We just acquired a new to us leisure bay spa, made in 1997. We moved it across town, cleaned it up and filled it with water. Its got 6 regular jets and one turbo jet. Each of the regular jets is supposed to have a little peice inside that spins, thats gone. The turbo jet, had a large spinning peice in the center, again it was gone. I have 7 afc valves. I have already replaced the turbojet. Water flows out of each jet as expected, at a decent rate. Everything on the "bubbler" system seems to work fine.

The couple of problems I have:

1) When I open the afc valves, no air is added to the jets. If I blow in them, they work, but only while blowing. Some of them even have constant water coming out. What is the best approach to resolve? Should I remove all jets? Should it work if all jets are out? Will blowing out the air lines with a compressor help?

2) I can't turn most of the jets. I was able to turn 2 of them, and completely removed the jet. Others wont budge. One of the 2 seemed to have a little plastic "straw like" peice inside, but the other didn't. Should it?

3) Should I just pop the top off of the jets, and replace the outside peice? Or should I unscrew them, and replace the outside and inside peice?

After much searching and reading on the internet and here, talking to one spa shop on the phone and a visit to another local spa shop, I think I have solved my problem. In case anyone else runs into this, here is what I did:

I finished removing all of my jets after work today. I used a towel under the water to break loose and unscrew the jets, and most still wouldn't come out. So I had to pop them off with a screwdriver, at which point the whole assembly came out.

When all the old jets were out, I no longer had water coming out of the afc (air flow control) valves, so I was pretty sure that my cause was the bad jets, or crud in them, or missing o-rings.

Once they were out, it was obvious that the jet internal as well as the jet face needed to be replaced. The jet wasn't able to open or closed, it was stuck in whichever position I found them. I probably could have soaked them in vinegar or something to break them loose, but I took them to the shop instead.

However, it wasn't until I was at the spa shop, and saw a replacement, that I realized how badly they needed to be replaced. The plastic was worn to nearly nothing in some places, and most were missing at least one o-ring, many were missing 2 or even all 3. I bought all new jet faces (all small rather than some large and some small), and all new jet inserts as well.

For what its worth, I had the old waterway "whirly" jets.

When I got home, I put in one new jet, and nothing "special happened". It still wasn't injecting air like I had anticipated. So I changed a second, still no magic. I went and did the rest before turning it on again. Once all were replaced and set correctly, I was blown away by the difference. They were all pulling a lot of air through the afc's, and blowing out with tremendous force.

Now the afc's are a little loud when fully opened, almost sounds like a gurgle, but they pull a lot of air through. I am left wondering if the gurgle will go away as more air is pulled through them, or if that is normal?

This solution worked great for me, hope others will find it helpful. Now I'm off to enjoy my tub!