Hot Tub Slicer Valve Leaking? How to Fix It for GOOD! Arizona Hot Tub Factory_ Hot Tub with a leak - Video

Is your hot tub leaking water onto the pump or motor? In this video, I’m showing you how I repair a leaking slicer valve, sometimes called a slice valve or gate valve, in a hot tub.

I’m personally not a big fan of slicer valves.

The purpose of a slicer valve is pretty simple. It allows you to shut off the water on either side of a pump, motor, or heater so that component can be removed without draining the entire hot tub.

That sounds great, but there’s a problem.

Most homeowners almost never use these valves.

There is a seal/O-ring inside the valve, and after sitting in the same position for years, the valve can start leaking—especially after somebody finally tries to open or close it. Once that happens, sometimes you simply can’t get the leak to stop.

And when that slicer valve is located directly above your pump and motor, you’ve now got water dripping onto electrical and mechanical equipment. That’s something I want fixed.

In many situations, instead of replacing the bad slicer valve with another slicer valve, I remove it completely.

Because of the space the valve occupies in the plumbing, I can often cut the old valve out and install a new PVC coupling in its place.

Unless the homeowner specifically wants the slicer valve replaced, this is usually the repair I prefer.

It saves the homeowner the cost of another valve, eliminates another potential leak point, and in my experience, the homeowners we’ve done this for haven’t had another leak in that location.

Why have the valve in the first place?

The argument for keeping it is that someday you might need to remove the pump, motor, or heater without draining the hot tub.

For me, that’s not a big enough advantage.

I’ve had to remove the heater from my own hot tub once in approximately 10 years. When I did, I simply drained the hot tub.

I’d rather drain the spa when that rare repair comes along than have another potential failure point sitting directly above my pump and motor for years.

That’s my preference.

If a homeowner wants the slicer valve put back in, I’ll put one back in. But when there’s no reason it has to be there, I prefer eliminating it and installing a coupling.

In this video, I’ll show you the repair and how I deal with this particular type of hot tub plumbing leak.

If you’re working on your own hot tub, always shut off power at the breaker before working around the pump, motor, heater, or plumbing, especially when water is leaking around electrical equipment.

If this video helped you, give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the SpaMan YouTube channel, and leave your hot tub questions in the comments.

My name is Scott with Arizona Hot Tub Factory, and they call me SpaMan.

Remember: It’s just a tub in the backyard that blows bubbles and heats up. Don’t go crazy, everybody!

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