reeffreak

That is clearly a female elbow fitting, and the flex is clearly smaller than the elbow. Looks to me like a pvc nipple inside the flex as strain relief to better support the joint. Clamp wouldn't help b/c the seal is between the outside of the flex and the inside of the elbow.

IMHO I'd either go ahead and start it up and get it hot, OR wait until you get back to fill it- especially if you are in an area where it's already dipping below freezing. You don't want cold water in the tub to freeze and bust something while you're away. If you plan to go the empty route (and it's cold where you live).... Check with the mfg to make sure they're comfortable with the tub sitting empty for a few days- they most likely leak test the tub at the plant, and they need to be confident that there isn't any residual water in the tub that could freeze up and bust something.

I really like the idea that you can soak with the lid down. It gives bathing suit options that I frankly don't have the confidence to try with my outdoor setup . I am worried that what appears to be floor materials and caulk will not last very long. FYI, the in ground vinyl pool mfg's will build a liner to your specs that is engineered for your application. They aren't that expensive, especially compared to flood restoration $$. Or look into an epoxyglass layup finished with a good 2-part epoxy paint. This is how some of the larger coral propogators build ginormous plywood aquariums.

Check this one out..

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HW- At risk of going off topic and actually adding something of substance to the thread.. My spa is not a strong, but similar Waterway exec pump and VS controller... The main pump failed in the first couple of months (bad capacitor). The tech replaced with a Waterway Ex2, which had a good bit more power at same labeled amperage. Flow diagrams of the exec vs ex2 are online. You could prob swap the wet end for not a lot of $$.

There are two issues here that folks aren't used to (and are driving the responses to the thread)... 1. If you only use the tub a couple of times / wk, it might make economic sense to heat on demand and not worry about the insulation. Most people keep their tubs hot all the time on this board (but there probably IS an economic argument to do exactly what you're doing from some usage patterns) 2. If the costs of LPG and/or Natural Gas is cheaper than the an equivalent amount of electric, given energy costs where you live, it makes sense to do the gas thing. It's rare that it works out that way in the US though. More on issue #1. A well insulated tub shouldn't cost much more than $10/wk in electricity that you're estimating as gas costs- to keep it warm all the time. And with the tropical plants I see on your patio I'm guessing that it doesn't get that cold wherever you are. But the costs of getting that insulation in that tub are probably more than the value of the tub itself. You're talking about 3-400 for a good cover, and more than that for a foam fill of the entire cavity (look for spray foam insulation contractors and get a quote to fill the whole cavity except for the area right around the motors / control equipment). More on issue #2. If you're interested in evaluating your energy decision further, it's more precise to look at it in terms of the physics of the energy that it takes to heat a given amount of water, and compare relative costs of different methods to provide that energy (electric, gas, etc.). This would give you a much better perspective than anecdotal observations on how many bottles of LPG you are using. I'm still skeptical that LPG is cheaper (and/or your ROI on the setup will take a very long time), but what you're telling me in terms of energy costs suggest that from a physics perspective the reltative costs are probably about the same or maybe favor a gas approach slightly. The reason you're saving money is because the insulation (mentioned in #1) is so poor that you're losing heat because the electric heater can barely overcome the loss of the tub from lack of insulation. Or to put it another way, You're "nuking" the tub with your gas setup to get it to temp FAST, and it rapidly cools due to lack of insulation. You could probably have done the same thing with a massive (10-15KW) electric heater, and enjoyed similar savings. Or you could have insulated the whole thing and saved the same amount of $$. So what you did was creative, and works well for your use case.. But is fairly unconventional b/c most folks go for the insulation route and just don't worry about it. Hope this helps.

congrats on your new hot tub- enjoy it! I am going to skip through some of the math and give you the answer.. A 20lb bottle of propane commonly filled to 18lb holds the equivalent of 110 KWh of electric heating potential (expressed in BTU equivalents, assuming both are 100% efficient). That 20Lb bottle is $20-$25 if you buy a Blue Rhino exchange, probably $15 if you have it refilled yourself at a station. Assuming $4/gal. That is the equiv of $0.18/KWh, assuming that 100% of the heat from that $20 bottle makes it to your tub's water column (which it won't). I pay $.09/KWh, so for me your solution would be 2x as expensive even if I captured every single BTU. I'd be curious what the flue efficiency of your water heater is (I think most tankless are 75%).. Assuming no losses through the garden hose setup you have, this means 25% of the heat you are producing goes up the water heater chimney. Which makes the electrical equivalent somewhere around $.24/KWh. Well above the Nat'l Average. For all practical purposes, electrical heating is 99-100% efficient in a hot tub application. Negligible loss there. So you are heating your tub faster, but you likely aren't saving any money, unless you get propane for very low $$ or your electricity is very high $$. Where you WILL save some money is by putting some insulation in that tub.

The logic behind my markup claim is that whatever "smoking deal" a cash and carry consumer can get is still more than the wholesale cost of the spa to the dealers. Otherwise the factory is undercutting the dealer sales model and/or you'd see dealers selling the blems as markdowns and there would not be a factory direct-to-consumer option. So you can assume that the wholesale to retail markup is higher than any direct option, possibly substantially so. This is part of the reason why spas, motorcycles, furniture, good bicycles, etc. have such a low trade-in value. It is more profitable for the merchant to acquire new product from the factory than to consign and/or resell used product. If you study any retail model (especially those that are sales commission based), you'll see that my markup claims are in line. High end furniture is another great example. $25k of brand-name furniture at a commissioned, reputable dealer is about $8k wholesale. That is not saying that the consumer is getting ripped off, it means that the value prop of full service, after-sale support has costs.

For a short period a couple of years ago, there were some dealer invoices circulating that showed an appx 80-100% markup for a major brand of value line spas (less freight). This was shut down pretty quick on the net. Before totally freaking out about getting hosed as a consumer, note this is in-line with low volume high $$ product in most retail settings selling discretionary product.. Be it furniture, hot tubs, aquariums, bicycles, high end home theater, etc. It takes that kind of margin to keep the employees paid, doors open, and the lights on. There is also a spa factory near me that sells customer direct / on Craigslist right off the factory floor.. I have compared factory direct prices (cash and carry) against retail internet sellers.. Assuming they don't undercut their dealers and sell direct somewhere between wholesale and retail, the near 100% markup holds true here too. So to answer your original question, I'm going to put the bookends of the cost of that $10k tub somewhere between $4-6k dealer cost + shipping + whatever accessories and startup services the dealer chooses to throw in. Nobody is getting rich with that markup though.

Bob, I answered your question in my very first reply. I don't know how you missed that in chopping every post up for a line by line rebuttal. I'll make it easier on you to quote me.. Yes, a carbon block filter will remove excess bromine based sanitizer from your water. I said that yesterday. However, like the rest of this thread it is a solution looking for a problem. I can tell you are a guy who likes to tinker. That is very cool. Your tinkering has solved a problem a problem for you- maybe your "problem" was the existing filter is busted, and your goal was to build a filter with parts from Home Depot. Maybe you had the stuff lying around and just wanted to play. Maybe you are trying to revolutionize water filtration technology in hot tubs. Whatever your problem/goal was doesn't really matter, but don't come on the net trying to defend your brand new solution as better in every way. You are taking an idea a couple of days old and confronting decades of industry best practice. If this idea had mass appeal, the manufactures would be using this approach already. Because it's cheaper, better, easier, etc.. For some reason they haven't. We are giving you suggestions why. Back to the carbon.. It is an inefficient, expensive way to do remove excess sanitizer. You would be quicker and/or save $$ with a partial water change, or leave the cover off to let the sun get to it, or neutralize with sodium thiosulfate (or maybe even household peroxide- our chemistry experts would know). Or you could just tee tee in your tub. Good luck, I am back to lurking.

Your initial question and follow-ups reveal that you are either unaware of, or ignoring the significant engineering and design differences between tap water and pool/spa filtration concepts. So I say go for the carbon block filter. It removes bad stuff from your tap water, so it must be better for your spa. And regarding your filter rating... 10 micron is good. 5 micron is better. 1 micron is best. Find the most effective filter you can get your hands on. If there is a 0.1 micron cartridge that will fit your cans, that would be ideal. Be sure to add a couple of cans of deionizing resin to the system to bring the TDS of your water absolutely to zero to have the most effective filter possible. And a can or two of dessicant will help too.. Because nothing in your system will remove that pesky di-hydrogen monoxide that even the best water filtration technologies won't get. Inhale a cup or two of that stuff and it will kill you. Be sure to post back results.

If I am hearing you correctly, you are using a drinking water purification system as part of a hot tub filtration system? If so, understand that a whole house system is designed for a single pass application, it is not going to work for very long on a hot tub.. Here is some math... 10k gallons/month whole house usage, 6 month life of these filters = 60k gallons life purifying mostly clean water. Your 24 hr circ pump system, guessing @ 3 gallons / min would move the equivalent water through these filters in 333 hours, or exhaust and/or clog the media somewhere around 14 days. You are trying to use a filter technology that just isn't appropriate for the application. Regarding your chlorine filter- that is a carbon block filter, which would capture organics, including bromine or most other sanitizers. Very bad idea there. You will quickly exhaust the media fighting sanitizer levels topside, then the filter will be doing nothing but restricting flow. What is wrong with built in / standard filtration in your tub?

Dr Spa, Spa_Guru, have a beer. You're both right. Dr Spa is showing line to neutral readings on a 3 phase 240v delta [stinger] circuit. Spa_Guru, you are showing line to line on a 3 phase circuit without a stinger leg. Both are used in different parts of the country. Non stinger circuits will show line to line of +/- 208v because the line to line legs are 120 degree offset, not 180 degrees like a single phase household circuit. That's why you can't add the leg voltage to get 240 volts. you'll get 1.78x the leg voltage when you go leg to leg (working from memory here- look it up). With that out of the way, and to bring an idea that the OP can acutally use.. Wellspring: Pay the current owner $20 to fill the tub up and let it sit overnight. If you have freeze damage, you're prob going to see water on the ground the next day around the tub. If that's the case, cut your loss and let the owner pay for a haul off. If not, I'd feel better taking a chance with it if I were you. The electrical guts can be replaced DIY if you're up to it. Plumbing repair is where the PITA will be. Hope all this helps.

fitness mats (without holes in them) like what you'd find at a sporting goods store / target / wallie world.