moparguy

You are absolutely right. It was the nut which is rusted leaving a heavy stain on the inside of the tub where it was leaking below that nut. When I took the lens out I see that the studs are plastic. The new replacement lens (Watkins P/N 71832, $72.10) is quite different from the original and appears to be a much improved design. The new replacement lens does not have the three plastic studs (pins) and gets glued in with a Devcon epoxy glue which is quite fancy with an automatic proportioning mixer built in that goes in a standard caulking gun (Watkins P/N 72961 kit, Devcon repair $35.80). The new lens can now be unscrewed and replaced if nesessary. It has a large O ring seal. I am going outside now, and glue the new one in. My confidence is pretty high that this will cure my leak problem . . . . . . .Thanks, jerry

Thanks very much for the helpful suggestions, gents. My Jetsetter is model J, S/N J151747 and must be 8 years old? Can't remember. My leak is apparently not in the small circulator pump as I thought. With the pump removed and corks in the hoses it still leaks. The water is coming up through the base under the pump. Sigh . . . . So, today my wife and I turned the tub on it's side and started digging foam under the equipment compartment ( the advantage of having a small tub like the Jetsetter). The foam is totally saturated everywhere down there. I was looking for a "smoking gun" like a sheet metal screw thru a tube or pipe, but can't find anything wrong with the pipes and tubing under there, just that it has all been very wet. I found the pink fiberglas under the light and around the tub all wet too. The back of the lens looks OK, the glue seam seems good, but the bottom most (6 o'clock) nut is totally rusted. When I just touched it - it fell off with the rusted off stud in the nut! This is a good clue that there has been a leak at that point for a long time. Surprisingly, the other nuts and studs look like they are stainless - but can't be. So, I will replace the lens with new. Then I came in the house and read your answers to my post. Your analysis of the problem seems right on the money - water leaks around the lens, goes down between the tub and equipment bay and saturates the foam under the floor and eventually comes up through the pump mounting holes! AHA! Also, before finding this wonderful forum, I didn't know anything about the air check valves high up in the equipment bay. I just touched one of them and it fell off in my hand with the broken barb end stuck in the 1/2 " (tygon?) tubing. So, I will replace both of them. P/N 31391 . Thanks again, I will post the outcome here. . . . . . K2AYM Jerry

My Jetsetter has an intermittent water leak. Sometimes it will not leak a bit for 6 months, then it will empty completely in 6 days. This has been going on for several years. Now it is leaking pretty steady so at last I may be able to find it. The leak is definitly in the equipment compartment. I jacked the tub up about 8 inches and tilted it in all directions to see where the water appears first. Starting with a dry tub and compartment, It now seems to be pretty definitely appearing first under the small circulator pump Watkins P/N 1109101 . It is not the input or output hose connections. I removed the pump and disassembled the pump housing, there was a slight bit of corrosion on the motor/rear pump housing around the big O ring and the four through bolts seemed to be not at all tight. The O ring seems good, so I cleaned everything and added red hi-temp gasket RTV around the O ring and both surfaces of the pump housing and gently (but adequately) tightened the 4 screws. Starting again with a dry tub and compartment it still leaks and the first place I see water is in the slight depression under and right around the base of the pump. It must be coming from the pump, but i sure can"t see where. Even if there is a seal leaking around the shaft between the motor and pump I can't see where water can get out. There was no junk inside the pump and the the pump is dead silent and runs fine. . . . .Shoulld I replace the pump ? ? It just occured to me that maybe I should leave the pump out and put a cork in the two hoses and fill the tub and watch ? ? Help? Suggestions? thanks, Jerry