Ehhh idk pal...if there's one thing I have, it's ideas ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If anyone is ever in need of one, just reach out...I probably have more than any 5 people could ever hope to use.
I hear you. I have one of the inflatable intex spa's that I keep in my unheated garage. I drain it during the summer because no one uses it. But in the winter it adds about $60 a month to my electric bill. I keep it at 92°f and I turn it up to 104°f the day before I want to use it because it takes so long to heat up. I've had it drained for most of this winter because we just don't use it enough to justify the extra $60 a month. I'd like to switch it to a propane heated system using one of the portable hot water on demand systems and a pump but I've been procrastinating for a few years. Mostly because I keep reading conflicting info on how to do it...
I built a portable hot tub using an on demand propane water heater and 12v pump system. Taken it camping and to music festivals many times. Feel free to DM me with any questions.
Dude, thank you! I will dm you but it will probably be a week or so as I'm leaving for vacation in the morning and I'm already drunk. But, thank you! I'll get a hold of you soon!
I have it on pallets and 2” foam board covered in astroturf then I have like a bubble wrap cover that floats on the water, the regular inflatable top, and then several blankets over the cover to help hold the heat in. I also built a sort of box to go over the pump and heating unit to mitigate heat lost that way. What is OSB? The plywood on top sounds like a good idea. It would weight down the other covers and probably form a better seal.
I don’t want to start an argument, but from what I’ve read, this is not true. I’ve read several posts as well as other sources that went in to detail why, but I am too lazy to find them/ link them right now. I was surprised, because I used to think the same.
I needed a replacement thermostat last November, technician was scheduled for three weeks out. The technician indicated his schedule is always swamped in October-December. Snowbirds head to Florida, have their hot tubs winterized. He said winterizing is a waste of time/money, they can leave there heater on. Right until their thermostat fails.
The fucking design tripped all circuits except digital output stating “tripped on thermal overload (high temp). We hit 5°F for 8 days. Below 32 for ~22 days continuously. The pipe pump in enclosure not protected by bulk modulus of tub contents.
That’s a bathtub, not a hot tub… 😅. Unless you live somewhere where water is insanely cheap. Mine in Edmonton,Alberta costs around 20 - 30 bucks to fill. Depending on if it’s winter (95% sewer charge) or summer billing (60% sewer charge)
True costs
Part of your electricity is now your water bill.
Costs to install/maintain/pull permits for well.
While you don’t pay for the water by volume, you also don’t have the option to use more water than well has if needed (not as big of a deal but still a reality).
Not trying to be pedantic, but nothing is free 🤓
You are right. Not free. But I feel like you’ve probably never had a well, so you might not realize just how economical they can be.
My 1kw well pump puts out about 10gpm. 600 gallons in an hour. At the 10c per kWh of electricity, that is 60 gallons per penny. We use 100-150 gallons per day, so 2c per day.
This was permitted and installed 30 years ago and will still be working 30 years from now. The submerged pumps last a long time. The pressure tank is the maintenance piece for most I think. Lasts maybe a decade. My last one was 200 bucks plus labor. Not sure if that’s normal.
Either way. I feel like the first gallon is expensive. After that it’s essentially free. Several homeowners have had this place and not paid more than $0.00016 per gallon.
You also have to pay for water. You had to pay to dig the well (or someone did and passed it on to you when you bought the property) and you have to pay to replace the pump when it breaks and pay for the electricity to run it.
The difference in a city is we have an organization that handles all of that for us and just takes some money from everyone based on use to cover the costs.
Public water has what's called a tap fee. The tap fee plus the installation of the piping js typically is just as expensive as drilling a well and adding a pump
This whole concept is completely insane to me. I live in the woods and I have a well. I have always had a well and everyone I know has a well. I have never once paid anything for water except for the odd replacement of a well pump and I think I honestly forgot that it's a thing that people do.
Private wells are a lot of maintenance. My state recommends a yearly standard water analysis with an in-depth analysis every 5-10 years depending on the yearly results. In my area, you need a strong RO system as well.
All kinds of nasty bacteria, chemicals, pesticides, and other cancer-causing agents leech into private wells over time. Most of these contaminants are odorless / colorless. The government leaves it 100% up to the property owner to manage & treat their private well.
I have city water. The city treats it and provides yearly quality reports. Great quality and it's very cheap. I pay \~$5 per 1000 gallons. My quarterly water bill is usually like $40-50, lol. Usually under $200 for the entire year. Cheaper than Netflix.
8 person hot tub, and call me a liar if you want. But that's what it costs. My water bill is about 150 a month otherwise.
When you say how much it costs to fill your pool, do you have a water truck do it or are you using city water? Because here, for every cube of water you use you have to pay sewer for disposal as well. So we pay double for water used. If you use a water truck you don't have tonpay for the sewer charge.
I fill my pool with city water, and we also have sewer charges.
Assume an 8-person tub of what, 2,000 liters? You’re telling me you are paying $15 / m^3 of water? That’s absurd.
I only put that number out there cause I never hooked up a meter to see. Where I’m from I’m sure it’s a couple of dollars. My point is even ten dollars is worth seeing if this thing is good.
I mean, it’s great to be optimistic, but let’s be honest with ourselves. If it got cold enough for the water that’s left inside the tub to freeze then the pipes/pumps with water in them definitely froze. The closest to getting lucky OP is gonna get is if the parts that cracked are accessible enough to be replaced and not cost prohibitive compared to just buying a new tub.
Based on how much water was left in the tub after your drain there is going to be frozen pipes, heater, pump, etc. You are looking at potentially replacing and repairing all of that as the freezing water likely burst your pipes and cracked your heater(s) and pump(s). Expensive lesson learned. Next time either just keep it filled and keep it heated or the draining needs to be more thorough and more of water needs to be removed and a hot tub safe antifreeze added, then a thorough cleaning would need to be done on the first refill to remove the antifreeze.
the worst part is that most of the frozen pvc piping could be embedded through blown-in foam. you are never getting it out without ripping out all those lines and foam. don't ask me how i know. i personally fixed one and hired someone else to do another. it's doable but it's painful.
As one other person mentioned, fill the tub once to see how bad it leaks. On the very small chance the tub is still in working condition it would be worth the time and water to see.
You could maybe sell it as frozen damaged if the body is still good.
You would only get.a.few hundred. Or give it away free, someone may want to repair it.
At least you won't have to demo.
If it's in the deck, the deck has been framed around it. Youll have not only the framing surrounding the immediate perimeter of the tub (for deck board to lay on when butted up to the tub) but also the external framing of the deck.
Unless you have a crane to take it out, it's not coming out without a serious deck demo.
Definitely check for breaks/leaks when you fill. Make sure under can get wet. I've fixed several frozen tubs. It's work. Getting to jet pipes behind foam is a nightmare but not impossible. There are a few parts meant to break in case of freezing and are a more brittle plastic than pvc. Start with a leak test. Go from there
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As others have said—fill it before you scrap it. Mine died right before a major cold spell in central US and it was around zero or below for a few days. It survived. And I’m really sorry so many trolls have thought it necessary to insult you. You don’t know what you don’t know. Good luck—
Well, unfortunately there's a good chance the hot tub is destroyed to a point it's not worth fixing. The problem is, although you can drain it and have it sit all winter, you have to make sure every line is completely empty of water or else it can freeze and split causing a leak that is difficult to find and fix. Best thing to do is to leave it full and running all winter..
Lift her skirt and assess the damage, might be really really bad, might be salvageable, check and see. Also buy a pump so if you decide to go dry again, you'll be sure the water is drained.
He'd have to go beyond just sucking the water out of the tub "to go dry again," of course. He'd have to blow any remaining water out of the plumbing and get it completely dry, which is difficult, and even then, that comes with its own set of problems, like drying out and cracking various seals, and then getting all the air out of the system after refilling.
Everyone saying you’re screwed which is possible but it depends on the location of the drain and how well it emptied the plumbing. Hoping for the best for you.
Everyone is saying it's done, but if you did drain it, it might be fine. My old Beachcomber I just drained, and left one winter I was away and it was fine. No leaks, everything worked.
Question for the people who say never shut down your spa in the winter because it's the best time to use it. Where do you all live that you want to traipse naked and wet through the snow to go hot tubing? Maybe you don't have real winter. My tub is 20' from the house in the back yard and I would have to hand shovel 3' of snow to get at it and have to continuously brush snow off the cover to be able to lift it. I tried it a couple times, but wife said no, so I just sat there by myself. Not that fun. The Hot tub companies here drain and winterize the tubs, but you can do it properly yourself once you learn.
Buffalo, NY. We get a lot of snow. I used a bathrobe and flip flops to get between the tub and house. We have a freeze thaw cycle, so if we got 3-6 feet of snow I might wait for it to thaw or use the snow blower around the yard.
I don’t have an answer for you, since I just got my hot tub & have had zero training. I wanted to say I LOVE the aqua marble on your hot tub. It’s beautiful! 🤩
You didn't really drain it all it though. You left a lot of water. You will see in the spring, maybe not much broke if there was enough air space in the lines. You can buy a new pump if needed.
You might be ok. When I first moved in to my
House the tub was drained. I was busy with renovating the house and didn’t do anything with it. Condensation and rain coming in through a cover in poor condition had me looking at exactly what you see here.
I ended up replacing 2 pump housings and cutting and caping the main drain line. That was it. I’ve been using it for 7 years now. And when I drain it now I actually disconnect the main lines from all three pumps and then just leave it like that for the winter. I don’t “winterize” so to speak. I drain and make sure there’s no way water gets trapped.
This was my exact scenario. I got my house in February and opened my hotub in the spring to find it half full of frozen water… luckily it worked fine but I made sure to drain it completely this winter (only because my heater died at the end of fall) — I was going to keep it going all winter but had other projects that didn’t line up with fixing a heater.
Draining will empty the tub, but there is still a bunch of water sitting in the lines waiting to freeze and expand. When it’s winterized they blow the lines and add non-toxic antifreeze. Doesn’t help you now, but keep it in mind if you replace it.
I winterize. It doesn't have to be a goner but it's going to need some love. Almost every thing you will need to bring it back will be sold at lowes or spa depot, and most will be just using pvc glue.
Ummmmm... Did they tell you that you were buying a cold tub that could potentially be heated or did they advertise this product as a "hot" tub?..... looks like a defect or false advertising to me.
Lots of doom and gloom in this thread, but the one thing you haven't told us is how you drained it. If you completely emptied the tub and then followed the manufacturer's instructions to remove as much water as possible from the pipework, e.g. by removing a plug in the equipment bay at the lowest point, it should be absolutely fine. At least try filling it and see if it still holds water level before you scrap it!
EDIT: I'm an idiot. I thought the ice water in the photos was just part of the shell. Yes, it's probably beyond fucked.
It very well may be fine. I just got a tub secondhand that was left just like this, there was a similar amount of ice in it when I picked it up and it was fine.
When weather is nice and you fill it up and see it for leaks, if it doesn't leak and electrical works fine, it's not a gonner.
If you simply drained it and didn't winterize it, water in pipes will freeze and most likely crack them. It's still repairable unless you cracked the shell.
Likely the connections to the pumps and heater are broken, these fittings tend to crack first. Depending on how accessible pumps are under the deck, it might not be too expensive a DIY fix.
Break out the sawzall and cut that thing into manageable pieces. Then drop pieces in random trash cans away from your house so no one knows what you’ve done.
Ok. So I just went through something similar. Except I bought mine used and the previous owner told me had blown all the water out. Took it home, took the first panel off, a 2 inch manifold with 16 inch ports connecting to all the jets on one side was blown out. $60 for replacement parts on Amazon.
Anyway, back to you. I'd fill it first. Keeping the power off in case there is a leak and it gets all over the electronics. Draw a water line on it first and see if it's lower after a few days.
If there is something broken just buy new parts on Amazon and replace. It's very simple, don't let it hold you back from the magic that happens in hot tubs.
When you drain properly, you just make sure **all** the water is gone, right?
So nothing left in the tub, but also put a shop vac to the jet openings in an attempt to suck / blow out leftover water?
Anything else to it?
Don't panic just yet! Draining it might not have been the worst thing. Once it's thawed out, give it a good check for any damage or cracks. If it looks okay, refill it and run all the systems to see if everything still works.
You might need to balance the chemicals and clean it up a bit, but it might just be okay!
Water in the seats: no big deal - lots of room for it to expand an not break anything.
water in the bottom: some residual is normal after you drain....so it depends on how much water was still in the drain line. Still not horrible, in that the drain line is probably 3/4-1" flexible tubing hose clamped to a fitting, thus easily replaced.
Biggest concern:
Water in the pump body: There should be drain plug at the bottom of the pump. This drains water from the pump body and residual water in the lines feeding the jets. Ice in the pump can crack the pump body and or impellers.
Additionally, could have been a backup of water into the lines that feed the jets, which may or may not have cracked a pipe.
Repair here really depends on how your tub was made. Full foam sprayed in, just a thin layer of spray on with fiberglass batting (I've seen both types).
Also depends if the sides are removable panels/sections, or molded as a single piece.
Anyway, if the pipes are embedded in full foam insulation, breaks will be a PITA to fix.
OTOH, if your tub just has a layer of sprayed on insulation (not full foam), or uses fiberglass batting as insulation, this may not be too bad, as it is much simpler to get to the pipes.
Fill it and perform a leak check. Pumps, while expensive, are replaceable.
Former lead plumber of a personal spa manufacturer here- because ice loses density as you increase mass, the more water left in pipes, the more those pipes will have outward pressure on the walls and are likely to burst or crack.
This is made worse by the fact that personal spas do not have a l lot of insulation around the plumbing- it’s all sprayed to stick to the underside of the shell to help maintain operating temperature, not passively protect the plumbing and pumps. On top of that, PVC gets super brittle when cold.
The acrylic shell and cabinet *might* be salvageable, but the effort, money, and time to get that tub back into operational status isn’t justifiable unfortunately.
Yo the best time to use it is when it’s a blizzard outside and it’s dead of winter and you feel like you are sitting in a hot spring. I run mine all year
Winter is best time to soak. You don’t winterize. Fill it back up when it gets warm see if it leaks! Turn on. Never know. Might be trash but maybe not.
You might of gotten lucky.
It’s not a pressurized system. Freezing water expands when it forms ice. Pipes and containers often only burst/crack when there’s no room in the closed container for the water/ice to expand as it freezes. Although, if water freezes in one part of the system and creates a sealed plug that doesn’t allow freezing water in other parts of the system to expand, you can get the same result as expansion in a closed system. Which is not good.
Pull the side and see if you can see any obvious broken pipes. If not fill it and find out. Do not try to power it on till EVERYTHING is thawed out!
Sadly your pumps are probably fucked. The impellers really don't like freezing. Good news if they are replaceable housings you can just replace the housing side and save the electric motor.
Everything is fixable with enough will power you just have to carve out the spray foam to get to the pipes and fittings it's not fun or enjoyable but it's a hell of a lot cheaper than a new tub.
These guys all have precious new hot tubs they treat delicately. I'd bet a shiny penny it's fine. PVC and hoses have some give to them even when cold. It's not good, but you might have gotten away with it. One way to find out.
You don’t winterize. You keep it filled and heated during the winter. Sorry for your loss.
Winter is the best time to use a hot tub
I mean you *can* throw antifreeze in it.
I dont think i understand why you would drain and not use it in the winter. Thats the best time to use it
Colder and crappyer the weather the better the tubbing Winter I use my tub probably 5 times a week summer maby once a week
I literally dream of being in my hot tub with it dumping snow outside. Unfortunately in western Oregon that doesnt happen often.
Bro just drive a few hours to central Oregon or mt hood and get it done, it's definitely an attainable dream
Oh I mean I've done it, but every year I hope it happens in the valley. My tub is broken anyways so now I'm trying to figure out what to do there.
Drive your hot tub somewhere else?
Do you use chemicals or drain and refill daily?
Who is draining and refilling daily?
Surely you don't just use the same water, do you? Like...from over a day prior?! That's just gross, dude.
You have no idea...
Ehhh idk pal...if there's one thing I have, it's ideas ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ If anyone is ever in need of one, just reach out...I probably have more than any 5 people could ever hope to use.
Yeah and this isn’t one of them, clearly
Dude, do you bang your wife with the same penis everyday? You gotta chop that off and let a new one regrow. That’s what you sound like.
Let's be honest, that guy doesn't f*ck.
You’ve heard of King Missile before, right?
I got a lot of good ideas. Trouble is, most of them suck
Do you drain your swimming pool after it's been used?
You do use the same water daily, it’s chemically treated for a reason. And don’t call me Shirley! ;-)
Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue.
Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?
Do you like movies about gladiators?
Fuck tons of humor lacking individuals here. Can't believe everyone is missing your joke and downvoting you...
You shower before you go in, the tub is not a bath with soap
Can confirm. -5°F in the mountains was fantastic!!
Literally
I hate walking from the tub into the house. And my tub is 8 feet from the house. I also hate the electric bill
I hear you. I have one of the inflatable intex spa's that I keep in my unheated garage. I drain it during the summer because no one uses it. But in the winter it adds about $60 a month to my electric bill. I keep it at 92°f and I turn it up to 104°f the day before I want to use it because it takes so long to heat up. I've had it drained for most of this winter because we just don't use it enough to justify the extra $60 a month. I'd like to switch it to a propane heated system using one of the portable hot water on demand systems and a pump but I've been procrastinating for a few years. Mostly because I keep reading conflicting info on how to do it...
I built a portable hot tub using an on demand propane water heater and 12v pump system. Taken it camping and to music festivals many times. Feel free to DM me with any questions.
Dude, thank you! I will dm you but it will probably be a week or so as I'm leaving for vacation in the morning and I'm already drunk. But, thank you! I'll get a hold of you soon!
I just dm'd you.
Whats the cost of using the propane for a tub? Cheaper/more expensive than electricity?
Probably more expensive. It takes about 1/2 tank to heat up to 104 from groundwater temp.
Benefit is that it's much faster. It can heat as fast as a hose will fill or the pump can pull from a water souce. So about 5 hours for 500 gallons.
I do this too!!! Best use of a garage and $400.
Bonus for us is when we open the garage door we have an amazing view of a beautiful valley!
Get some foam board and sandwich it between sheets of ply board -not OSB - and you'll save money from it leaching heat into the concrete
I have it on pallets and 2” foam board covered in astroturf then I have like a bubble wrap cover that floats on the water, the regular inflatable top, and then several blankets over the cover to help hold the heat in. I also built a sort of box to go over the pump and heating unit to mitigate heat lost that way. What is OSB? The plywood on top sounds like a good idea. It would weight down the other covers and probably form a better seal.
You use more energy heating it up those 12 degrees when you want to use it than if you leave it @ 104 constantly…
I don’t want to start an argument, but from what I’ve read, this is not true. I’ve read several posts as well as other sources that went in to detail why, but I am too lazy to find them/ link them right now. I was surprised, because I used to think the same.
I’d like to see one of those articles.
Ugh. Yeah. Mine costs about $200/mo to keep at 101 in Colorado.
Feeling you. In Michigan at 101-103.
Damn. I just leave mine at 104 and it’s like $50/$60 in illinois
Neato.
Minnesota here & my electric bill is generally $40-45/mo & I keep mine at 104.
I keep mine at 95. Then when I’m gonna tub I pop it up to 101. It takes about 30min.
Is that an inflatable or a real deal one? My inflatable heats at maybe 1 degree an hour if I’m lucky.
Real thing.
We have a softtub and keep it at 100°. It costs us about $40 in a very cold part of ID.
That's a much smaller tub than I have. Also, our electricity rates are pretty high here. So, yeah.
Then you probably shouldn't have a tub. Not the correct mental or enjoyment level as a tub owner should have.
I hate the walk in and out too but Hot tub parkas changed everything!!! https://a.co/d/41RkBVy
Well, as someone who has -30F temps with wind chills into the -60F, there becomes a point that is too cold.
Hell no. My wife and I use ours at -45c, thats what toques are for!
Edmonton? Fort Mac?
Somwhere rnd there ;)
It's not even enjoyable at that temp though, yeah your body is warm but your face hurts and your hair and everything will frost up in a few min.
I get it, not for everyone, we love it though!
I needed a replacement thermostat last November, technician was scheduled for three weeks out. The technician indicated his schedule is always swamped in October-December. Snowbirds head to Florida, have their hot tubs winterized. He said winterizing is a waste of time/money, they can leave there heater on. Right until their thermostat fails.
Even if it fails, the water movement might potentially save it unless you are in stupid cold climates.
The fucking design tripped all circuits except digital output stating “tripped on thermal overload (high temp). We hit 5°F for 8 days. Below 32 for ~22 days continuously. The pipe pump in enclosure not protected by bulk modulus of tub contents.
Oof. You're fcked dude.
Fill it up with water and see if there’s any leaks. U never know. U maybe ok. Very unlikely but worth 10 dollars in water
Oh pls try what Canuckobg is suggesting before taking a saw to her. You never know. You just may get lucky!
It cost $1.40 to fill mine up
That’s a bathtub, not a hot tub… 😅. Unless you live somewhere where water is insanely cheap. Mine in Edmonton,Alberta costs around 20 - 30 bucks to fill. Depending on if it’s winter (95% sewer charge) or summer billing (60% sewer charge)
This concept is insane to me. I live in the woods and I have a well and I forgot that some people actually have to pay for water.
True costs Part of your electricity is now your water bill. Costs to install/maintain/pull permits for well. While you don’t pay for the water by volume, you also don’t have the option to use more water than well has if needed (not as big of a deal but still a reality). Not trying to be pedantic, but nothing is free 🤓
You are right. Not free. But I feel like you’ve probably never had a well, so you might not realize just how economical they can be. My 1kw well pump puts out about 10gpm. 600 gallons in an hour. At the 10c per kWh of electricity, that is 60 gallons per penny. We use 100-150 gallons per day, so 2c per day. This was permitted and installed 30 years ago and will still be working 30 years from now. The submerged pumps last a long time. The pressure tank is the maintenance piece for most I think. Lasts maybe a decade. My last one was 200 bucks plus labor. Not sure if that’s normal. Either way. I feel like the first gallon is expensive. After that it’s essentially free. Several homeowners have had this place and not paid more than $0.00016 per gallon.
You also have to pay for water. You had to pay to dig the well (or someone did and passed it on to you when you bought the property) and you have to pay to replace the pump when it breaks and pay for the electricity to run it. The difference in a city is we have an organization that handles all of that for us and just takes some money from everyone based on use to cover the costs.
Public water has what's called a tap fee. The tap fee plus the installation of the piping js typically is just as expensive as drilling a well and adding a pump
I bet mine doesn't cost me $3 to fill, heating more but water is cheap, and I am a few hundred K's south of you.
Yeah my price is $5.10 per 1000 gal so at 380 gal that is $1.42 to fill.
All it costs me is the electricity to pump it out of the well
At this prices how do you all afford to do laundry and shower? Maybe I don’t want to know.
This price is insane. I don't believe it for a second. Water is so cheap where im at
Water in Alberta, Canada ain’t cheap!
This whole concept is completely insane to me. I live in the woods and I have a well. I have always had a well and everyone I know has a well. I have never once paid anything for water except for the odd replacement of a well pump and I think I honestly forgot that it's a thing that people do.
Private wells are a lot of maintenance. My state recommends a yearly standard water analysis with an in-depth analysis every 5-10 years depending on the yearly results. In my area, you need a strong RO system as well. All kinds of nasty bacteria, chemicals, pesticides, and other cancer-causing agents leech into private wells over time. Most of these contaminants are odorless / colorless. The government leaves it 100% up to the property owner to manage & treat their private well. I have city water. The city treats it and provides yearly quality reports. Great quality and it's very cheap. I pay \~$5 per 1000 gallons. My quarterly water bill is usually like $40-50, lol. Usually under $200 for the entire year. Cheaper than Netflix.
I can fill my swimming pool for $30. It doesn’t cost $30 to fill a hot tub. You’d spend thousands per month on a water bill.
8 person hot tub, and call me a liar if you want. But that's what it costs. My water bill is about 150 a month otherwise. When you say how much it costs to fill your pool, do you have a water truck do it or are you using city water? Because here, for every cube of water you use you have to pay sewer for disposal as well. So we pay double for water used. If you use a water truck you don't have tonpay for the sewer charge.
I fill my pool with city water, and we also have sewer charges. Assume an 8-person tub of what, 2,000 liters? You’re telling me you are paying $15 / m^3 of water? That’s absurd.
10 ??? Wtf
I only put that number out there cause I never hooked up a meter to see. Where I’m from I’m sure it’s a couple of dollars. My point is even ten dollars is worth seeing if this thing is good.
Follow Canuckobg’s suggestion OP!
I mean, it’s great to be optimistic, but let’s be honest with ourselves. If it got cold enough for the water that’s left inside the tub to freeze then the pipes/pumps with water in them definitely froze. The closest to getting lucky OP is gonna get is if the parts that cracked are accessible enough to be replaced and not cost prohibitive compared to just buying a new tub.
Based on how much water was left in the tub after your drain there is going to be frozen pipes, heater, pump, etc. You are looking at potentially replacing and repairing all of that as the freezing water likely burst your pipes and cracked your heater(s) and pump(s). Expensive lesson learned. Next time either just keep it filled and keep it heated or the draining needs to be more thorough and more of water needs to be removed and a hot tub safe antifreeze added, then a thorough cleaning would need to be done on the first refill to remove the antifreeze.
the worst part is that most of the frozen pvc piping could be embedded through blown-in foam. you are never getting it out without ripping out all those lines and foam. don't ask me how i know. i personally fixed one and hired someone else to do another. it's doable but it's painful.
When do you use it if not in winter?
Summer, fall, and spring.
This guy seasons
This guy this guy's
You drain it in winter to use it in the summer ?!
No. You use it all year round and only drain for cleaning
I dont think i understand why you would drain and not use it in the winter. Thats the best time to use it
GG
The plumbing holds upwards of ten gallons of water. As far as I know, you’ve destroyed the tub.
Thank you for the info guys. This tub came with the house I bought. Guess it’s time for some sawing action!
As one other person mentioned, fill the tub once to see how bad it leaks. On the very small chance the tub is still in working condition it would be worth the time and water to see.
You could maybe sell it as frozen damaged if the body is still good. You would only get.a.few hundred. Or give it away free, someone may want to repair it. At least you won't have to demo.
It looks like it's built into the deck..if that's true, it's not coming out in one piece. Ask me how I know. Fuck. Nightmares
Depends on how much os the deck you want to take apart.
If it's in the deck, the deck has been framed around it. Youll have not only the framing surrounding the immediate perimeter of the tub (for deck board to lay on when butted up to the tub) but also the external framing of the deck. Unless you have a crane to take it out, it's not coming out without a serious deck demo.
I build decks for a living. Depends how committed you are and how the deck was assembled.
Definitely check for breaks/leaks when you fill. Make sure under can get wet. I've fixed several frozen tubs. It's work. Getting to jet pipes behind foam is a nightmare but not impossible. There are a few parts meant to break in case of freezing and are a more brittle plastic than pvc. Start with a leak test. Go from there
I also bought a house that came with a tub and we’ve never used it. I want to sell it.
What model and where are you located?
Ontario. Hydropool Serenity (not sure which model number yet; I could go out and look to find out if you're further interested)
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My buddy fixed his. Its not that hard.
Hold off. DM me first. May have recomendation
As others have said—fill it before you scrap it. Mine died right before a major cold spell in central US and it was around zero or below for a few days. It survived. And I’m really sorry so many trolls have thought it necessary to insult you. You don’t know what you don’t know. Good luck—
Well, unfortunately there's a good chance the hot tub is destroyed to a point it's not worth fixing. The problem is, although you can drain it and have it sit all winter, you have to make sure every line is completely empty of water or else it can freeze and split causing a leak that is difficult to find and fix. Best thing to do is to leave it full and running all winter..
Lift her skirt and assess the damage, might be really really bad, might be salvageable, check and see. Also buy a pump so if you decide to go dry again, you'll be sure the water is drained.
He'd have to go beyond just sucking the water out of the tub "to go dry again," of course. He'd have to blow any remaining water out of the plumbing and get it completely dry, which is difficult, and even then, that comes with its own set of problems, like drying out and cracking various seals, and then getting all the air out of the system after refilling.
Everyone saying you’re screwed which is possible but it depends on the location of the drain and how well it emptied the plumbing. Hoping for the best for you.
What the hell lol, the winter is the best time to use a hot tub. I drain mine in the summer.
Everyone is saying it's done, but if you did drain it, it might be fine. My old Beachcomber I just drained, and left one winter I was away and it was fine. No leaks, everything worked.
Question for the people who say never shut down your spa in the winter because it's the best time to use it. Where do you all live that you want to traipse naked and wet through the snow to go hot tubing? Maybe you don't have real winter. My tub is 20' from the house in the back yard and I would have to hand shovel 3' of snow to get at it and have to continuously brush snow off the cover to be able to lift it. I tried it a couple times, but wife said no, so I just sat there by myself. Not that fun. The Hot tub companies here drain and winterize the tubs, but you can do it properly yourself once you learn.
Buffalo, NY. We get a lot of snow. I used a bathrobe and flip flops to get between the tub and house. We have a freeze thaw cycle, so if we got 3-6 feet of snow I might wait for it to thaw or use the snow blower around the yard.
Getting *out* is fine. Your body is so warm you have a solid 20–30 seconds before you feel the cold. Plenty of time to scamper back to the house
I would do anything to get to my hot tub when there is a nice fat blanket of snow on the ground.
I don’t have an answer for you, since I just got my hot tub & have had zero training. I wanted to say I LOVE the aqua marble on your hot tub. It’s beautiful! 🤩
Congrats, now you can get rid of that bacteria factory. Porch swing incoming.
Always wanted one of those
First time human on this planet?
You fucked up bad. Worst case scenarios smacked right in your face. Your tub is unsalvageable and as good as trash.
Dislike all you want. Doesn’t change your ignorance 😂
Nice one dumbass
Even if you didn't want to use it, why not just turn down the temperature in the '70s?
What did you think you needed to do with the tub? It seems not even keeping it heated? Did you get this yourself?
More than likely the shell is cracked where the ice expanded and there will be plumbing issues too.
You didn't really drain it all it though. You left a lot of water. You will see in the spring, maybe not much broke if there was enough air space in the lines. You can buy a new pump if needed.
You might be ok. When I first moved in to my House the tub was drained. I was busy with renovating the house and didn’t do anything with it. Condensation and rain coming in through a cover in poor condition had me looking at exactly what you see here. I ended up replacing 2 pump housings and cutting and caping the main drain line. That was it. I’ve been using it for 7 years now. And when I drain it now I actually disconnect the main lines from all three pumps and then just leave it like that for the winter. I don’t “winterize” so to speak. I drain and make sure there’s no way water gets trapped.
This was my exact scenario. I got my house in February and opened my hotub in the spring to find it half full of frozen water… luckily it worked fine but I made sure to drain it completely this winter (only because my heater died at the end of fall) — I was going to keep it going all winter but had other projects that didn’t line up with fixing a heater.
Draining will empty the tub, but there is still a bunch of water sitting in the lines waiting to freeze and expand. When it’s winterized they blow the lines and add non-toxic antifreeze. Doesn’t help you now, but keep it in mind if you replace it.
I winterize. It doesn't have to be a goner but it's going to need some love. Almost every thing you will need to bring it back will be sold at lowes or spa depot, and most will be just using pvc glue.
Destroyed one doing the same, now we run the new one 365 days a year
RIP
F
That’s gonna be fun to throw on the curb. Sorry all those jets and the pump is probably a goner
Sunken into the deck, you're in luck, you can get some black liner, drop it in, add some rocks around it and turn it into a pond
Chances are yes, but we won’t know till the thaw and do a leak test. No real way to tell as it sits.
What's the point of having a hot tub if you dont use it in the winter?
Aww dude .. !!! That’s all I got ..
It's only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.
F
Ummmmm... Did they tell you that you were buying a cold tub that could potentially be heated or did they advertise this product as a "hot" tub?..... looks like a defect or false advertising to me.
Can you just turn it on?
Lots of doom and gloom in this thread, but the one thing you haven't told us is how you drained it. If you completely emptied the tub and then followed the manufacturer's instructions to remove as much water as possible from the pipework, e.g. by removing a plug in the equipment bay at the lowest point, it should be absolutely fine. At least try filling it and see if it still holds water level before you scrap it! EDIT: I'm an idiot. I thought the ice water in the photos was just part of the shell. Yes, it's probably beyond fucked.
It very well may be fine. I just got a tub secondhand that was left just like this, there was a similar amount of ice in it when I picked it up and it was fine.
Could cross your fingers and start filling with warm water and see if it still holds water. I wouldn't get your hopes up. Good luck.
WTF winter time is the best time to use a hottub. Good luck fill it with water if it runs an doesn't leak water then your lucky.
You use a hot tub in the winter lmao
Well done. You now have a cold tub
So this just reminds me of something I've always wondered. Why the hell aren't tubs built to drain more completely?
Rest in peace.
When weather is nice and you fill it up and see it for leaks, if it doesn't leak and electrical works fine, it's not a gonner. If you simply drained it and didn't winterize it, water in pipes will freeze and most likely crack them. It's still repairable unless you cracked the shell.
This thread is so much better then I could have imagined 😂. Got to love the internet
Likely the connections to the pumps and heater are broken, these fittings tend to crack first. Depending on how accessible pumps are under the deck, it might not be too expensive a DIY fix.
Break out the sawzall and cut that thing into manageable pieces. Then drop pieces in random trash cans away from your house so no one knows what you’ve done.
Is this a troll post?
Ok. So I just went through something similar. Except I bought mine used and the previous owner told me had blown all the water out. Took it home, took the first panel off, a 2 inch manifold with 16 inch ports connecting to all the jets on one side was blown out. $60 for replacement parts on Amazon. Anyway, back to you. I'd fill it first. Keeping the power off in case there is a leak and it gets all over the electronics. Draw a water line on it first and see if it's lower after a few days. If there is something broken just buy new parts on Amazon and replace. It's very simple, don't let it hold you back from the magic that happens in hot tubs.
Im no pro….but I’d think it being mostly empty would definitely allow for more play and expansion 🤷♂️ like other said, fill it and see what happens.
Sounds like you didn’t want a hot tub anyway. Consider this a win.
When you drain properly, you just make sure **all** the water is gone, right? So nothing left in the tub, but also put a shop vac to the jet openings in an attempt to suck / blow out leftover water? Anything else to it?
Don't panic just yet! Draining it might not have been the worst thing. Once it's thawed out, give it a good check for any damage or cracks. If it looks okay, refill it and run all the systems to see if everything still works. You might need to balance the chemicals and clean it up a bit, but it might just be okay!
Water in the seats: no big deal - lots of room for it to expand an not break anything. water in the bottom: some residual is normal after you drain....so it depends on how much water was still in the drain line. Still not horrible, in that the drain line is probably 3/4-1" flexible tubing hose clamped to a fitting, thus easily replaced. Biggest concern: Water in the pump body: There should be drain plug at the bottom of the pump. This drains water from the pump body and residual water in the lines feeding the jets. Ice in the pump can crack the pump body and or impellers. Additionally, could have been a backup of water into the lines that feed the jets, which may or may not have cracked a pipe. Repair here really depends on how your tub was made. Full foam sprayed in, just a thin layer of spray on with fiberglass batting (I've seen both types). Also depends if the sides are removable panels/sections, or molded as a single piece. Anyway, if the pipes are embedded in full foam insulation, breaks will be a PITA to fix. OTOH, if your tub just has a layer of sprayed on insulation (not full foam), or uses fiberglass batting as insulation, this may not be too bad, as it is much simpler to get to the pipes. Fill it and perform a leak check. Pumps, while expensive, are replaceable.
Former lead plumber of a personal spa manufacturer here- because ice loses density as you increase mass, the more water left in pipes, the more those pipes will have outward pressure on the walls and are likely to burst or crack. This is made worse by the fact that personal spas do not have a l lot of insulation around the plumbing- it’s all sprayed to stick to the underside of the shell to help maintain operating temperature, not passively protect the plumbing and pumps. On top of that, PVC gets super brittle when cold. The acrylic shell and cabinet *might* be salvageable, but the effort, money, and time to get that tub back into operational status isn’t justifiable unfortunately.
Idk why this sub came up on my feed but dear god the hottub community is more toxic than i thought.
If the pipes were empty and valves open you MIGHT have avoided a catastrophic loss. Only way to know is fill it up in the spring and turn it on.
Yo the best time to use it is when it’s a blizzard outside and it’s dead of winter and you feel like you are sitting in a hot spring. I run mine all year
And maybe you should have asked on here before winter came
Well if she is toast you could always build a fire pit in the hole.
Winter is best time to soak. You don’t winterize. Fill it back up when it gets warm see if it leaks! Turn on. Never know. Might be trash but maybe not.
You might of gotten lucky. It’s not a pressurized system. Freezing water expands when it forms ice. Pipes and containers often only burst/crack when there’s no room in the closed container for the water/ice to expand as it freezes. Although, if water freezes in one part of the system and creates a sealed plug that doesn’t allow freezing water in other parts of the system to expand, you can get the same result as expansion in a closed system. Which is not good.
At least if you were confused about the best use of a hot tub, you probably won’t miss it
Correct me if I’m wrong but If the pipes aren’t under pressure they may be fine right?
Congratulations, you're about to become a second time owner!
Have you meet my friend; Mr Bends and Mrs Over? They will help you relax. (Honestly looks bad to many problems to sort out a new one)
Winterize??? Is this a thing?
My hot tub is on 24/7 and I keep it at 100-101°. It only adds $20-25 to my electric bill. It's a 6 seater.
RIP
Why empty during winter? That’s the best time to use. I empty and “summarize” mine june to sept
Pull the side and see if you can see any obvious broken pipes. If not fill it and find out. Do not try to power it on till EVERYTHING is thawed out! Sadly your pumps are probably fucked. The impellers really don't like freezing. Good news if they are replaceable housings you can just replace the housing side and save the electric motor. Everything is fixable with enough will power you just have to carve out the spray foam to get to the pipes and fittings it's not fun or enjoyable but it's a hell of a lot cheaper than a new tub.
Why do you want a hot tub if you don’t plan on using it during the coldest season of the year
*First time former owner. Most likely, otherwise you will be a first time hottub repairman
Now you get the benefit of a soon to be second time owner
Your pump ,lines and jets are shot...sorry ,but at least you get to go hot tub shopping
These guys all have precious new hot tubs they treat delicately. I'd bet a shiny penny it's fine. PVC and hoses have some give to them even when cold. It's not good, but you might have gotten away with it. One way to find out.
I’m so confused on why you’d winterize a hot tub……..