Hello, I've posted a few times before about a spa that I was given and am trying to rehab. Its an above ground spa, but the previous owner had opened the shell, cut into the plumbing and converted it to an external pump and heater for an inground spa. So i plumbed it up that way. Upon firing up the pump I found that only half the jets work and one of the jets pulls water in (as does the actual filter intake). Unfortunately, he cut in at the wrong spot. So, if i reconnect this cut and move the intake/return piping around to the area where the internal pump/heater are, remove the internal pump equipment and plumb in there I should be able to alleviate the jet problem, right?

I should mention that I did connect the internal equipment up to power and all seemed to work, but I did not get the heater on. Also, when I did this I saw water begin to come out of the air intake hub in the top right corner of the spa. I am assuming that this is happening because the internal pump can't push through all the external plumbing and is backing up through the air intake. Does this make sense?

I have a few questions for those who have rehabbed spa's before. 1) Is it worth continuing to use the external plumbing, or should I reconnect and fix the internal plumbing? 2) It subsequently developed a leak after firing up the internal plumbing. I discovered that a packrat had chewed through the bubbler tubing lines on one side. Are these easily fixed?

It needs some work, but seems like it will be a good spa once running. I can post pictures if this would help.

Some background info. Spa says it's a Wind River Spa model Hu-E-15. I've been unable to locate any info on this model online.

Thanks. Great site.