The Honest Courtesan

I was a bit nervous about climbing down below the floor again to put in the seals my hot tub guru sent me; beside the fact that it’s cold, dirty, and uncomfortable down there, I was concerned that it would be too difficult and I wouldn’t be able to get the union off without breaking something.  But luckily, that wasn’t the case; I had already drained and cleaned the tub, and the union came loose with an amount of pressure even my soft little hands could manage (with the help of Grace’s biggest set of channel-lock pliers).  After I let the residual water drain out, the seals went in with a few minutes of fumbling, and though I somehow managed to gash the knuckle of my right forefinger in the process, everything was soon tightened back up and I refilled the tub.  After that, everything went as my guru had said it would: I turned on the power, the unit went through its startup routine, and before long I was able to take this picture.  I had been warned to recheck the union after the pump ran for a while, and sure enough it was dripping; however, retightening it was easy and I’ve checked a few times since, with no issues.  The water level has remained steady now for a couple of weeks and it seems to be running like it’s supposed to, so I’m beginning to feel more sure that I’ve fixed the problem.  And if something like that ever happens again, at least I won’t be working completely in the dark.