seal and find the solidest part. Carefully measure from the center of that part to either the center of the impeller or to the outside edge of the impeller–or both.
Turn the impeller over and drill two very small holes 180 degrees from each other in the area you measured. Take two small nails and drive the seal out. I lay the pump face down and put the impeller on top of it to give the seal somewhere to go.
Seal all the holes with your favorite sealant and reassemble.
March 19th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
To remove the impeller from the shaft (assuming your impeller is screwed onto the shaft), here’s what I did:
(you are trying to unscrew the impeller from the shaft. You can use inertia–the property of an
object at rest to remain at rest unless a force acts on it–to unscrew the impeller. You don’t need to drill or do anything elaborate, unless the impeller is severely rusted onto the shaft. If that is the case, use a product to penetrate and break down the rust first )
Hold a piece of wood (mine was about 8-10″ long) against the end of one of the fins of the impeller at an angle it so the force of the blow will unscrew the impeller from the shaft
hit the wood sharply with a heavy hammer several times (I had to hit mine twice)
June 13th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Good stuff….i think i would have been held up on the removal of the impeller.
I was told the Jacuzzi company is out of business, and if i had broke the impeller i would have been sunk.
Using a pair of vice grips to hold the shaft from the underside, and a large set of plumbing pliers did the trick for me. Not to much on the grip, or the impeller will crack, but lots of elbow grease to turn the impeller Counter Clock Wise as mentioned above.
I found the cracked seal as soon as i pulled the parts….luckily the seal is common across a couple of other models so my pool company cross referenced the part and sold it to me for $18…beats the cost of a new pump and motor.
September 2nd, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Glad we could help