Hot tubs

[LUDELVR]

Considering a hot tub but just want to see what's involved in putting one in the back yard. What's involved with installing one either on the deck or on the lawn. Routine maintenance etc.

Any insight for those that have one or had one would be awesome!

Cheers.

[Tik-Tok]

Just bought mine a few weeks ago. Loving it.

You can use a variety of pads. Poured concrete, paving stones, pea gravel, etc. Just has to be nice and even. Concrete obviously is the best long term. You need to run 240V to it, so if it's not close to the house, you will want to bury the cable IAW Alberta Code, and will need a permit...

Routine maintenance is easy on mine. It's a bromine type (salt water), so every couple of weeks I pour some sodium bromide in, and the bromine generator changes it. You don't reek of chlorine like this. Also, whenever I have to top up the tub, I need Ph adjuster, because the Ph is so high in our water. Once a year, I'm supposed to drain it, and refill.

edit: Notes on buying one... walk into any hot tub store, and you'll feel like your walking into a sleazy car dealership, lol. I went to almost all of them in Calgary, and felt slimy walking out. Fortunately I live close to the "Hot tub district" (Center Street, just north of Glenmore Trail).

-Every store is having a sale every day of the year. So don't feel pressured you'll "miss out".

-Just like cars, tubs in stock can be haggled down. I found 3 tubs in 3 stores I liked, and kept walking between them until one of them gave me the best deal.

-Make sure you sit in them. Wet or Dry. I almost bought a tub until I physically sat in it, and realized how small it really was.

-Built in stereo's are WAY over priced. You could build your own system for 1/4 of the price. The one tub I would consider buying a built in system with is Beachcomber, because there's no external speakers, so no seats are getting too much volume. (like sitting in the back of a car when your friend stereo is blaring...)

-Don't bother with a built in TV... they suck, and in the winter, there's too much steam to even see it, lol.

-Personal preference... I like the salt water system more than chlorine.

-Check out online opinions of tubs, and DEFINITELY look for warranty lengths (both parts and labour), make sure you're looking at ALL warranty, not just the shell.

-IMO, World of Spas has the absolute sleaziest people. The owner offered to rig a contest for a free lazyboy chair if I bought a tub that day. Sure I could have had a free lazyboy, but being that low, what happens when I need warranty work from these guys?

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
Just bought mine a few weeks ago. Loving it.

You can use a variety of pads. Poured concrete, paving stones, pea gravel, etc. Just has to be nice and even. Concrete obviously is the best long term. You need to run 240V to it, so if it's not close to the house, you will want to bury the cable IAW Alberta Code, and will need a permit...

Routine maintenance is easy on mine. It's a bromine type (salt water), so every couple of weeks I pour some sodium bromide in, and the bromine generator changes it. You don't reek of chlorine like this. Also, whenever I have to top up the tub, I need Ph adjuster, because the Ph is so high in our water. Once a year, I'm supposed to drain it, and refill.

edit: Notes on buying one... walk into any hot tub store, and you'll feel like your walking into a sleazy car dealership, lol. I went to almost all of them in Calgary, and felt slimy walking out. Fortunately I live close to the "Hot tub district" (Center Street, just north of Glenmore Trail).

-Every store is having a sale every day of the year. So don't feel pressured you'll "miss out".

-Just like cars, tubs in stock can be haggled down. I found 3 tubs in 3 stores I liked, and kept walking between them until one of them gave me the best deal.

-Make sure you sit in them. Wet or Dry. I almost bought a tub until I physically sat in it, and realized how small it really was.

-Built in stereo's are WAY over priced. You could build your own system for 1/4 of the price. The one tub I would consider buying a built in system with is Beachcomber, because there's no external speakers, so no seats are getting too much volume.

-Don't bother with a built in TV... they suck, and in the winter, there's too much steam to even see it, lol.

-Personal preference... I like the salt water system more than chlorine.

-Check out online opinions of tubs, and DEFINITELY look for warranty lengths (both parts and labour), make sure you're looking at ALL warranty, not just the shell.

-IMO, World of Spas has the absolute sleaziest people. The owner offered to rig a contest for a free lazyboy chair if I bought a tub that day. Sure I could have had a free lazyboy, but being that low, what happens when I need warranty work from these guys?

Thanks for the info mate! That will help heaps! Also, just wondering if you did the install yourself and what I'm looking at price wise for a decent tub (maybe similar to yours) as well as install and or doing it myself. If you feel more comfortable pm'ing me that's sweet too. :thumbsup:

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by LUDELVR


Thanks for the info mate! That will help heaps! Also, just wondering if you did the install yourself and what I'm looking at price wise for a decent tub (maybe similar to yours) as well as install and or doing it myself. If you feel more comfortable pm'ing me that's sweet too. :thumbsup:

I installed myself. Mine is as close as legally possible to the house (5'), and where the electrical goes into the house is only 2' from my electrical panel, so not much wiring length. Also my concrete patio is huge and 50 years old, so that was no extra cost lol.

Buy your 240v 50 (or 60) amp GFCI/box online. Everywhere in town they are $250. I got mine off amazon.com for $110 (new). I used 6/3 cable (always recommended for tubs), and bought the underground stuff, then put it through 1" PVC tubing. If I did it over, I'd use 1-1/4 or 1-1/2" tubing because it was a huge bitch to get the cable through the sharp 90 degree bend box things. And sealed the tubing at the joint obviously. I didn't go underground because the tub is so close to the house, plus the patio goes right up to it. So I put the PVC tubing about 1/2" above the patio, so it isn't constantly sitting in melted water.

[tirebob]

This may be a dumb question, but for you guys who have tubs, how much of a difference do you notice on your utilities bill every month compared to when you didn't have a tub?

[Tik-Tok]

Haven't gotten a bill yet, lol. A friend has had hers for over year now, and says it raised it about $40 in winter, and $10 in summer.

[DEATH2000]

My uncle is selling his if your interested. He rarely used it and is now moving and doesnt want to bring it with him.

Its a 2007 Dynasty Spa's 8 person. Includes a open top Gazebo so you can have privacy while in it, but still have sunshine. I believe hes asking $10,000 for it.

[bjstare]

I got a tub about 6 weeks ago, here are a couple things to consider.

My hot tub is between my detached garage and the house. The power for the house previously went over where the hot tub is, so we changed this because it doesn't meet code. This involved putting a panel in the garage, trenching the power under the patio and hot tub area, and doing the panel in the house. We needed an upgrade anyways, and my family runs a home building business so we got help with the trades... but for someone else this would add easily $2k onto the cost of your tub.

We have an Arctic Spas Tundra Epic ( :bigpimp: ) and one nice thing about the Arctic is they are all self contained. All 5 pumps are inside the insulated shell of the hot tub. Makes it easier on heating (even if only marginally) and its more aesthetically pleasing than having a box outside the tub that contains the pump. The upshot to having the external pump (a la Beachcomber) is it doubles nicely as a step if you aren't building it into your deck. It has a stereo, which works great, but Tik Tok is probably right about the value vs. cost of a built in stereo. We got too good of a deal on our tub to pass up, which is why we ended up with one with a stereo.

+1 for bromine. Much better than Cl, no question.

Beachcomber makes an incredibly reliable, simpler tub. If you're not into all the bells and whistles, i strongly suggest you take a good look at these. My parents had one for ~15 years without problems, and bought another one for their new house about 7 years ago. If you want something that has more gimmicky stuff on it, look at an Arctic, we've been happy with ours. Customer service at Paradise has been good so far. Nicole there is good, i.e. not sleazy.. I don't know if she actually sells tubs, but she has a wealth of knowledge cause she's been there for a while, and worked in service and up front.

If you decide for some reason that you want an Arctic and its an 8' model, I'll make you a great deal on a Sterling Covana (cover/cabana, YouTube it. they're sweet) that we don't use right now. ;)

[Eride]

We have a Beachcomber that we bought at this time last year and we love it! Use it like 3-4 times a week.

I found the guys at the Crossiron store really helpful, they came over before I purchased to evaluate best place to put the tub and how to get it in the yard. Really helpful to me to have good ongoing support as well just in case anything goes wrong... I had one small issue, where a hose clamp snapped off and the tub drained completely in the spring.

I called them around 10pm, they had a guy there the next am to fix and refill the tub no questions asked.

We use a chlorine system and it is really very simple to maintain.

[suntan]

True North Tubs makes their tubs in Calgary.

I can't vouch for them or anything though, I got their name from my electrician's receptionist.

[bleu]

Super helpful thread! I am considering getting one in the very near future as well.

Thanks!

[C_Dave45]

Bought ours 8 years ago. Paid just under $5,000 for it from Arctic Spas. It's a "Coyote". Very basic, plane jane. I put it on our patio just off the master bedroom. Had a buddy do the electrical. Ran about 50 feet of wire and put in the GFCI breaker. I can watch our TV inside from the hottub through the window. Ran outdoor speakers just above the tub! :poosie:
I love it. I'll go in spurts. Sometimes a couple of weeks go by and I wont use it..other times we'll use it every night.

But a hot tub CAN be like a pool table. If it's not easy to get to, after awhile the novelty wears off. I've talked to a lot of people that get rid of them after a couple of years.

['93 SR-V]

Originally posted by C_Dave45
Bought ours 6 years ago. Paid just under $5,000 for it from Arctic Spas. It's a "Coyote". Very basic, plane jane.

Have you had any problems with your tub? Do how do you find your power bill in the winter? I just about bought one of these from paradise bay last year... I liked that it was made by Arctic but the insulation looked like it was just fiberglass or similar with poly over it taped onto the outside panels. The guy tried to tell me it insulated just as well as the spray on expanding type stuff used on the arctic tubs but I wasn't buying it... just curious what you found?


I’m not sure what it takes to put a tub on your deck but you’d have to beef your structure up for sure. An empty tub isn’t that heavy but full you’re looking at close to 2 tonnes with water and people. So long at your tub has a closed bottom you can put it on whatever… I used pea gravel for a pad. If you have an open bottom model you’d probably want a concrete pad (although I’ve never seen an open bottom one for sale… probably a thing of the past).

As mentioned you’ll probably find the dealers akin to a used car lot, lots of greasy guys out there. Out of all of them I liked the Jacuzzi dealer the best. They weren’t pushy and didn’t try to bullshit you. That said I didn’t buy a tub from them! Anybody I know who own a tub says getting warranty work done is like pulling teeth. It seems the dealers don’t give a shit once they get you out the door. I found it hard to pick a brand of tub as when I started researching them on the internet all I could find was bad things. People bitch and complain when things go wrong and don’t say anything when things go well.

If my budget allowed for it I probably would have went with an Arctic spa as they seem to be well made, and they are made in Alberta so if you need parts they don’t take long to get. In the end I bought a Master spa. 2 decent sized pumps, a good number of jets and spray in insulation for about $5k. It's been a year and so far all is well.

As for costs, expect to pay about $1000 for electrical hook up depending on how far you are from your electrical box. Expect a little more if you have trench. My power went up about $30-40 a month in the winter… depends on how cold it is any how much you use it really. You hear horror stories of people buying cheap poorly insulated tubs and paying $100/month in the winter so do your homework! Chemicals cost me about $25 a month.

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by '93 SR-V


Have you had any problems with your tub? Do how do you find your power bill in the winter? I just about bought one of these from paradise bay last year... I liked that it was made by Arctic but the insulation looked like it was just fiberglass or similar with poly over it taped onto the outside panels. The guy tried to tell me it insulated just as well as the spray on expanding type stuff used on the arctic tubs but I wasn't buying it... just curious what you found?


I’m not sure what it takes to put a tub on your deck but you’d have to beef your structure up for sure. An empty tub isn’t that heavy but full you’re looking at close to 2 tonnes with water and people. So long at your tub has a closed bottom you can put it on whatever…

As for costs, expect to pay about $1000 for electrical hook up depending on how far you are from your electrical box. Expect a little more if you have trench. My power went up about $30-40 a month in the winter… depends on how cold it is any how much you use it really. You hear horror stories of people buying cheap poorly insulated tubs and paying $100/month in the winter so do your homework! Chemicals cost me about $25 a month.

I don't even know how much the electricity costs me, TBH. I never looked closely "before and after" at the electrical use. I didn't notice any huge difference though. My Christmas lights and under-tile heating uses way more than the hot tub. So I would assume it's normal.

As for inside the tub...here's a shot I took recently. The large 3" line popped off while I was in the tub!! After 8 years I guess that's not bad. I've replaced the cover, the pump and the heater in that time. You can see there's about 3-4" of expanding foam around the entire inside of the box.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/CalgaryDave/IMG_2472.jpg

I got a buddy electrician to do my electrical. Paid $240 for the breaker..but I also replaced my entire panel with a new 100amp, all tolled it was $900, including about 50 feet of the cabling.

As for being on the patio...the hot tub weighs 5600 lbs filled. That's 114 lbs/sq ft. Not even close to being too much for standard structural overload. No more than a fridge weighs per sq foot. Put two people standing next to each other and you have over 200 lbs per sq foot.

Anyways...it's been there for over 5 years and nothing's collapsed! :clap:


http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/CalgaryDave/House/pic-1152.jpg


http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/CalgaryDave/House/Inthehottub5.jpg

[kvg]

http://s2.daemonstv.com/tv/up/2011/09/AMERICAN-DAD-Hot-Water-Season-7-Premiere-3-550x309.jpg