Davidw

Interesting... you might just try an experiment. The testing basis would be similar to the understanding that you aren't saving any gas if you shut off your car at red lights because it uses extra gas to restart the car ...but please let's not debate that. Follow everyone else's advice and also leave your spa warmed up. Don't drain it and learn more about the chemistry of maintaining it. I bet it's cheaper, and I bet you'll be happier. How many times have you had the impulse to jump in for a few minutes but had to say "no" because it wasn't ready? ...kinda removes the spontaneity a bit, eh? Think of the MILLIONS of people soaking in their own 3-month old biological stew and feeling great... ok ok maybe it's better if you don't ever think that again Mr. IVisualizeStuffLikeThis. I am familiar with the two person tubs and it sounds like it makes sense to just drain and fill, but realize how perfect you could make that well water with the proper conditioning. haha then start jumping in there every morning and every night! Even water out of the tap was previously undrinkable before they did similar treatment. ...and TinyB you need to get some new friends I mean that's a deal-breaker for me. If you and I go to a 4 star steakhouse and you order your 24oz porterhouse "well-done" ...it is very likely the last restaurant meal you and I will share. I'm easy to get along with but there are a few things... well... never changing your hottub water completely is just... it's cheap that's what Whoops, sorry posted a blank one there. Or the analogy could be, idling your car all day, when you are only going to use it once to get down the block. I know what you are saying, but the calculus depends on how often you use it, so how often you need it to be hot. Its the same thing as a tank water heater vs an on demand water heater. Wether it makes sense really depends on your situation. But I tend to think in my situation it makes less sense to maintain a temperature for a long period, than it does to heat up the water in a half hour or so... But wtfdik. I could be wrong. I'm not sure if its economical to change it often but boy I can't see not doing it. Ick. I add bromine, tho. Just don't lower the ph. Yet. I'm going to start to, after learning here. Still haven't gotten the high limit thing fixed tho. This tub needs some help anyway. Love it though. Best money I ever spent. Almost...

Interesting... you might just try an experiment. The testing basis would be similar to the understanding that you aren't saving any gas if you shut off your car at red lights because it uses extra gas to restart the car ...but please let's not debate that. Follow everyone else's advice and also leave your spa warmed up. Don't drain it and learn more about the chemistry of maintaining it. I bet it's cheaper, and I bet you'll be happier. How many times have you had the impulse to jump in for a few minutes but had to say "no" because it wasn't ready? ...kinda removes the spontaneity a bit, eh? Think of the MILLIONS of people soaking in their own 3-month old biological stew and feeling great... ok ok maybe it's better if you don't ever think that again Mr. IVisualizeStuffLikeThis. I am familiar with the two person tubs and it sounds like it makes sense to just drain and fill, but realize how perfect you could make that well water with the proper conditioning. haha then start jumping in there every morning and every night! Even water out of the tap was previously undrinkable before they did similar treatment. ...and TinyB you need to get some new friends I mean that's a deal-breaker for me. If you and I go to a 4 star steakhouse and you order your 24oz porterhouse "well-done" ...it is very likely the last restaurant meal you and I will share. I'm easy to get along with but there are a few things... well... never changing your hottub water completely is just... it's cheap that's what

Hi Tiny, the ph level reads at the max on the tab, but i forget what that is. I hear you about the grossness of not changing the water for that long, although that does seem to be the consensus. Frankly I'm grossed out if the water is in there for two weeks. luckily this is a smaller tub, i don't know the gallons but it is a two or three person. The water seems to heat up from tap to ready in about six hours. plus I feel i save money by not heating the tub when it isn't in use. What I do is, go out and turn on the heat about a half hour to an hour before I'm going to use it. it retains heat pretty well so even if I don't use it for a day it is still around 90. I have no idea what I'm doing really but it seems to be working that way fairly well. I had pseudomonas once when I stepped on a nail and that is a gnarly bug which is all around us so i bet you are right. Probably i should take the advice of lowering the ph so the bromine can kill it better. Thanks so much for all the replies and help! David

Yes, my spa has really helped my back problems, but only in the sense that it provides temporary relief because of the weightlessness. Otherwise, my back hurts me most of the time and I can't find any good position. In the tub I get all the pressure taken off my hips and lower back where my problem is. But when I get out of the water I don't find it provides much long lasting relief. Hope that helps.. DW

Okay I know its gross but I've been getting I think swimmers ear from my tub. My Bromine levels are fine and I do change the water once every two weeks at least, and usually once a week. One thing is, I have well-water that is very alkaline. I figured, that was better than the opposite of low ph, and haven't bothered to try and lower it because I am chemical averse to the extent possible. Any advice or ideas or thoughts you could offer me? I am a hot tub newbie. TIA, Dave

Hi, I have an 12yo Sundance tub which I bought used from a shyster. It works, but is very quirky. The main issue I have is that it won't go above 102 degrees, it clicks off and I can hear it trying to cycle on but then a relay clicks and it stops, and repeats that until I put it in a non heat mode or turn the heat knob down. I'm sure it must be a safety feature, but frankly 102 is just a tad too cold sometimes. Is there any way to raise it? I'm thinking maybe 104-5 would be nice. I'm a diy kind of guy and knowledgeable, but if I can't do it I'll call a spa guy. Would like to try first myself tho. TIA, Dave

Hi I bought what seems to be a 1994 Sundance spa, out of the Craigslist for 1500$. This is not hhoked up yet, so I'll have to assume the guy was truthy when he said everything works. This is a 600 series the size we wanted--not huge but not tiny. It has the plastic type shell that isn't the shiny fiberglass kind--seems tougher. I'm a pretty handy guy, so I'm wondering, are there any pitfalls I could anticipate with this tub, and are there any upgrades I could install to make it better, like ozonator or such. Also, with all the free tubs out there now I'm kind of wondering--did I get a halfway decent deal? The thing looks good, the skirt is okay and the base was replaced and supposedly the whole thing was serviced prior to the sale. TIA, Dave

Well, this is an old manual--though it does seem to me that you can't have too many grounds. I'll do as you say though and make sure the main panel ground is all proper and ground the subpanel/tub there. But just for kicks, why would having a local ground be bad? Maybe if there was a dead short somewhere else, the breaker failed to trip, there was a bad ground at the main panel, and the path went through the tub to the local ground...could happen I guess. But you'd have to wire the local ground wrong--at the tub rather than the sub panel--right? I'm so confused. Anyway, I'll wire how you say, makes sense to me, and thanks so much for your help chas. Best, Dave

Really? Because the spa manual recomends just the opposite, that there should be a local ground, and you shouldn't use the same main panel ground as other higher amperage appliances...? This spa does have something called a current collector, if that makes any difference. Or that may just be jargon for ground bar....

Ps don't worry I'm not a doofus--though I might sound like one. And I am installing a local ground rod fully sunk, to the ground bus on the spa. Thanks again Dave

Wait I'm sorry you said no wire at all to the load neutral on the breaker? Why is it there then? For three wire systems? So in that case, do I run from the ground bus on the spa to the ground bus on the subpanel?

You're right my mistake it says the neutral pigtail from the breaker should go to the neutral bus on the subpanel. So then I run from the ground bus in the spa box to the load neutral on the breaker? Thanks so much for your help! Dave

Hi I bought a 1994 sundance and am hooking it up to a spa gfci protected shutoff. The only thing is, this older spa spa is two hot wire with ground--no neutral. So would I run the neutral load side of the gfi to the ground bus on the spa? And does that give me true GFI protection? Thanks, Dave