Hot tubs?

[inthewall]

Looking to buy a hot tub. I am at high elevation and it can get down to -20. What is a good brand of hot tub? I have been researching a lot of sights and every brand seems to have good and bad reviews. I have looked at arctic spa, Jacuzzi, hot springs, and Clearwater. Every dealer says theirs is the best, go figure. What says Mud?

 

[snobdds]

BullFrog...

We have one at our place in steamboat. I usually have to shovel 4+ feet of snow off of it every other weekend. Been going strong for 5+ years.

 

[spressomon]

Over the years we have owned 2) Saratoga hot tubs and 1) Dimension One (latest). The Dimension One would get bought again without question. Significantly less chemicals/chlorine needed, quality of the liner, frame, pump housing, bottom construction, etc. was easy to see and price justify. I found the product was worthy of their marketing/sales spheel.

If your tub location will see big wind I suggest the investment in a Covana lift/top...it will pay for itself by not allowing the top to levitate and accumulate wind blown dust/dirt/grit inside the tub in addition to making dealing with the cover super easy for everyone including the .

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Bullfrog. Local club member Trent Taylor is their designer, but he's not on mud much. They're based in SLC and have several showrooms here.

 

[inthewall]

Thanks for the input. I will check out bullfrog since they are semi- local. Still researching.

 

[Zack1978]

I know nothing about hot tubs......but my cousin's husband prides himself on his product research and he claims that Artesian hot tub's are the best (http://www.artesianspas.com/)

Again I don't know if he is right, but the tub looks nice anyway.


Zack

 

[inthewall]

I ended up buying a hot springs spa. It was the closest dealer and they had good reviews, both dealer and hot tub. I like it so far.

 

[tltaylor22]

I ended up buying a hot springs spa. It was the closest dealer and they had good reviews, both dealer and hot tub. I like it so far.

Congrats on the spa purchase. Like Trunk Monkey said, I work in the design department at Bullfrog. You will enjoy your Hotsprings. They make a very good product. With your temperature range I'm glad you went with a fully foamed spa. We've done environmental testing on a lot of spas and you won't struggle to keep or pay for a fully foamed spa to stay warm. There's a lot of opinions in the industry with insulation styles but the proof is in the pudding.

While I try to stay neutral on brands, going with a local dealer and verifying the warranty is extremely important. I've had friends buy Home depot or Costco spa and within a year or two they have all had problems. The companies that supply them are constantly closing their doors and opening them back up all while voiding the warranties. At the end of the day your putting a $10k bowl of hot water in your back yard and exposing it to not only all that mother nature can throw at it, but the interior is potentially exposed to one of the harshest/nasty environments that people put their bodies into. The things i have seen....shudder. Your bathing in your own and others "stuff" in addition to some sort of chemical treatment. And don't get me started on Salt systems. I've tested them all. I've gotten staff infections from putting my arms into spas in the field while doing infield product testing. And that was a local ER doctor's spa! You need to make sure you research the quality of the spa you are purchasing and how committed the dealer and company you are buying from is to keeping you little slice of heaven running in tip top shape. Before you buy, run through a list of possible failures with your dealer and make sure you know whats covered in the warranty. Plastic corrosion, heater failures, jet to shell leaks, hose leaks, lighting failures, valve failures, covers filling with water, cabinets fading, pump failures, out of balance PH and other chemical damage........ ask what they do for each. Great companies have great warranties and won't be afraid of detailing it to you.

I don't get to MUD very often but id be happy to answer any questions you guys have.

 

[inthewall]

Good info. Thanks. I have gotten calls from dealer, checking on me. Also had a damaged door that was replaced asap on warranty. It was damaged on the 200 mile delivery. Dealer drove three hours to replace it. Happy so far.

 

[Enigma]

I thought the salt water ones were supposed to be the "bees knees". No nasty, or at least a lot less, chemicals?

 

[tltaylor22]

I thought the salt water ones were supposed to be the "bees knees". No nasty, or at least a lot less, chemicals?

Salt systems can be good in some respects and really bad on others. If you are a low bather load user (don't use it very often) they will keep your water sanitary. If your putting 4-5 people in the spa 4-5 times a week I have yet to find one that will keep up. And I've tested them all. Dealers sell them to people under the notion that they are chemical free or close to it. The reality is that you are adding the salt and the carbon, copper, titanium...diodes are turning you Sodium Chloride into Chlorine. You don't add the chlorine yourself, the system does it for you. They say you have less Chlorine in the spa because it makes it very slowly. The reality is that you need to operate the system at 3-5 ppm of chlorine to meet sanitation standards with or with out the generator. So its pretty much the same. The salt is just really hard on seals, heaters and stainless components. I've turned a 316 stainless steel emblem very rusty in a matter of 60 days exposed to a properly running salt system.

IF you run a salt system, keep a close eye on pump seals and such so you can get them replaces during your warranty period. That said, I enjoyed the genesis salt system I tested on my home spa for a year. My wife was prego and we didn't open the spa for 6 months. The water was as clean as the day I put it in. 6 months after pulling the system I had to replace both of my pumps. There was salt encrusted around the outside of the pump seals where they had started leaking.


Salt systems work really well in pools since the bather load per gallon of water is very low. The water temperature is also very low which means less nasty stuff grows and therefor the salt system doesn't have to work as hard to keep the water sanitary. Chlorine is far less affective at temps above 85 degrees because it off gasses so quickly. Bromine is better for spas, which is why most spa style salt generators use sodium bromide to produce bromine. Lastly, more and more municipalities are banning salt systems in pools and hot tubs because they tax the water treatment plants and are not great for your yard is you empty them on the grass. Lots of places in Californian and Arizona are going this direction.

 

[kybishop]

You have already made your purchase but I will throw this one in there for any future interest.

We have an older Vita Le Cirque that has been a good one. We got it used from a fellow I used to work for while I was in college. He installs and maintains hot tubs. The heater went out on this one and he replaced the workings of it, heater, pump and computer. We have had it for around 10 years I would guess, still going strong. He said they were really good hot tubs.

I have had a few jets come loose, easy enough to fix. Other than that it has been great. It is like the one in the link below.

http://www.zonvita.com/Hot_tubs/cirque.htm

 

[pillguy]

Any updates on hot tub recommendations?
Looking for a 2 to 4 person energy efficient hot tub.

 

[1MOA]

Dimension One makes a great spa. ours is 14 years old and other than side material and a set of pumps it has not failed.Parts are cheap and readily available as well. ( At least here on the east coast of the US)
Underneath the components of the 5 spa makers I looked at were almost universal. i would pick whatever is established in your area and go from there.

 

[toyotaspeed90]

Old thread......

My old house I had a hot tub.... it was a Jacuzzi brand. The only issue that ever had was the "pillows" (sort of a plastic foam) failed after ~4 years. They were replaced under warranty.

Whatever you buy, make sure it's 220V and properly wired. Also, if possible, pull the panels to see what the amount of foam around the shell and the piping looks like - these 2 things will really determine how efficient it will run.


As far as chemicals go - get the water to the proper levels and do your best to leave it/minimally maintain it. Don't chlorine just because - add chlorine as you leave the tub. The chlorine will do it's job and most of it will burn off - so your next use the water will be sanitized but not leave you smelling like bleach. (that was at the suggestion of the Jacuzzi dealer).

I would clean the filters and replace the water every 6-12 months, and I replaced the filters only once in ~5 years.

I sold the Jacuzzi for about 1/3 the price I bought it for, but that was still a good chunk of change, because I was selling the house - it was suggested the hot tub adds zero value to a house but having hook ups does. This is because many people don't want them, nor want to maintain them, and those that do want them already have the house/yard prepped to add their own.

 

[2fpower]

glad I found this thread. Going to go try to find a bullfrog dealer locally.

Hoping to find one that has wi-fi as I need it to tell me when it needs chemicals. Anyone know what brand has good tech systems like that?

 

[Seth S]

My parents had a hot tub for maybe 20 years before it had some issues and they never replaced it. It was one of cedar tubs built like a large barrel and had a snorkel wood stove that sat almost completely submerged. You top loaded the stove and it had an air vent on top as well. I think it was about 300-400 gallons and took about 10 hours to heat up. Temps in the 100-105 deg water range. It was fun to use but it was a lot of work. Had to drain it and clean it after several days of use and then fill it back up again and build/manage a fire. Still was great to hear the stove crackling and look up at the stars on a frigid winter night.

 

[Hugh Heifer]

We have had two. One Coleman and one other about 20 years ago that may have been a Marquis from Oregon. We found the Coleman to be pretty efficient and easy to maintain and keep clean. It did fail early and the company who sold it to us came right out and did the repair under warranty. I noted that some of the assembly inside was a bit happenstance. There were places that sheet metal screws missed their mark and then were redrilled or screws were missing. Regardless, it gave us 8 years of happiness before we sold the home and moved.

The Marquis we had no problems with ever but I still think I liked the Coleman's feel, fit and finish better.

Always buy and wire for a 220. 110 hottubs are complete BS and do not stay warm as they can not run the heater the same time as the pump. They also suck power to try to get the temp up.