Summer Buyer

So its been a year since we started our hot tub search which ended in buying an Artesian Pelican Bay. Here's what we have found... The Bad: Recently the water chemistry hasn't been easy to maintain at 'safe' levels and we've had some occurences of the hot tub spots (little red spots on the skin due to bad water chemistry) but I guess I would need to go to the water chemistry forum for that Pump 1 which is the pump for the lounger seat has given us a little bit of trouble by occasionally not turning on when the 'all pumps' button is pushed, but quickly turning everything off and on again has always fixed this problem, don't really know whats up with this but hasn't really bothered us Then we thought the little waterfalls (not the pillowfalls) weren't working but finally realized that they are on the same system as one of the filtering/heating systems which comes out of two 'jets' near the drains and so in the summer when these systems aren't running 24/7 the little waterfalls don't turn on - sounds confusing but I think its because we set the temp extremely low for the summer, and so this system only turns on for a portion of each hour Finally the topside controls 'all pumps' button doesn't work. Surprisingly this is the only real problem that has troubled us yet because we still have yet to resolve it. All things considered it doesnt have much affect since on the same screen you can push the 5 buttons for each individual pump, but still troubling in that it doesn't work Now for the good: Spa care has been pretty easy as we went through the drain and refill process a couple months ago. We add a scoop of chlorine every week and the occasional shock. Water is usually very clear until most recently where we have had chemical problems. The Nature 2 which we were originally given as an insert into the middle filter doesn't seem to do much good (so I would not advice buying it as an extra) but I'm guessing it had some positive impact, although I'm glad we paid no extra for it The light package is great for hottubbing at night. We did not get the additional package, and my opinion is that the basic lighting is plenty. Both pillowfalls, the two little waterfalls, two of the regular pillows, and one underwater seat have lights that can be set on 6 different colors (red, yellow, green, blue, purple, or white), cycle through all the colors, or a strobe light setting. Normally we just put it on the rainbow cycle and just leave it for the time we're out there. The actual tub is what I find the most amazing out of the whole experience. We originally thought that we could only have 9 in the tub, since there are only 9 official seats. Boy were we wrong! When you have a big group, depending on how close you are to these people, we have had almost 20 people packed into it! Now that's for the extreme, on a day to day basis we normally have the family's 6 as a max, which leaves plenty of room, maybe a little crowded around the foot jets. There are so many jets. This is actually why we first noticed this tub in the first place - even the cool off seat has 4 'butt jets', which are are quite strong. Every jet can be turned counter clockwise to lessen the flow of water, or even be shut off. As for the pumps, its hard to imagine not having the freedom of pumps that we have. Given, not every single seat has its own pump: Pump 1 = lounger Pump 2 = Two bench seats on one side, both pillowfalls, and seat directly across Pump 3 = Corner Seat Pump 4= Other corner seat (captain's chair) Pump 5 = Foot jets, center seat under waterfalls, and seat across next to lounger Most of the time we turn all of the pumps on, especially when there are more than 4 people, but theres also times when turning on the pump just for your own seat creates a more calm tub Overall I think we made a good decision in buying this tub. We do have some problems, but going into the buying process we had never heard of a tub that was completely perfect. We haven't had experience with the customer service people -yet but will update when/if that ever occurs. The only big problem we see as of now is possibly the topside control button, but like some of our other problems, it may resolve itself in time Hope this helps someone (Last Year's Summer Buyer)

I live in Northern VA and also got quoted an outrageous quote for the Pelican Bay, which was the only tub we really fell in love with. In the end we went to the Artesian Outlet, its in Baltimore, and got a real deal. They start off by asking you the price you had been quoted, and then they cut down from that. So you might want to start by telling them the price you are willing to pay them. Due to not being in their small radius of 'free delivery' we had to also pay for delivery which was a little under $150, still a deal compared to what we would have paid at our local dealer

final was 11.5 w/ everything (cover, chems, lifter, steps) but no stereo

So I'm new to the whole hot tub world after recently purchasing an Artesian Piper Glen a few weeks ago. I'm having trouble with the whole water chemistry thing. Our dealer included a Nature 2 start up chem kit and we've followed all the directions (our kit is from leisure time by the way) Now our water's cloudy, what should we do?

So we have officially become somewhat "summer buyers" because we recently purchased a Pelican Bay after MONTHS of researching! The tub was delivered today and I can't wait to get it set up and going... Are there any good tips or warnings when starting a tub up (filling and chemicals) that I should know? I'm just so excited to start using it, the electrician came today and hooked it up, so its ready to go when we are! Thanks for all the input everyone has put in, it really helped in our buying process! Thanks, Summer Buyer

wait my deck isn't 5' by 7', the area where I'm putting the tub is a smaller portion of my deck that's self supported, its shaped like a hexagon cut out of a 10' x 10' area

the spacing on the joist in 12" on center and the lumber on the deck surface is deck cedar I think (but I know its not pressure treated) Thanks! Your Deck is rated for over 2 1/2 tons on that particular area Wait so 2.5 tons is like 5000 lbs right? So does that mean the entire tub filled weight has to be 5000 lbs or less, or what would the lb per square footage be? Because the Pelican Bay for instance is 5100 lbs filled weight, so adding people would be over that, can my deck not hold that?

What model sundance spas did they have? Cameo, Optima 800 series. 700 line Chelsee and Hamilton and some cheapy looking Hawthorn Where do you live? Our costco is also having a Sundance sale that is 2500 less than our previous quotes, but there is no optimas and instead have others The cost is normally less because it probably doesn't come with the steps, cover lifter, chemicals, etc. that other price quotes include

the spacing on the joist in 12" on center and the lumber on the deck surface is deck cedar I think (but I know its not pressure treated) Thanks!

So I'm trying to decide if my deck is stressed correctly to hold the weight of a spa (in the 100-150 psf range) I just don't know which dimensions and supports equals an overall stressing of that psf. My deck was built be a professional company, so I have all of the official documents quoting the measurements that I can quote below: All joists, beams, headders, and ledger will be of 2" x 10" pressure treated lumber All deck footers will be 16" x 16" x 24" minimum with a minimum of 10" of concrete There are four 6" x 6" support posts underneath the spot in which the tub will be put, they are spaced 5' from eachother in one direction and 7' in the other From this information, can someone tell me what load my deck is stressed for? Thanks!

yea with stereo that price seems about right, we wet tested the pelican bay and it is truly amazing, I like how the basic lighting and water feature (two little jet stream things for decoration) are standard, but I guess its all just built into the price

That is an excellent price for that spa, almost too good to believe. Why is that such a great deal, is everyone accustomed to paying retail? Its a good price probably because your in a low price area, Wisconsin doesn't strike me as a very popular hot spot for hot tub dealers. My area's Cameo/Optimas go in the lows of 9K to the highs of 10.5K, nobody really pays that retail price because the retail is set purposely high so that everyone feels like their getting a deal. That price makes that tub worth it by a lot. But if your area is low in price in general, look at what other brands have to sell because if your sundance is that cheap, maybe some of the normally high priced brands like artesian or D1 will be low too

we received a quote of 10,200 for an optima/cameo at one dealer, and about 9000 at another (both w/o stereo or tax) each including the usual steps, cover, cover lifter, chemicals, delivery and setup, etc.

Yea I heard D1 was really expensive, and to tell the truth I don't like their design and layout as much as the pelican bay, because I like having the corner seats and a general rectangular shape

Yea that piper glen price did seem high, were currently spa searching and were quoted 11.500 for a new piper glen w/o stereo. We seem to be sold on the fact that each seat has its own pump, all the diverter crap was sometimes confusing and frustrating. And if we loaded the tub to full capacity, I don't like the fact that you'd have to share the power with someone else. I also like that if you're the only one in the tub, you can have just your seat on, or customize it with maybe putting only the water feature and waterfall on. Your search seems very similar to ours, we still can't decide on the lounger vs. no lounger, so our search is down to Sundance optima/cameo or Artesian pelican bay/piper glen/dove canyon