SouthSpa

it's strange but I never check this site or even think about it until December each year. I'll be soaking in my Nordic spa and remember it's been another year so I should let everyone know how the Nordic is holding up. When I was shopping for a tub I appreciated everyone's comments about various models so I'm paying back the favor. In my experience the Nordic could not be any better. No problems whatsoever. If my original post from '09 is still out there I commented at length about the problems associated with the first tub I owned. It was a Morgan Spa and everything that could go wrong went wrong. The pump broke, the plumbing wasnt run properly, dirt and grime would build up at the water line. In comparison, the Nordic is perfect. It sits there keeping the water at 104 degrees year round (and if I'm lucky 105). Easy to clean, easy to drain and fill, easy to adjust chemicals, economical to operate. So there you go - my 3rd year report, same as the last 2 years... no problems, smooth sailing. See you next year. Merry Christmas!

I was soaking in my Nordic the other day and thought about this forum. I haven't checked-in since I posted comments about my Nordic spa last Nov '09. It's been another year and the Nordic is still like new, absolutely trouble free.

My hot tub came with a very basic bromine floating dispenser that would not properly regulate the release of bromine into the spa. Even when I had the dispenser set at its most restricted setting I would get too much bromine, as evidenced by the dark color on the test strip. I found a solution recently when ordering supplies. This dispenser works really well and I get a consistent bromine reading. Now I can load about 5 tablets in it so I don’t have to mess with it as often. With the cheapo version that came with my tub I would load 2 tablets and they would be gone in a couple of days, leaving way to much chemical in the water. only $7 http://www.spadepot.com/shop/Floating-Brom...er-P609C43.aspx

I’ve owned 2 hot tubs. My first was a 350 gallon Morgan spa and it stayed with the house when I sold the place 10 years ago. I started thinking about getting another spa and reflected on my experience with the Morgan spa to help determine what I REALLY wanted in a spa. After much deliberation, I purchased a Nordic Crown II. That was over a year ago and I have enjoyed trouble free use at a very low operating cost. I have nothing but praise for the product. I used this spa forum in my research and I am grateful for the resource. Here are some brief thoughts that I hope will be helpful to those considering a new spa. Hot tub brochures often mention how many people can comfortably use a tub at the same time, with most having room for 6 or 8 people. My actual experience is that 99% of the time I enjoy being alone for a 20 minute soak, usually first thing in the a.m. and again in the late evening before bed. I rarely invite anyone other than my significant other into the tub so I view all hot tubs as a 2 person spa. I prefer “barrier-free” to molded plastic seats. Lots of carved out seats look great on the brochure but once you get in you don’t see them as much as you feel them. The buoyancy of the water combined with the powerful jets can easily float a person around, frequently bobbing up and down on the ridges of a seat. More annoying than painful, but why have molded seats at all? Once settled into a seat I would either float right out of it, if it was one of the bigger seats like the chaise lounge, or quickly get bored with the feeling of being stuck in one position. Barrier free makes every position infinitely more adjustable by sliding a little bit to the left or right without landing on a plastic butt breaker. I prefer round to square. For some reason the square Morgan spa would get a ring around the water-line, a buildup of scale. Water additives and scrubbing would keep it under control but the round tub doesn’t have that problem. Maybe it’s the circular, whirlpool action of the round tub that cleans itself, maybe I have a lower personal funk factor this time around, I don’t really know, but the round tub stays cleaner all by itself. The Morgan had an ozinator but I did not buy the optional ozinator for the Nordic and I see no reason to. I shock once each week and add bromine in a floater, that’s it. The Morgan had a sleeve in the filter where the bromine would reside. I use a floating dispenser in the Nordic and it makes it much simpler to check and refill. The floater circles over the filter cover so it’s not annoying to the bather. I also prefer a round spa because I find it more comfortable. Sitting in 104 degrees for any length of time will get your body heat up. Hanging your arms over the back gets your upper body out of the water for a breather as you comfortably hang there; maybe even letting your head rest back against the perimeter wall of the tub. The curve of the round tub helps make this position easily accessible by not stretching the shoulders too far open. The Nordic spa doesn’t have a lot of extra bells and whistles, but it has a cool-off bench that doubles as an entry/exit step that is extremely useful. Modern design spas have way too many jets in my view. The whirlpool action of heated water is what relaxes my muscles, not being blasted with jet streams. Don’t get me wrong, some jets are essential, but only a dozen or so. I’m no expert on motor efficiency but I assume that having fewer jets places less demand on the motor and probably the heater since more bubbles release more heat resulting in more energy needed by the pump and so on. The Nordic spa seems to be very energy efficient in spite of reports of not having as much insulation as some of its competitors. A comparison of utility bills showed an average increase of $15 per month as compared to the previous year. It’s hard to say exactly how much of that could be attributed to the spa because I also used a window unit heat and air unit for a garage area converted into our “studio” which gets only occasional use. I do, however, live in Memphis with fairly moderate winter temps. After doing some internet searching like you may be doing now, and really thinking about what I liked and didn’t like about my first spa experience, I decided on a round, barrier-free spa. But when I tried to locate one I found that there are only a few manufacturers that make them. I had never heard of Nordic and couldn’t find a whole lot of current information on them but they had my prerequisites of being round and barrier-free, so I searched for a local dealer. I found one an hours drive from my house. The dealer had a huge showroom filled with square tubs equipped with LED lighting, surround sound systems and even dvd players with TV screens! (who can sit there for 2 hours and watch a movie???) There was only one round tub in the whole place except for a couple of 100 gallon portable types. The salesman said this Nordic Crown II had been sitting there for 5 years and never had water in it! I called the Nordic factory with the serial number of this particular tub and found them very professional and courteous. They looked up the serial number and told me it was actually built 7 years ago and assured me the spa warranty begins on the sale date regardless of the date it was built. That was important to me because the Morgan spa needed lots of service calls, having been plumbed incorrectly at the factory, a fact that was overlooked by the service rep for the first 5 or so trips to my house. So I bought the Nordic II at half-off retail and had it delivered. I filled it up, plugged it in and have enjoyed it twice a day for over a year now without any trouble whatsoever. By the way, I assumed I would go 220v since it was required for my last spa, but I was anxious to get in it so I plugged it into an available 110v. I have no plans of going 220v because I see no reason to. For my purposes, the Nordic Crown II is a great spa and I expect it will be the last one I will ever need to buy.

I use a floater with bromine tablets and with only one tablet and the holes shut all the way closed the bromine level on the test strip is too dark. Any suggestions on how to dispense less bromine using the floater would be greatly appreciated.

"so the normal prescription is to use Dichlor for about a week and then switch to bleach until the next drain/refill." So in keeping with the original thread of "Plain and Simple", one could use a teaspoon of Dichlor every day for one week and then switch to the same amount of plain 'ole Clorox each day until the next drain/refill? And the only other routine is shocking once per week? Do I have that right?

i was happily using Dichlor after every use until I went to buy supplies at the local spa store. The salesman said NEVER use Dichlor as it would destroy the seals on the motor and such. Now I don't know what to do. I followed his recommendation and bought some bromine and a floater dispenser. It all looks fine on the test strips, but it's only been a few days.

I spoke with a pool/spa chemical sales rep and I asked her the same question regarding temp. Some chemical companies use the same label for both pool and spa products because of the hassle of gov't regs to change label info. Hot tubs are always hot so follow directions for hot temp only and disregard the reference to cool temps. FWIW, I shock once per week and no problems.

I am considering moving my spa from my patio to a spot in the backyard. I know a 4" concrete pad is the standard, but does anyone have experience with products like those offered by www.covervalet.com ? Also, if the cover valet product works ok, is there any functional reason why air conditioner condensing unit pads couldn't be set out to form a pad large enough so the tub is sitting completely on top of them? not just a perimeter but an entire "patio" so there wouldn't be any weak spots. Other than possibly looking weird, is there a problem i am unaware of? the benefits include portable and cheap.