GwenLeBlanc

The (2.5 year old) tub is draining through a green tipped clear vinyl tube that I am thinking is for air (the water filled tubes at the unions are smaller and purple tipped, these are larger and green at the ends, and don’t connect to anything). Watkins doesn’t explain anywhere that I can find what the color coding means, this is just a guess. I can’t follow the tube far enough back as it disappears under the tub, but I can fairly certain through trial and error that it connects to one of the air diverters. I was reading (here, thanks very much fellow enthusiasts) that overfilling can cause an issue with the air control valves. I have had a problem with the cover leaking at the center seam, but was all eh, more water more fun! and put a new cover on my things to buy later list without too much worry, and just removed excess water after particularly bad storms (very frequent in my part of the country at this time of the year, we get more rain than Seattle). Anyway it always seems to drain to the same level (about half way), and fairly quickly, pretty much at the same rate as if I had been draining the tub deliberately. It’s full right now, after my last round of fiddling with it, I have (what I think is an) air hose raised so that (what I imagine is a) siphon effect isn’t working anymore. The tube seems to fill slower with the diverter open all the way (that one is generally kept closed). I can add pictures of the spa if they might be helpful, but right now it’s just a picture of a hot tub. My question is, (besides a new cover to keep out excess water), what can I do to stop it from happening? Will it stop if I change the air control valves on the side? Is it likely to cause more problems? The water temperature had dropped significantly, I was assuming because of the missing water (the water that was still there was still circulating) and it seems to be coming back up to temperature. I’m a little panicked because of the holiday weekend and the weather (although we are having pretty mild weather for the time of year, it’s supposed to be in the fifties all week).

I have the exact same problem, same make and model, too — the tub is even the same age. Mine was definitely caused by high water levels. Our New England weather has made the cover leak at the center seam and rain water gets in and raises the spa water level. Little did I know it would cause such a problem or replacing the cover would have been much higher on my priorities list! I was curious as to how the OP resolved the issue. I did the same thing (elevated the air hose to keep water from leaking out) and have ordered some new air controls, but will replacing them help? (If I can keep excess water out, of course?)