Lo-Chlor

Lo-Chlor spa and pool water care products

Lo-Chlor is a specialist in liquid treatments for swimming pools and spas — the kind of bottled products that deal with a specific problem rather than the everyday chlorine and pH routine. Here the range is represented by the Spa Leak Sealer in a 450 ml bottle, a water-borne sealing treatment intended for spas and hot tubs that are losing water somewhere in the shell, the plumbing or the fittings.

A slow leak is one of the more frustrating faults on a spa, because the water level drops a few centimetres a week with nothing obvious to point at. Before dismantling a cabinet or cutting into pipework, many owners try a sealer first. It is not a universal fix, but on hairline faults it can save a great deal of work.

What a spa leak sealer is for

Products of this type are added to the spa water and circulated so that the sealing compound is carried everywhere the water goes. Where water is escaping, the flow draws the product into the gap and it builds up there. The intention is to close very small openings — pinholes, hairline cracks, weeping joints and seepage around jet bodies, unions and heater connections — from the inside, without the system being opened up.

That also defines the limits. A sealer is realistic for the following:

• Hairline leaks in the shell or around a fitting, where water appears as damp rather than as a stream.
• Weeping unions and joints in the pipework behind the cabinet that are difficult to reach.
• Slow, unexplained water loss where the leak cannot be located visually.
• Seepage around jets and inlets that has started gradually rather than suddenly.

It is not a substitute for a repair where a pipe has split, a union has cracked, a pump seal has failed or a shell has a visible fracture. In those cases the component needs replacing, and a sealer will only delay the inevitable.

Checking the spa before you treat it

It is worth spending half an hour confirming that water is actually being lost through a leak. Evaporation, splash-out and bathers carrying water away on towels all lower the level, particularly on an uncovered spa in warm weather. A simple check is to mark the waterline, leave the spa with the cover on and the jets off for a day, and see how far it falls; then repeat with the circulation running. A loss that is much faster with the pump running points towards the pressure side of the plumbing, while loss that continues with everything off points towards the shell or the suction side.

It also helps to look at the obvious places first: the cabinet floor, the area under the pump and heater, the ground around the spa, and the fittings where the pipework passes through the shell. If the leak can be seen and reached, repairing or replacing that part is always the better outcome.

Using the product and what to expect

Always follow the dosing and procedure printed on the bottle, as the manufacturer’s instructions cover the water volume the dose is intended for, how long the circulation should run and what to do with the filter and the cover during treatment. As a general rule, treatments of this kind work best when the water is circulating so the product reaches the leak, and when the filtration is handled as the label directs, so that the sealing compound is not simply trapped in the cartridge.

Keep the bottle out of reach of children, store it closed and away from frost and direct sun, and do not mix it with other chemicals in a dosing pot or bucket. Chlorine, bromine, acids and liquid treatments should always go into the water separately. If the spa is heavily soiled or the water is old, a drain and refill after a successful repair gives a cleaner starting point for the season.

Lo-Chlor at PoolParthub.com

Here you will find the Lo-Chlor Spa Leak Sealer in the 450 ml bottle, listed under PPS-10154, alongside the pumps, heaters, jets, unions and seals that make up the rest of a spa installation. It sits in the catalogue as a first step for a slow, hard-to-find leak, and as a useful thing to have on the shelf for anyone who looks after a hot tub through the winter.

Because the same pages cover replacement fittings and seals, it is straightforward to order a sealer and, if the treatment does not hold, the parts needed for a proper repair. If the leak turns out to be at a union, a pump seal or a jet body, the matching component can be identified from the spa’s make and the measurements of the old part.