I went out to my hot tub yesterday and was surprised to find it drained of water. I took the access panel off and saw that the ozonator venturi (the plastic "T") had broken in half and one of the 3/4" hoses had disconnected, and I guess all of the water dumped out.
This is a Caldera "Hawaiian" (Paradise series) from 2006. I have not cleaned the venturi (I am now reading that is should be cleaned with vinegar periodically) so am guessing that deposits built up inside it and over time it became brittle, and when the pump kicked in recently it broke. I think I can find a replacement online.
Here's the strange part. The hose that connects the venturi to the tub plumbing is now about 2" too short. Looking at the components from left to right is a 3/4" hose, the venturi (now broken), another 3/4" hose, and a metal pipe that connects to the reset of the hot tub plumbing. Everything was held together with hose clamps. When I pull the hose to the right there is still a 1" gap between it and the metal pipe; it would need to be about 2" longer in order to have a good connection. Hopefully the attached photo shows this.
I am pretty befuddled by this, I looked all around the compartment to see if there was another short piece of hose or connector but didn't see anything. Is it possible that over time the hose actually shrank? That seems impossible.
I am thinking of just getting a new venturi and a new, longer piece of hose and hooking everything back up to see how it does, but I'm worried that I'm missing something. Thanks for any input.
