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Wet End Air Lock...Don't Try This At Home


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@RDspaguy @ratchett @castletonia You guys will love this one.

A cautionary tale... Just came from a service call where the spa had an air lock in the main 2 speed pump wet end. Customer thought it would be a good idea to use a turlet plunger down the filter hole to clear the air lock. Long story short he blew every jet seal associated with that pump as well as the seal around the filter canister. Leaks EVERYWHERE $1000.00 + mistake...OOOPSY

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Here's the long story...The secondary pump (10 Year old Cal Spa 94" x 110" inside a gazebo nice tub) had a leaking pump nipple. He watched me fix one on the main pump a year ago (F'd threads so just 2 part epoxy it) so he tried (successfully) to do the same. He drained it and refilled through the filter hole but still ended up with a air lock somehow in the main 2 speed pump. Spa was running fine prior to him draining it. Several days later I get the call. It's leaking. I go and the ground at the corner where the filters are is wet so I open up the side panel and farther up the side is really wet so I start digging foam and find 2 leaking jets and think ok here is the leak no problem. Drain the spa and back the nut off the backside of the jet a push the jet body forward. Clean up the original seal and it comes apart in pieces and I'm thinking great it was just old seals the needed replacement but thought it was mildly odd that both went at the same time. Whatever... reseal them with silicone tighten them back up and get on with my day. Tell customer give it 24 hours and refill and go. Done deal. Then I get the call again...still leaking. At this point I have asked the customer several times if the spa got frozen or if there was even a possibility that it got frozen...no no and no so now I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how/why it is still leaking so I dig in again and find 2 more jets and the collar around the filter canister leaking and I have not even gone to the other side of the spa to look into why it is wet there as well...How could all this happen at once???? Then I see not 1 but 2 plungers in the corner of the gazebo and the hamster hits the wheel and the light goes on...What are those for I ask... knowingly. "Oh yeah I had an air lock and tried to plunge it out"...I would bet the repair bill that there is a YouTube vid out there that says to clear an air lock use a plunger...lol  

I don't know why it did so much damage.  All I can think is the suction pushing and then pulling back and forth loosened up the nuts on the back side of the jet body. 

So in the end a dripping pump nipple will end up costing close to a grand....nope... just texted me saying they are going to try and sell it as is and buy a new one so that pump nipple will end up costing them 25K + if they want one the same size again. 

 

 

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