Hot tub anyone?

[Zoodles95]

This one looks interesting. Plug and play but also 220 capable:



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There is the delivery aspect but all you need for now is a pad which coild be done for about $200 or less in materials. Screening and pavers were shy of $200 for me. It was the gravel and river rock which brought the budget up.

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[GreyGhost]

This one looks interesting. Plug and play but also 220 capable:



Please view this ad:

Canadian Spa - Saskatoon Hot Tub,

Kijiji - Buy, Sell & Save with Canada's #1 Local Classifieds

Visit Kijiji Classifieds to buy, sell, or trade almost anything! New and used items, cars, real estate, jobs, services, vacation rentals and more virtually anywhere.

www.kijiji.ca

Price: $ 4,000

Download the application from the Google Play Store.

Kijiji: Buy and sell local - Apps on Google Play

The all new Kijiji app is here! Faster sales & easier finds.

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There is the delivery aspect but all you need for now is a pad which coild be done for about $200 or less in materials. Screening and pavers were shy of $200 for me. It was the gravel and river rock which brought the budget up.

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Interesting. Always make sure to do independent research. Kijiji posters may not know what they have or are lying. In that spa, I dont see how heating speeds up with 240V. It still has a 1Kw heater. What 240 does get you is high speed pump and heater at the same time. Interestingly, manufacturer recommends 15A@120 or 40A@240. Good for future proofing wiring, but I cant see any way that tub needs that much power. 1Kw heater plus 1.5hp motor (~1.1Kw) should not need 9.5Kw supply.

 

[mimico_polak]

This one looks interesting. Plug and play but also 220 capable:



Please view this ad:

Canadian Spa - Saskatoon Hot Tub,

Kijiji - Buy, Sell & Save with Canada's #1 Local Classifieds

Visit Kijiji Classifieds to buy, sell, or trade almost anything! New and used items, cars, real estate, jobs, services, vacation rentals and more virtually anywhere.

www.kijiji.ca

Price: $ 4,000

Download the application from the Google Play Store.

Kijiji: Buy and sell local - Apps on Google Play

The all new Kijiji app is here! Faster sales & easier finds.

tinyurl.com

There is the delivery aspect but all you need for now is a pad which coild be done for about $200 or less in materials. Screening and pavers were shy of $200 for me. It was the gravel and river rock which brought the budget up.

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I’ll be doing some more research now lol. Not worried about space as the location I want it in has an 11x20ft concrete pad already.

The sell will be to my wife lol.

 

[Zoodles95]

Interesting. Always make sure to do independent research. Kijiji posters may not know what they have or are lying. In that spa, I dont see how heating speeds up with 240V. It still has a 1Kw heater. What 240 does get you is high speed pump and heater at the same time. Interestingly, manufacturer recommends 15A@120 or 40A@240. Good for future proofing wiring, but I cant see any way that tub needs that much power. 1Kw heater plus 1.5hp motor (~1.1Kw) should not need 9.5Kw supply.

Interesting... I guess the main "upgrade" to 220 would be that you can have heat and jets/pump at the same time.

Some 110 models seem to allow heat or jets but not both at the same time.

That is one advntage of the Softub. Pump has to run to heat. So, always have availability of the pump.

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[Zoodles95]

I’ll be doing some more research now lol. Not worried about space as the location I want it in has an 11x20ft concrete pad already.

The sell will be to my wife lol.

It was to my wife. She was not sure of this Softub. She said "you're call" and I made the call.

Thankfully Alistair was able to rebuild the Hydromate. I guess worst case scenario would have been a new motor and even then the budget would still have worked.

Thankfully these Softubs have been around a long time and there is lots of parts support.

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[Gary]

Alistair farms the service work out.
Contact Sam directly at Happy Hot Tubs.

 

[Zoodles95]

Alistair farms the service work out.
Contact Sam directly at Happy Hot Tubs.

Hmmm. Weird. I guess that's possible. All the old parts and the old cover were beside it when I grabbed it from the back.

Either way the work was well done and the pricing fair. If 2 companies were able to make some profit in these trying times then all the better.

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[Zoodles95]

I’ll be doing some more research now lol. Not worried about space as the location I want it in has an 11x20ft concrete pad already.

The sell will be to my wife lol.

Oh man if I had that space I would go nuts and get a 8'x8' or even a swim spa!

I wouldn't need it and at best I wpuld have 3 in the tub in the forseeable future. I am a sucker for features and gadgets. Love the backlit waterfalls and all the other stuff I don't need.

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[GreyGhost]

Oh man if I had that space I would go nuts and get a 8'x8' or even a swim spa!

I wouldn't need it and at best I wpuld have 3 in the tub in the forseeable future. I am a sucker for features and gadgets. Love the backlit waterfalls and all the other stuff I don't need.

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Why would you want much bigger? For two people, it is just more energy, chemicals and water required. When my 8x8 dies, it will likely be replaced by something much smaller.

Swimspa seems interesting but then you look at the practicality. If it is a happy swimming temperature it really sucks as a hot tub. If it is at hot tub temperature you can't swim long without barfing (and imagine the heat loss from such a large surface area of moving water, yikes). Changing temp between those two states takes hours or days.

Waterfalls cool off the tub relatively quickly (as does air injection) by exposing a lot of cool air to moving water. High evaporation as well as direct cooling. They look cool, but aren't worth it in my opinion. The tub that came with my house has a waterfall but I leave it off. If you run the pump on high speed with the lid half open, the water from the waterfall attaches to the lid and travels across and falls in the middle of the tub. That can't be good for anything. The newer versions of the tub apparently have a pop-up waterfall so it is automatically disabled unless the lid is fully open.

 

[Zoodles95]

Why would you want much bigger? For two people, it is just more energy, chemicals and water required. When my 8x8 dies, it will likely be replaced by something much smaller.

Swimspa seems interesting but then you look at the practicality. If it is a happy swimming temperature it really sucks as a hot tub. If it is at hot tub temperature you can't swim long without barfing (and imagine the heat loss from such a large surface area of moving water, yikes). Changing temp between those two states takes hours or days.

Waterfalls cool off the tub relatively quickly (as does air injection) by exposing a lot of cool air to moving water. High evaporation as well as direct cooling. They look cool, but aren't worth it in my opinion. The tub that came with my house has a waterfall but I leave it off. If you run the pump on high speed with the lid half open, the water from the waterfall attaches to the lid and travels across and falls in the middle of the tub. That can't be good for anything. The newer versions of the tub apparently have a pop-up waterfall so it is automatically disabled unless the lid is fully open.

See? You are saving me from myself. I did say I needed none of those features.

Less can be more. About the only thing I am truly missing on my Softub is lighting. I am a sucker for those LEDs inside and out. Just the same though I know that every internal light or LED is a potential leak.

For my wife and I what we have ia perfect. The only fly in the ointment might be the lack of different seating options and positions to help her M.S. spasms. She is constantly having to adjust herself to inhibit tone and clonus. We will see how it goes.

Drizzling in my walk back to my truck after work. Would be cool if it were raining or drizzling when I get in the tub. Either way I'm going in later!

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[Zoodles95]

I think Grey Ghost is right; less is indeed more.

Wonderful dip with a light drizzle just adding to the experience.

However, I have learned a Softub quirk. I have seen this "P" on the display fairly often and wondered what it was:


I was pondering if it was an error code or something amiss but it is actually a part of "normal" operation:


So... From time to time the temperature sensors get flawed or stale data and from what I can see the tub sort of goes to sleep. However, at least twice a day the tub computer calls for a filtration cycle if the tub has not been used and presumably if the tub is not up to the selected temp at the end of it then the pump would stay on until the tub is up to temp:


The "cure" for me was to turn the pump on and soon thereafter the temp showed:


However... I keep the temp set to 104 and when I started the pump up the temp was alternating between 101 and 102:



So... If the tub is a decent amount of time past a filtration cycle and it is cold enough I wonder how low the temp would get to? Not the end of the world but I would love to see them add a button to do a 2 minute cycle every so many hours which would allow the computer to know the temp. In a minus 30 C sort of weather perhaps the tub would get into the 90s and not be as comfy? I guess time will tell. My work around will be to pop out and turn the pump on and the tub will then sort itself out.

After a solid half hour dip with the airator on full it lost a degree:


Interesting that the tub at this point knew that it was supposed to be at 104 so it had the heat light on and the pump will run now until it reaches that set temp. Just a weird "bug" to me. Is this unique to Softub or do other hot tubs have a similar issue?

In other news I think I have a honeymoon with the cushion. I sat firmly up against the back which helped the buoyancy issue with the cushion until I can get some sand into it. Not only was it comfortable to sit on but now the jet behind me was hitting the painful spot in my lumbar spine at exactly the right spot. I have been putting my feet over jets to give them some comfort but this adds another dimension to the experience. For the most part I just love being in the warmth with the whirlpool effect of the jets on.

Tonight I chose to try soaking with the house rear lights on. Was still nice but I think I will go back to the star gazing in the dark.

 

[GreyGhost]

I think Grey Ghost is right; less is indeed more.

Wonderful dip with a light drizzle just adding to the experience.

However, I have learned a Softub quirk. I have seen this "P" on the display fairly often and wondered what it was:


I was pondering if it was an error code or something amiss but it is actually a part of "normal" operation:




So... From time to time the temperature sensors get flawed or stale data and from what I can see the tub sort of goes to sleep. However, at least twice a day the tub computer calls for a filtration cycle if the tub has not been used and presumably if the tub is not up to the selected temp at the end of it then the pump would stay on until the tub is up to temp:


The "cure" for me was to turn the pump on and soon thereafter the temp showed:


However... I keep the temp set to 104 and when I started the pump up the temp was alternating between 101 and 102:



So... If the tub is a decent amount of time past a filtration cycle and it is cold enough I wonder how low the temp would get to? Not the end of the world but I would love to see them add a button to do a 2 minute cycle every so many hours which would allow the computer to know the temp. In a minus 30 C sort of weather perhaps the tub would get into the 90s and not be as comfy? I guess time will tell. My work around will be to pop out and turn the pump on and the tub will then sort itself out.

After a solid half hour dip with the airator on full it lost a degree:


Interesting that the tub at this point knew that it was supposed to be at 104 so it had the heat light on and the pump will run now until it reaches that set temp. Just a weird "bug" to me. Is this unique to Softub or do other hot tubs have a similar issue?

In other news I think I have a honeymoon with the cushion. I sat firmly up against the back which helped the buoyancy issue with the cushion until I can get some sand into it. Not only was it comfortable to sit on but now the jet behind me was hitting the painful spot in my lumbar spine at exactly the right spot. I have been putting my feet over jets to give them some comfort but this adds another dimension to the experience. For the most part I just love being in the warmth with the whirlpool effect of the jets on.

Tonight I chose to try soaking with the house rear lights on. Was still nice but I think I will go back to the star gazing in the dark.

For your constant heating question, mine can do that but I have disabled that feature. It can run the pump every 15 minutes to check water temp and heat if required so it is always ready to go. I turned that off as it is exceptionally rare that it gets used during the day and having it enabled puts much of the heating in peak power rates. Mine runs a long filter cycle from 19:30 to 21:00 so it is ready to go after the kids go to bed and a 30 minute cycle at 05:00 to circulate and reheat the water before it shuts off for 14 hours. The pumps are in an equipment cabinet as part of the unit, I may toss a temp sensor in that cabinet this winter to see how the temps look over time. I've never had an issue but if we are going to have an incredibly cold period, I normally manually run the tub at mid peak rates so the pump compartment gets some heat in it. FWIW, tub is obviously insulated but pump compartment is vented with a only a single layer of trex to the outside. Any heat in that cabinet leaks through the tub insulation, out of the uninsulated pipes in the cabinet or from the air cooled motors.

 

[Gary]

Mine circulates every 20 minutes for a couple minutes, and twice every 24hrs for 20 minutes.
As for in the tub led lights. They're stupid. Don't waste your dough. Useless in daylight, and as noted, a starry sky, or dark clouds are much less annoying than lights.
When you're dealing with a stiff neck, the waterfall is a bonus.
I've never shut mine off, other than to check it's operation.

Whenever the tub's temp falls below the set temp, it'll run. The pump needs to work when the heater is on. The heater has dual sensors. One at the intake, and one at the out. They measure temps and when the intake temp is up to the other one, it's reached it goal / desired setting, and shuts off.

 

[mimico_polak]

Oh man if I had that space I would go nuts and get a 8'x8' or even a swim spa!

I wouldn't need it and at best I wpuld have 3 in the tub in the forseeable future. I am a sucker for features and gadgets. Love the backlit waterfalls and all the other stuff I don't need.

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Looking at your pics of your tub/yard...plenty of space out there!

 

[PrivatePilot]

I have our hot tub on a deck. Our backyard slopes so a significant portion of our backyard is deck around the pool (with a single step up to a second level where the tub and gazebo are) and the hot tub is on the second level. It's only about 3' off the ground ultimately though.

I did carefully brace the deck underneath however to support the weight of the tub. The tub alone, being a full fibreglass model (pic below of the same style of tub, although a slightly different model) the tub alone probably weighs 600-800# before the water. And occupants.

That said, its been there for the last 6 years now (and was on a different level of deck for 10 before that) with no issues. A well built and braced deck is key.

before it shuts off for 14 hours

Can't leave Plug and Play's off that long....temp drop would take many, many hours to recover, and not all plug and play tubs are designed for 4 season usage to begin with - I know my Galbocca was (I'm pretty sure) only recommended for 3 season use, but I have run it for many winters with careful attention to ensure the pump runs often enough to avoid any pipes freezing inside the poorly insulated electrical cabinet. Last winter I actually added bubble-foil sheet over the vents in the cover to help a little there. But if I ever shut it completely off for 14 hours in the dead of winter not only would there be frozen pipes, but it would take a day to reheat.

Once the novelty wore off after the first few years I started winterizing our tub usually just after Christmas until the Spring - the $2-$3/day in electricity for the once or twice a week we were using it sometimes didn't seem wise.

Looking back at January 2019 for example in my energy tracker the hot tub used 360kwh. At todays average cost per kwh hovering around 15c/kwh (with a plug and play you have no choice but to use some electricity at both mid and peak rates every day if you want it to be hot when you want to use it in the evenings) that's about $55/month in electricity alone, before all the delivery charges and other crap.

 

[Zoodles95]

Looking at your pics of your tub/yard...plenty of space out there!

Your space could make a dance floor. Lol.

I could add 2 more ft towards the retaining wall but anymore than that and I would be concerned about the integrity of the retaining wall.

Could easily make a 10' x 10' or even a 10' x 12'. Of course if I wanted to put it elsewhere I could go larger. So far so good with the 8' x 8' with the 6.5' diameter Softub. Pretty much perfect actually. I may try to find a few nice slate or natural flat stones to make a quasi walkway in the river rock area between the tub and retaining wall. Always something else I want to do

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[mimico_polak]

Your space could make a dance floor. Lol.

I could add 2 more ft towards the retaining wall but anymore than that and I would be concerned about the integrity of the retaining wall.

Could easily make a 10' x 10' or even a 10' x 12'. Of course if I wanted to put it elsewhere I could go larger. So far so good with the 8' x 8' with the 6.5' diameter Softub. Pretty much perfect actually. I may try to find a few nice slate or natural flat stones to make a quasi walkway in the river rock area between the tub and retaining wall. Always something else I want to do

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Wife says she's on board. But as long as it doesn't affect budget for other things. Time to crunch some numbers and get looking.

 

[Zoodles95]

Wife says she's on board. But as long as it doesn't affect budget for other things. Time to crunch some numbers and get looking.

My wife was onboard but (oddly enough) left the tub choice to me. Thankfully this one worked out and was not too much of a hooptie.

Beachcomber on the Hamilton mountain has 2 plug and play models they are selling from a Quebec company. I posted them earlier in the thread. Maybe add them to your consideration?

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[GreyGhost]

I have our hot tub on a deck. Our backyard slopes so a significant portion of our backyard is deck around the pool (with a single step up to a second level where the tub and gazebo are) and the hot tub is on the second level. It's only about 3' off the ground ultimately though.

I did carefully brace the deck underneath however to support the weight of the tub. The tub alone, being a full fibreglass model (pic below of the same style of tub, although a slightly different model) the tub alone probably weighs 600-800# before the water. And occupants.

That said, its been there for the last 6 years now (and was on a different level of deck for 10 before that) with no issues. A well built and braced deck is key.

Can't leave Plug and Play's off that long....temp drop would take many, many hours to recover, and not all plug and play tubs are designed for 4 season usage to begin with - I know my Galbocca was (I'm pretty sure) only recommended for 3 season use, but I have run it for many winters with careful attention to ensure the pump runs often enough to avoid any pipes freezing inside the poorly insulated electrical cabinet. Last winter I actually added bubble-foil sheet over the vents in the cover to help a little there. But if I ever shut it completely off for 14 hours in the dead of winter not only would there be frozen pipes, but it would take a day to reheat.

Once the novelty wore off after the first few years I started winterizing our tub usually just after Christmas until the Spring - the $2-$3/day in electricity for the once or twice a week we were using it sometimes didn't seem wise.

Looking back at January 2019 for example in my energy tracker the hot tub used 360kwh. At todays average cost per kwh hovering around 15c/kwh (with a plug and play you have no choice but to use some electricity at both mid and peak rates every day if you want it to be hot when you want to use it in the evenings) that's about $55/month in electricity alone, before all the delivery charges and other crap.

I guess that is another consideration for plug and play vs high power tub. If you are planning on putting the tub into an enclosure/gazebo that may help a plug and play out. Limiting the wind blowing over the tub will substantially reduce heat loss. If you are putting it in a sunroom type building, the environment around the tub will run much warmer than outside and plug and play should have no problems. Although if you are paying for a roofed structure for your tub, I would probably drop proper power into it to allow flexibility.

Personally, I am with Zoodles, I like looking up at the stars. I would probably ditch the tub before I had a roof over it but I understand why people go for walls in a subdivision environment.

 

[Zoodles95]

Hey Mimico...

How about this one?



Please view this ad:

Nordic Sport 110V Hot Tub - Plug & Play (3 Months Old),

Kijiji - Buy, Sell & Save with Canada's #1 Local Classifieds

Visit Kijiji Classifieds to buy, sell, or trade almost anything! New and used items, cars, real estate, jobs, services, vacation rentals and more virtually anywhere.

www.kijiji.ca

Price: $ 4,500

Download the application from the Google Play Store.

Kijiji: Buy and sell local - Apps on Google Play

The all new Kijiji app is here! Faster sales & easier finds.

tinyurl.com

Just pay Mike or someone for the delivery. It can be upgraded to 220 later if you wish.

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