Need some Hot Tub advice

Does anyone have any experience with hot tubs that have cracked over the winter? We have a Cal Spa five-person tub. We always used it year around up until last year. Being things were tight we drained it and winterized it to save the cost of heating it all winter. We decided to get it up and running yesterday just to find that the tub has about four cracks in it that are about 15” to 20” inches long.

The warranty on the tub would make it appear that we still have a year left against cracking. So far Cal Spa hasn’t stood behind any other issues we have had over the years and I am suspecting they will dodge this issue also. When new the tub was about $10,000 nine years ago. Do you think turning it into our homeowners would do us any good or am I better off trying to part it out and cut my losses?

This board has such a wide range of members I figured someone has probably encountered a problem like this. As always thanks for any and all replies!

WS

If the cracks are due to improper winterizing I doubt any warranty will cover it. By that I mean the cracks were caused by water that froze and expanded. If the cracks are in the pipes many of those are buried in foam insulation and not easy to access. The recourse there is the homeowners insurance. If the leaks are clearly visible in the tub portion then a fiberglass repair kit might work. But the repair will be visible. Like you said, I would be surprised if the warranty gets you a new tub. Parting out the old tub is not much of an option. Old hot tubs in need of repair are a “giveaway” item at best and often a liability.

We did the same thing with a hot springs spa, winterized it and then it developed a leak, drained 6″ every 2 days. It was off of warranty but I called Hot Springs and no matter what the dealer says you never winterize the tub especially in Mn., too many issues. I did get a new one and won’t winterize it, did get $900 trade in and a 20% discount off of list on a new one so there must be some value as a fixer up.