steve_a

NICE !! According to the NEC book and some die-hard electricians they say to use, nay DEMAND, that you use an insulated ground (that would be the green wire). When I installed my hot tub this summer I spoke with my certified electrician (also my father) and the local code guy (whom I found is dumber than a bag of rocks), and also a couple local electrical supply houses who all agreed that 6/3 UF/G was perfectly acceptable for a spa installation. The main thought being that the ground is exactly that - a direct connection to ground - so if you have a bare wire it simply is more likely to ground rather the insulated. There are all kinds of other regulations about wiring that may affect you depending on your installation. Such as the wire you pictured "can not be" run through conduit because of the outer jacket, but you can't just strip the black jacket off and run it through conduit because the wires are not individually printed with their gauge and size and specifications - even though it is the exact same wire as the stuff that has the printing. I ran my wire through a short piece of conduit from my breaker box up to my GFCI disconnect and back down into the house. It then runs 20 feet though the basement joists and then through a 10 foot underground conduit and up through the outside pad under the spa. I didn't "need" the 10 foot conduit since it is underground rated wire, but if I even need to change or add anything, the conduit will make it much easier. Keep in mind the NEC is over-protective as a general rule. Enjoy your hot tub !!

I'm in Northern Pennsylvania and we've noticed a couple times in the past week or so the thin layer of frost on our cover too. I'm glad that I'm not the only person that got giddy as a schoolgirl seeing that !! I was concerned that the cover may not be as good as they claimed, but this is definitely an EXCELLENT sign !! We're just wondering where the snow is - it's almost Thanksgiving and we've had only an inch or so - figures, we get a hottub and hope for snow and we can't get any !!! ROFL !!!

We bought an extra pair of filters for our spa and every two or three weeks (when I remember) I swap them out. The ones I pull out I rinse well (i made my own horseshoe shaped sprayer for my utility sink) and then I spray down with a filter cleaner, let sit for five minutes, rinse again, and then hang to dry. About once every two months or so, or when they look really bad I use an overnight filter soak. These filters should last 2-3 years or more this way. Not pimping anybody's product, but I got my spare filters and the EcoSpray and EcoSoak from spadepot [dot] com. They were the cheapest overall and the shipping was less than $4. The quality of the filters and the cleaners seem to be as good as anything else I've found.

I bought a $17 pump from Harbor freight that hooks up to the garden hose. I have it draining right now - and considering that my garden hose is junk - it's taken a little over 2 hours for a 280 gallon tub. With a better hose I'm sure it will go a little faster, but I'm also in huge rush to have to get it done. From what they told me when they delivered the tub, only use the supplied drain spigot if you don't care how long it takes to drain because it will most likely take most of the day.

I see that this post is a few years old and that there have been a few recent posts. I have a lot of respect for this forum as it has given me a ton of useful and COST SAVING information. With all that being said, I am a proud new owner of a Thermospas hot tub. My wife and i did some research on tubs, admittedly less than we should have. NOTE to all looking for a hot tub - RESEARCH !!! Anyhow, yes, we did have a slightly high pressure salesman - but as mentioned before - he works for a commission. Duh. But he did give us a heapload of information - some great, some slightly tainted. But we fell for the "this price ends when I walk out the door". I my opinion, we spent about 2 grand more than we should have for the hot tub. When we finally got the tub it worked great for a few weeks, but then we ended up with my breaker tripping. I checked and double checked everything and couldn't figure it out. I had the side off trying to see if there was anything obvious and all of a sudden there was a bright green flash and the heater burnt up big time !! i called thermospas service and a few days later the next day air'd a new spapak and heater to my house and sent a service guy to install it and check the whole spa out. We also changed the breaker to make sure it was new also. The service guy lives about 150 miles away so I understand it can take a few days to schedule being in the area. Anyhow, after he fixed it, the breaker continued to trip to which we called and complained up one wall and down the other. He came back up and checked over every single component looking for any error and after 4 hours couldn't find any. I, on the advice of my electrician, replaced the 50Amp GFCI breaker (from a different store) and we have not had a problem since. My electrician said that it's rare, but he's seen where you can get a bad breaker right out of the box, and a second one from the same store - and the same lot number - was bad too. Whether the problem was the breaker or something from Thermospas, they had my back and are simply glad my tub is working properly. So, as far as their service and customer support - I give them a solid A. All that being said - don't rule out the current Thermospa company, but include them in your research. Keep in mind that they make their sale at your kitchen table, which, if you have done your research and are ready to buy, when they give you that bottom line price, you will know if that is what you want. Comfort-wise it is great - my whole family loves it. But do your research BEFORE you call them. That's my two cents worth - keep the change.

We are new spa owners too - actually right now I am doing my first full water change (waiting for it to drain right now). We live in northern PA and we get cold winters here. Right now we have our Thermospa set on economy with the filtration cycle ending just after we get home from work. That means it's up to temp for the evening whenever we want to go it. They claim the insulation is incredible on this, and I'm realistic enough to know that incredible means it will be good to very good. Depending on what kind of heat loss we get we may have to switch to standard mode, but at the moment, economy is working. Also, if we know we are going to go out in say, one hour, we may go out and turn the one jet on and let it run to turn the heater on (the jet turns off after 30 minutes automatically). It's all a learning process, but we love it so far.

Thanks Nitro. What about the Nature 2 cartridge? Do I have to junk it and use a new one? I'm using the dichlor to bleach method, so the mineral cartridge is a backup sanitizer, not primary.

Nitro - we're having a similar issue with out chlorine dropping to zero overnight. Our water (and hot tub) are only 3 weeks old - if I do a decon can I still use the (three week old) Nature 2 cartridge? I just got a TDS meter and our TDS is around 950ppm if that helps.

Another quick response - sweet. I'm sure you'll get tired of hearing from me, but I like to be confident about things and I think I can summarize alot of what I am learning. First, using the mineral cartridge is a good safety plan, plain and simple. Second, (assuming a fresh startup) Start out with using Dichlor, as for every 10ppm of FC it adds, it contributes 9ppm of CYA. Once the CYA level gets up to around 50ppm, then switch to.... Unscented 6% bleach, 5 fluid oz per bather per hour (or 3-1/2 tsp of dichlor or 7 tsp of MPS). However, if my CH is still low, I can get away with using Cal-Hypo, as for every 10ppm of FC it adds, it contributes 7ppm of CH. This requires close attention to the pH as Cal-Hypo will increase that, possibly requiring use of pH Down. Once the CH is over 250ppm, then switch to.... Unscented 6% bleach, 5 fluid oz per bather per hour (or 3-1/2 tsp of dichlor or 7 tsp of MPS). All with the added caveat of test early and test often so that the water does not get ahead of me.

I think I'm starting to figure this out some. The whole idea behind the MPS is that it is the "low/no"chlorine alternative. Per the Nature 2 literature, "Note: As an alternative to MPS, an EPA registered source of dichlor1 may be substituted: 1 tablespoon dichlor1 = approximately 3 tablespoons MPS." I make the assumption that the Nature 2 all by itself provides a level of sanitation adequate if the tub is not used. However, as you add bather load, you need either the MPS to oxidize the bather waste and allow the silver to do its job, supplemented every few days with dichlor (or bleach) to truly sanitze OR add dichlor (or bleach) instead of the MPS which will sanitize AND oxidize bather waste. And all (per the Nature 2 literature) with about 1/3 of the amount of MPS required, therefore reducing your sanitizing chemical load. IF I test and maintain the tub every day and since my family is having no issue with chlorine, would it be safe to say that I could eliminate the Nature 2 cartridge entirely? As complicated as all this seems, it is starting to get much simpler and less overwhelming as it was just two weeks ago. Thanks all.

First of all I wish I would have found this site before we ever had our hot tub delivered. Alas, I didn't, so now we are learning more as we go. Thanks for all the information and advise. With that said... The ThermoClear system is the same as the Nature2, and in none of the literature for any of them can I find any numbers. I ordered some MPS test strips so that I can get familiar with what is in the tub. Learning what I have, I doubt I'll use these for very long. First of all, where should my FC level be using the mineral system? I've been having trouble getting the chlorine to stay put. We haven't used it for about 36 hours and the FC was zero per the strips. I added 2 TBSP at 7 and 4 hours later it was reading about 8ppm. That's the highest we've seen it so I think I'm getting somewhere. According to the Nature 2 "low chlorine recipe" it says to add one TBSP per 250 gal of MPS 20 minutes before a soak, and again after you soak - but no accounting for how many people or how long. And nowhere does it say anything about how much Dichlor to add, how often, or to what level - Also, what is the "MPS" level that should be maintained? According to Nitro's Water Balance forum (should be writing a book !!) he talks about starting with Dichlor and then switching to liquid bleach. How does that fit in using the mineral cartridge or should I even bother with that? Thanks !!

We are new to the spa life - I've only had ours for two weeks now. And of course I am a cheap SOB looking to try save anywhere I can. I am using the mineral system with the non-chlorine activator, and dicholor shock. My city water is extremely soft and in the past week I've added almost a full pound of calcium chlorate to bring it up but the Free Chlorine level still keeps dropping to almost nothing after 24 hours, even using the activator. The hardness seems to be on the low end of good. I understand one of the biggest concerns with using the Calcium Hypochlorate (yes from Wallyworld - amazing how they can be so cheap) is that while sanitizing and adding chlorine, it can also increase the hardness. Being in a soft water situation, can I get away with using the Calcium Hypochlorate - until at least the hardness is on the high end? Makes more sense they using the more expensive dichlor & the added cost of calcium when I can use the cheaper product and get doses of both. Thank you