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Spa hot tub thread?

Armybrat

By Armybrat
in Can You Help Me With This?

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Armybrat

Armybrat 40844

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We are thinking about a small 2 - 3 person acrylic hot tub to set on our 10’x21’ covered patio. Prefer a 110 plug in - don’t want to install a dedicated 240 line.

Where is a good place to look in the north Austin/Round Rock area? Decent brands under $3,000 with delivery & setup?

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Gil Bang

Gil Bang 25957

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Don't.  

Get the 220/240 model.  Pay an electrician a couple hundred.  Bite the fucking bullet.


The 110 models take FOREVER to heat up.  Most folks just leave them at temp 24/7 because they heat so slow.   They really suck. 

And costco.com sells them. 

Edited by Gil Bang
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ROFL BOX

ROFL BOX 6649

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Quote

 

Gil is correct - get the higher rated amperage.
Also, recognize that you will enjoy it daily for the 1st week of ownership, then 3x the 2nd & maybe 3rd week, down to maybe 1x after a month & then 2 years later maybe 1 or 2x per month.

Do NOT get a cheap brand & skip the bells & whistles like a built in stereo.  Hot Spring is a great brand, probably the best you can get.  Depreciation is huge, so if you can get a used one, go that route provided it is 100% fully functional.
Also, it is best to rinse down (shower) before getting in as that will make your filter last a lot longer & won't monkey up your chemistry too bad.

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Shoxthemonkey

Shoxthemonkey 1981

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My $.02. I bought a Tiger River Tondi ( made by Hot Springs) 2-person spa more than 20 years ago. The wife has rheumatoid arthritis and I have osteo. Ours is a 110v unit and like Gil said we run it 24/7. TBH I didn't know folks could heat that volume of water fast enough to make on demand an option. We use ours at least 3 times a week and much more often during the winter months. I have never checked to see how much juice it pulls to determine an annual cost but I don't really care. It is worth every penny for the joint relief we get. I have replaced the heater a couple of times and replaced the circ pump once, cuz I'm handy like that. Otherwise all of the other plumbing is original. The cover is the thing that we have had to replace the most.

I haven't checked the Ph in years. We did it religiously when we first got it. We drain and refill a couple of times, sometimes only once, a year using well water and a charcoal hose-end filter. We clean the filter often and add chlorine whenever we can't smell it. Our water stays crystal clear. We don't have skin issues or algae blooms or whatever the chemicals are supposed to take care of. It works for us, YMMV.

Edited by Shoxthemonkey
I hate bad, punctuation.
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BearSchlong

BearSchlong 8093

Posted
Posted (edited)
18 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

We californians buy our hot tubs at home shows and county fairs.

How many Californians does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Spoiler

Californians don't screw in light bulbs, they screw in hot tubs!

-my 14 year old self, reading "totally tasteless Jokes vol 1" at summer camp. guffaw!

 

Edited by BearSchlong
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Shoxthemonkey

Shoxthemonkey 1981

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My 110 unit won't run the jets and heater at the same time but I have never noticed a temperature drop in use. I doubt that I have ever been in for more than 30 minutes at a time, the usual stint is 15-20 minutes. I'm pretty sure that there weren't any 220v 2-person spas when we were shopping for ours. That may have changed over the years .

Edited by Shoxthemonkey
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Ths71

Ths71 472

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I haven't checked the Ph in years. We did it religiously when we first got it. We drain and refill a couple of times, sometimes only once, a year using well water and a charcoal hose-end filter. We clean the filter often and add chlorine whenever we can't smell it. Our water stays crystal clear. We don't have skin issues or algae blooms or whatever the chemicals are supposed to take care of. It works for us, YMMV.




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Ths71

Ths71 472

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Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That’s about all we do to ours. It’s an outdoors 220V 7ft in ground that came with the house. I wouldn’t have thought about getting one but we love it. We still use it 2 to 4 times a week. Even in the summer we adjust the temp and hop in to cool off.


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ROFL BOX

ROFL BOX 6649

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10 hours ago, Shoxthemonkey said:

My $.02. I bought a Tiger River Tondi ( made by Hot Springs) 2-person spa more than 20 years ago.

Yes, the Tiger River was Hot Springs foray into the fiberglass shell spa end of the market.  Their acrylic spa line - the "Classic" - was a badass model.  Lasted decades, easily.  I don't know if Hot Springs still has products for servicing that model, but if you can find one that is functional & if Hot Spring can get you basic parts, I say get it.

47606.jpg

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NYTransplant

NYTransplant 145

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Looking to do a hot tub in our backyard. Wife doesn't like the looks of the acrylic models, and we would like to get a chiller for it, to make it usable in the Austin summers. That said, she's looking at getting a built in unit from a pool company. The only other option that I seem to be able to sell her on is a stainless steel unit (Bradford). 

My big concern is that I don't want to be buying a problem, and the built-in unit seems like it has a high probability of failure, as everything is set in concrete, and the filter/pumps/heater are remotely located. Am I overthinking this, or is my wife setting us up to have a concrete "water feature" in 10 years?

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Gil Bang

Gil Bang 25957

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you are overthinking. 

"everything" set in concrete includes exactly 0 moving parts.  The copper inlet and the PVC outlet have very long life expectancy.   The pump, heater, chiller? can easily be replaced.  As long as you keep the ph where it needs to be, it will last decades. 

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Onboard 2.0

Onboard 2.0 9083

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On 1/28/2020 at 12:21 PM, NYTransplant said:

Looking to do a hot tub in our backyard. Wife doesn't like the looks of the acrylic models, and we would like to get a chiller for it, to make it usable in the Austin summers. That said, she's looking at getting a built in unit from a pool company. The only other option that I seem to be able to sell her on is a stainless steel unit (Bradford). 

My big concern is that I don't want to be buying a problem, and the built-in unit seems like it has a high probability of failure, as everything is set in concrete, and the filter/pumps/heater are remotely located. Am I overthinking this, or is my wife setting us up to have a concrete "water feature" in 10 years?

The poured conc. spa pools seem to haver the higher failure rate. the expansion, and contraction of the conc. over time from the hot to cold makes it fail sooner it seems. The manufactured/designed /quality control of an acrylic unit lasts longer.

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Gil Bang

Gil Bang 25957

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2 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

The poured conc. spa pools seem to haver the higher failure rate. the expansion, and contraction of the conc. over time from the hot to cold makes it fail sooner it seems. The manufactured/designed /quality control of an acrylic unit lasts longer.

I learned something today.  Thanks, Mr. Architect. 

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Bevo

Bevo 13577

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On 1/28/2020 at 11:21 AM, NYTransplant said:

Looking to do a hot tub in our backyard. Wife doesn't like the looks of the acrylic models, and we would like to get a chiller for it, to make it usable in the Austin summers. That said, she's looking at getting a built in unit from a pool company. The only other option that I seem to be able to sell her on is a stainless steel unit (Bradford). 

My big concern is that I don't want to be buying a problem, and the built-in unit seems like it has a high probability of failure, as everything is set in concrete, and the filter/pumps/heater are remotely located. Am I overthinking this, or is my wife setting us up to have a concrete "water feature" in 10 years?

What is the cost of a Bradford Spa? I have looked at Diamond Spas in the past and they cost about $27K. I think pools were quoted at around $100K or more.

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NYTransplant

NYTransplant 145

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1 hour ago, Bevo said:

 

What is the cost of a Bradford Spa? I have looked at Diamond Spas in the past and they cost about $27K. I think pools were quoted at around $100K or more.

Bradford and Diamond run about the same, price-wise. Think we're looking at around $30k, but I plan to get a quote, next week. Acrylic units we considered were around $16-20k. So, it's going to cost about $10k to make the wife happy. Pretty sure that's cheap from what I've read on the other Surly threads . . .

 

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NYTransplant

NYTransplant 145

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6 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

The poured conc. spa pools seem to haver the higher failure rate. the expansion, and contraction of the conc. over time from the hot to cold makes it fail sooner it seems. The manufactured/designed /quality control of an acrylic unit lasts longer.

Thanks! So, sounds like I wasn't overthinking it.

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Sandman

Sandman 3403

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We just bought a hot tub from my sister-in-law's friend. It's only 3-4 years old, looks great. The previous owners said they never used chemicals because it has an ozonator. Great, I thought. Too bad it was bullshit. We had water problems after 3 days, had to buy all the chems. We got the PH perfect but still have issues with flakes in the water and foaming. We've been cleaning the filter, etc. Any tips and tricks? I already know about the "can't get pregnant" stuff.

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ROFL BOX

ROFL BOX 6649

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On 7/13/2020 at 7:32 PM, ernest_t_bass said:

Now in the market for a hot tub.  Looking at a QCA brand.  I think it's regional to where I am.  This model runs about $8K:

IMG_7001.JPG.thumb.jpeg.4ba94ad05ec434691464fba3bf454b8b.jpeg

Still an acrylic, no matter what "patented" it is.  As to "maintenance free cabinet", what's the material made of?

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Shoxthemonkey

Shoxthemonkey 1981

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This looks bad. Do you think this looks bad?

Untitled-attachment-00009.jpg

It's from my '93 Tiger River 2-person. Purchased new and used  often until last night. Hit the ON button and nothing happened. Smelled a little ozone and knew it was fucked. I can get a new board, Tiger River/Hot Springs parts are easy to come by, but I think I will look for a new spa. 26 years is long enough.

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MillerEP

MillerEP 30455

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I never pop into CYHMWT, so I missed out on this thread, I’ve bought a new hot tub a year or two ago and I use the shit out if it. Highly recommended. Nothing greater than sitting in it drinking a couple beers, warm on the outside, cold on the inside.

I also went the lazy route and pay this guy
https://txhottubman.com to do the hard work for me. Nice guy, really knows his stuff.

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