i recently purchased a house with a hot springs highlife hot tub serial number k-211235. the other night i kicked the adjustable gate down that covers the large rectangular hole that seems to feed into some filters( i dont have the slightest clue what any of this stuff is called). a bunch of water dumped in and i put it back up to where it seemed to be before. after a while i got out to have a smoke and when i did i noticed that the water dropped down to below the level of one of the jets and started shooting water out all over. i realized this was probably not good and shut that jet down. i also noticed that it seemed to be making an odd cyclical noise and decided it was best to shut it off completly. we added more water to it and tried to turn it back on but it wouldnt start at all. after some prodding of circuit breakers and some kind of reset switch inside the unit it started up again, but has not heated up since and it definately has a major leak some where, as it has dropped way down. the tub was sitting unused and untended to for at least a month before then, so i can only conclude that i screwed it up when i pushed that gate down.


ive noticed that the water seems to be leaking from the side that is opposite from the compartment where all the guts are, allthough there also appears to be some leakage inside the compartment. unfortunately, the side it appears to be leaking from is up tight against the house and deck and it looks like it would be tough to get at.

any ideas on what the hell happened? i ahve a lot of free time to fix it right now( recently laid off), but not a lot of knowledge.how pricey would it be to have a pro fix it? its strating to dip below freezing at night and i would like to fix it or prepare it for the winter months if its out of my price range for the time being.


thanks for any ideas!

Sorry about the layoff.

The gate is called a weir - it should float up with the jets off & go down with the jets on to let water into the filter area. If you propped it up or it's sticking up that will starve the pump of water and it will cavitate or surge. If it's not going up & down see if the wheels on it are spinning freely.
Leave it off if it's not working.
The water level should be enough that when the jets are running the water is still above the filters.

For the leak - check the jet pump when it's running (you may have a magnetic door interlock - unscrew the one off the door and manually make the contact) there is a stainless band around the pump - see if it's leaking right under the band - if so tighten the nut (7/16) while it's running and dripping until the drip stops.
If it's leaking out of the slots in the pump case behind the band then the shaft seal is leaking - take it to a local pump repair shop.

Was that little red reset button tripped - it would click when pushing on it if tripped - that is the heater high limit which trips when the heater water temp gets to 150. If that is tripping the circulation pump may have airlock or be bad. If tripped it tells us the heaters are fine.

1st make sure the circ pump is pushing water. Find the heater return and feel for the circ pump flow. It is probably on the wall by the light lens.

Post again!

allright, the leaks are taken care of. there was a big one in one of the jet tubes and the one in the compartment appeared to have been coming from the light cover. but its still not heating up. either the heater reset or the "tub reset"? was tripped. i checked the return and it is pushing out water. any suggestions?

The heater reset is the one closest to you - if it trips it will click when you push on it. If that keeps tripping then you suspect a low flow condition. Pull the filters first to see if that could be the problem. If not it could be low flow from the circ pump.

the reset only tripped the first time and hasnt tripped since. the filters seem to be okay but im far from an expert. when i turn the control knob i can hear it click and i can hear and feel the circ pump running but after almost 48 hours the water has not warmed up at all.

Are you feeling for flow where the water from the circ pump returns to the spa?

You can unplug the circ pump for 10 seconds and feel the flow for warm water - this will tell you if the elements are working or not - the Highlife has 2 elements.

yeah i can feel it coming out of the diffuser on the wall of the tub above and by the light. it doesnt feel the least bit warm. do you think it might be the elements.

unplug the circ pump for 10 seconds and plug it back in feeling the flow for warm water. If not warm I would test voltage at the heater receptacles, if you have power but no heat then it would be the elements.