conrad

Sundance Maxxus, 580 gallons: Start temp 55F Final temp 104F Elapsed time 16 hours Outdoor temp during fill was 30F

Jan, I bought a Maxxus in Oct 2007 for $11,000 without TV or stereo. Price included cover, steps, tax, delivery, etc. Got a quote around the same time last year for a Master Spa LSX 1050 STS fully loaded for $13,000. In my opinion, the Maxxus is about the same as the LSX 1050 for less money. Maxxus capacity is 580 gallons which is only slightly less than LSX 1050 595 gallons. The plus side for LSX 1050 is 5 jet seats whereas the Maxxus only has 4 thanks to the lounger seat (which I love). Anyway, let me know if I can provide any more details.

Wow, I had this very same problem. I hired a landscaper to install interlocking concrete pavers as a patio, part of which would be space for my hot tub. The landscaper installed pavers with a 1.5 inch slope over 8 feet, sloping away from the house. It was noticeable to the eye and I immediately was worried about the impact on my "soon to be delivered" hot tub. I asked the landscaper why the pavers were sloping away from the house and his answer was "for proper rainwater run off". I called the hot tub dealer and they indicated this slope *might* be trouble down the road if the hot tub develops a leak. As it turns out, the dealer was not comfortable with me accepting delivery of my new hot tub to a sloping base. Luckily, I had not specified the need for a sloped patio to my landscaper. I discussed the issue with my landscaper and he luckily was able to pull up the pavers and re-grade to level (less than 0.5 inch over 8 feet). I am very glad I did this because my water level in the tub is nearly perfect. This is important for my tub as some of the jets are just barely below the water line when the tub if filled to maximum water capacity. If the tub was not level, the jets would be spraying water in the air and possibly outside of the tub!! Call your concrete installer and tell them what happened. They might be able to do something for you.

I bought the Sundance Maxxus in Oct 2007 for $11,000 with no TV or radio. Price included cover, steps, delivery, tax, etc. I am very pleased with the Maxxus. I never run out of room as it is 580 gallons with a rather rectangle shape. There are 4 jet seats and all provide more than adequate pressure. Can't help you with the Vista comparison, I only know info about Maxxus. Important point: I have been monitoring the electrical usage of my Maxxus over the last 5 months. The tub (set at 104°F) has increased my electric bill between $40 and $75 per month depending on the outdoor temperature. I live in central Massachusetts which is a rather cold region, a warmer region will lower the monthly electrical costs.

I picked up a 2007 Sundance Maxxus for $11,800. The price includes tax delivery, everything except TV/stereo and was delivered in October last year. There was a six week wait because the unit was made to order and required rail transportation from California to Boston. Didn't bother with the stereo or TV as these things break easily, and to me it's all about the soak and relaxation of the water. You are only going to be in the tub for 20-30 minutes anyway. Includes Ozone, two waterfalls, lights, steps and a cover of course. Quoted an Optima for $1000 less, but chose the Maxxus based on deeper water as well as lounge seat. Did the electrical install myself since that was one of my Summer jobs years ago in college. The electrical install for a Maxxus is rather tricky even for experts so I don't recommend doing it yourself. Electrician quote in my area (Boston) would have been about $1000. Electric bill has increased $50 to $70 in the cold months. Expect electrical costs to drop near $30 per month in the warmer season. Keep in mind I live in a cold environment with high electric costs (9.7 cents per kWh). Maxxus is a great tub. Also expect Optima is just a good, but a little smaller. I didn't really look at any Hot Springs models, however I hear they compete rather well with Sundance. Good luck!

I use a portable pH meter manufactured by HANNA Instruments, battery powered. It measures pH and Conductivity very well, provides pH measurement to 3 digits (i.e. pH 7.45). I purchased this unit because I was getting false pH reading from the paper test strips, and pH is extremely critical for maintaining water quality. I know this because I am a Chemist with over 12 years of experience taking pH measurements. I bought the unit off of Ebay for $123 with no problems. You can get a HANNA pH only meter for much less money, $50 to $70. I think this device is a must have for any Hot Tub or Pool owner, it takes the guess work out of a very critical measurement. It's also a good idea to buy pH 7.01 calibration solution from HANNA (or Ebay seller) as the pH probe will drift over the course of a year and requires a simple calibration procedure. By the way, the unit is waterproof so you can dip the measuring end directly in the hot tub to take a measurement, although I wouldn't suggest dropping it into the tub! I would suggest the HANNA pHep4 (model number HI98127) for $56, it measures pH to 2 digits (i.e. pH 7.5) A little bit more money and you might try the HANNA pHep5 (model number HI98128) for $69, it measures pH to 3 digits (i.e. pH 7.45) To find these on Ebay, just type in "HANNA pH" in the Ebay search field. Good Luck!

So I tried this idea of high speed draining this afternoon. The results are a little mixed, however it might be help to those who are interested, especially for those of us in colder regions. I bought Flotec 1/6 HP pump (Model 1300x) from Home Depot for about $70. The specs on the pump claim 1250 gallons per hour maximum output. Hooked up the pump to a 5/8 inch garden hose which drained directly over the ground. Here are the results: Time to drain: Used sump pump method, Maxxus 580 gallon tub Start time: 3:00pm, tub temp 104F, ambient temp 38F End time: 4:27pm, tub temp 70F, ambient temp 35F Total time: 87 minutes (1.5 hours) Flow rate: 6.7 gallons per minute Conventional draining normally takes at least 3 hours or more. The sump pump worked FASTER than conventional draining with only 1.5 hours time. This allowed me to drain the tub quickly on a cool day where temperatures were close to freezing and allowed me to refill by the time the sun went down. By the way, overnight temperatures will be plunging to 19F or less as a cold front is moving in. I was able to drain and fill the hot tub in 4 hours total, more than enough time to avoid exposing the tub to freezing temps. This would have taken 5.5 hours or more without the pump. Only one downside, I expected a faster flow rate from this pump since it is rated at 21 gallons per minute (1250 gallons per hour), I didn't see that flowrate! Did some research and found out the flow rate is limited by diameter rather drastically. The pump has a 1 inch outlet, and comes with a garden hose adapter. I used 5/8 inch garden hose, and probably should have used a 3/4 inch hose which was recommended by the pump manufacturer, Whoops! I will try the 3/4 inch next time. Wish I could get 1 inch flexible hose but that might be overkill.

Thanks to both of you (thestallion and Roger) for the useful feedback. If my data is correct so far ($50-$70 per month in cold months) , then I am quite happy paying that rate, especially with the monster size of this unit. The future data on submetering will hopefully provide some useful information for people who already own this type of spa and would like a comparison, or maybe this data will be helpful for folks who are in the market for this type of spa and would like to estimate electrical costs. Granted I am in a colder region, but that will allow me to gather data over a wider range of ambient temperatures. I budgeted an average of $50 per month for 2008, it will be interesting to see the actual charges (higher in winter, lower in warmer months).

Anybody tried draining a tub using a sump pump? I spotted one rated at 1300 gallons per hour for $70 at Home Depot. I want to use this pump to shorten the drain time to 30 minutes and decrease the risk of freezing pipes when temps are near 32F. I understand normal drain time is 3-4 gallons per minute for my 580 gallon tub (Maxxus) which would be about 3 hours to drain! Won't my pipes start to freeze in 3 hours if temps are near 32F? The sump pump seems like a better alternative removing water at 22 gallons per minute, and seems more reasonable compared to just waiting for mother nature to cooperate and give me warmer temps to conduct a slow drain. A fast, 30 minute drain would probably leave an empty tub with enough residual heat to prevent leftover water from freezing. Then I could start my fill with a fresh water supply whose temperature is usually 45 to 50F, warm enough to stave off a freeze during the 2.5 hour period of refilling. The pump is encased in a hard plastic housing, but I wonder if pump vibrations would damage the shell of the hot tub? Guess I could always tie off the pump so it is suspended an inch or so off of the tub surface. Any experiences with this type of high speed draining procedure?

Fellow Soakers, I opened a new thread as the previous thread was *closed* for undisclosed reasons. I have installed a submeter electrical device which will measure kWh (kilowatt hour) consumption for a Sundance Maxxus hot tub during Jan, Feb, Mar and beyond 2008. Hopefully this will provide future buyers with some insight towards electrical costs to run a hot tub such as mine in cold climates such as Boston, MA USA. It's reasonable to assume the cost to operate this particular hot tub in my region will be between $50 and $70 per month during the coldest months of the year. The kWh meter on the hot tub will tell the rest of the story as it is the only way to definitively calculate energy costs associated specifically for the hot tub... for now, I have inserted the post from a previous thread. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 2nd Electric Bill Arrived for Month of December Hot Tub is Sundance Maxxus * Location west of Boston-MA, rather cold climate is a good "worst case" * Average temp was 39.7F for Nov, 27.8F for Dec (So December was about 30% colder than November) * Temperature setting of hot tub is 104F * 60 AMP hookup * Always Standard Mode (uses most energy) * Soak 3 to 4 times per week * Local electric rate is 9.7 cents per KWHr * Monthly electricity use: 550 KWHr in Nov, 757 KWHr in Dec * Monthly electricity cost: $53 in Nov, $73 in Dec * Increase of 38% in December bill attributed to 30% decrease of average monthly temperature So am I crying?... no way! I love the hot tub and wouldn't let it go even if the cost was $100 per month. I agree the only true way to know the EXACT cost of hot tub energy cost is through submetering. In fact, you can pick up 100 amp submeters on Ebay for about $90, piece o' cake to hook up. However I have not changed one electrical item in my entire house for the last 15 months except the addition of my hot tub in October and so the use of last years KWHr provides me with a reasonable estimate of cost. Just for fun, I will order a submeter and collect data for the forum! As a scientist, I hypothesize there is a strong correlation between average daily temperature and average daily KWHrs. Also willing to bet the hot tub will use between $50 and $70 for months Jan and Feb so long as the monthly average temperature for those months doesn't go below 27F. Anyway, I'll follow up with Jan and Feb data as well as submeter data once I have something to share

2nd Electric Bill Arrived for Month of December Hot Tub is Sundance Maxxus * Location west of Boston-MA, rather cold climate is a good "worst case" * Average temp was 39.7F for Nov, 27.8F for Dec (So December was about 30% colder than November) * Temperature setting of hot tub is 104F * 60 AMP hookup * Always Standard Mode (uses most energy) * Soak 3 to 4 times per week * Local electric rate is 9.7 cents per KWHr * Monthly electricity use: 550 KWHr in Nov, 757 KWHr in Dec * Monthly electricity cost: $53 in Nov, $73 in Dec * Increase of 38% in December bill attributed to 30% decrease of average monthly temperature So am I crying?... no way! I love the hot tub and wouldn't let it go even if the cost was $100 per month. I agree the only true way to know the EXACT cost of hot tub energy cost is through submetering. In fact, you can pick up 100 amp submeters on Ebay for about $90, piece o' cake to hook up. However I have not changed one electrical item in my entire house for the last 15 months except the addition of my hot tub in October and so the use of last years KWHr provides me with a reasonable estimate of cost. Just for fun, I will order a submeter and collect data for the forum! As a scientist, I hypothesize there is a strong correlation between average daily temperature and average daily KWHrs. Also willing to bet the hot tub will use between $50 and $70 for months Jan and Feb so long as the monthly average temperature for those months doesn't go below 27F. Anyway, I'll follow up with Jan and Feb data as well as submeter data once I have something to share.

I posted this in another thread, just wanted to share it with this thread as well. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I bought a Maxxus 3 months ago. Installed in late October, have been very happy with my choice. First full month of electric service was 550 kilowatt hours, or 18.3 kilowatt hours per day. Here is some more info: * Location west of Boston-MA, rather cold climate is a good "worst case" * Average daily temperature ranged from 26 to 55 F. Average temp for Nov was 39.7F * Temperature setting of hot tub is 104F * 60 AMP hookup * Always Standard Mode (uses most energy) * Soak 3 to 4 times per week * Local electric rate is 9.7 cents per KWHr, translates to $53 dollars per month directly related to hot tub This is what I expected since the dealer told me in advance electric costs would run between 30 and 60 dollars per month depending on outdoor temperature, tub settings, etc. I don't have my December bill yet, but I expect Kilowatt hours will increase since Dec was a colder month compared to Nov. I will post more info when available. By the way, there is an economy mode to lower costs, but the tradeoff is a cooler tub. I tried the economy mode, but the tub would not hold the 104 set temperature, and gradually fell to 96F over two days during October. The Maxxus manual states clearly: Standard mode is required to maintain higher temperatures in colder climates. The cost is less than what I pay for telephone or cable TV, and the experience is definitely worth it!

I bought a Maxxus 3 months ago. Installed in late October, have been very happy with my choice. First full month of electric service was 550 kilowatt hours, or 18.3 kilowatt hours per day. Here is some more info: Location west of Boston-MA, rather cold climate is a good "worst case" Average daily temperature ranged from 26 to 55 F. Average temp for Nov was 39.7F Temperature setting of hot tub is 104F 60 AMP hookup Always Standard Mode (uses most energy) Soak 3 to 4 times per week Local electric rate is 9.7 cents per KWHr, translates to $53 dollars per month directly related to hot tub This is what I expected since the dealer told me in advance electric costs would run between 30 and 60 dollars per month depending on outdoor temperature, tub settings, etc. I don't have my December bill yet, but I expect Kilowatt hours will increase since Dec was a colder month compared to Nov. I will post more info when available. By the way, there is an economy mode to lower costs, but the tradeoff is a cooler tub. I tried the economy mode, but the tub would not hold the 104 set temperature, and gradually fell to 96F over two days during October. The Maxxus manual states clearly: Standard mode is required to maintain higher temperatures in colder climates. The cost is less than what I pay for telephone or cable TV, and the experience is definitely worth it!