canucker
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Posts posted by canucker
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I have a Bromine based Arctic Summit and I gather from reading the threads here that the Taylor Kit that I should be looking for is K-2106. Can anyone confirm that this is the right one? So far I can't find any place that has this kit in Mississauga (Ontario). I am willing to order online, but can't seem to find an online dealer that has them....
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Use the end capped filters, Sentinel is the name. The none end capped filters have a
habit of coming apart when in use, a real mess to clean up.
Cheers
Thanks for that, I'm going to return the non-capped filters. Interestingly they are just wrapped in clear plastic, with no brand name or manufacturer on them, so I think they must be just "no name" brands or something.
Also, while we're on the filter topic, the dealer sold me a bottle of "anti foam" liquid stuff when I complained about bubbles previous to our first empty/re-fill...when I got home I read in the owner's manual that anti-foaming/bubble treatments ARE NOT to be used with disposable filters. So, here again the learning curve continues and the dealer keeps leading me astray!!! I'm not very happy about the flippant attitude and post-purchase expenditures that are pushed on innocent spa newbies. This same dealer told me he had "no idea what a Taylor water test kit" is when I inquired about it's benefit over the standard test strips. I am quickly losing confidence in the Arctic sales people in my local outlet.
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We had our new Arctic Summit installed on November 20th and we just did our first empty and re-fill on New Year's Day. The filter we took out was not the same as the filter we put in...even though we asked for the correct disposable one at the Arctic store, and bought 3 for $100. (supposedly to last 9 months total?). The one we took out was in a cartridge, or casing...top and bottom had plastic inserts. The ones we bought at the store are just the 'cloth' filters, with no casing. When I phoned the store back they said that the original factory installed filters had "issues" and had been recalled, but that they would be back on the shelf 'soon'. Sooo, now I'm left wondering which filter we should really be using. Of course the guy at the store says either one is just fine....but I'm left wondering. Does anybody know about which filter is best? I was told both are no-maintenance (ie don't take it out periodically to rinse).
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I've been looking to get a nice robe, preferraby terry cloth, and was wondering if anyone knew where I might find one that doesn't cost too much...Also, does anyone know of a slipper material that would be ideal for getting wet. Something that would dry quick??
Thanks
I'm still looking for a terry robe...can't find any ladies ones' anywhere, except at the Arctic store...and they have ARCTIC SPA emblazed on the back...so noooo... Walmart in Canada do not have them... only velour everywhere I've looked....
We're all using Crocs for footware and find them to be pretty good.
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We have decided to drain our Arctic Summit today....just cause it's been up and running since November 20th and has had a heavy bather load and the weather is going to get colder and snowier as the winter progresses. Today the temp is 0 degrees (celsius) so we just decided to do it and get it over with. What is the preferred cleansing agent once we have the tub empty....baking soda or vinegar? We did not purchase any commercially prepared product from the Arctic store...
Also, how long would you guess this whole process will take.... number of gallons is just under 500 and we have a single garden hose, with no pumps or anything else....
Well, it took 4 hours to empty to the point where gravity had done as much as it could...we baled the rest and cleaned a bit with baking soda and water. It is so cold out there now that we are re-filling before doing a thorough cleaning....that'll have to wait til the next empty/fill routine when the weather is a little warmer. Hope we had done ok....
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We have decided to drain our Arctic Summit today....just cause it's been up and running since November 20th and has had a heavy bather load and the weather is going to get colder and snowier as the winter progresses. Today the temp is 0 degrees (celsius) so we just decided to do it and get it over with. What is the preferred cleansing agent once we have the tub empty....baking soda or vinegar? We did not purchase any commercially prepared product from the Arctic store...
Also, how long would you guess this whole process will take.... number of gallons is just under 500 and we have a single garden hose, with no pumps or anything else....
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Hi Canucker,
I live in Ontario (Niagara Region) and have an Arctic spa as well. I too am facing similar issues as I'm a complete newbie but I'm slowly getting there.
I just picked up a Taylor Test Kit at a local spa store that measures pH, TA, Chlorine & Bromine for $30. They didn't have the kit in stock that can measure the water hardness as well but they said just to bring in a water sample and they'd measure it; and that it shouldn't change much throughout the life of the water.
The Taylor kit showed COMPLETE DIFFERENT results from the test strips... no wonder I was having issues. The test strips showed pH at 7.4 where it was really 8.0. The test strips showed TA at 180 (as best as I could read it anyhow as the inside colour on the test square was different from the outside) where it was really 110.
I got the kit from Boldt Pools in St. Catharines. Perhaps they'll mail the kit to you if one of your local stores doesn't have one.
ok i guess I'll look into a Taylor Kit. I'll ask for one for Christmas
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Hi Canucker,
I live in Ontario (Niagara Region) and have an Arctic spa as well. I too am facing similar issues as I'm a complete newbie but I'm slowly getting there.
I just picked up a Taylor Test Kit at a local spa store that measures pH, TA, Chlorine & Bromine for $30. They didn't have the kit in stock that can measure the water hardness as well but they said just to bring in a water sample and they'd measure it; and that it shouldn't change much throughout the life of the water.
The Taylor kit showed COMPLETE DIFFERENT results from the test strips... no wonder I was having issues. The test strips showed pH at 7.4 where it was really 8.0. The test strips showed TA at 180 (as best as I could read it anyhow as the inside colour on the test square was different from the outside) where it was really 110.
I got the kit from Boldt Pools in St. Catharines. Perhaps they'll mail the kit to you if one of your local stores doesn't have one.
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Well, I didn't buy the Taylor kit..I'm still trying to balance with the test strips. I bring a water sample in every week to the Arctic Store and they tell me what to add etc... It seems that there's always something out of whack though. When the total alkalinity is low the bromine is either highish or "ok". When my total alkalinity is ok, then the bromine level drops to negligible amounts. I just can't seem to win!!!
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Ok, so I have a new Arctic, using the bromine system. Got the tub delivered and set up on November 20th, so 2 1/2 weeks ago. All was well the first week. I brought a specimen in for analysis this past w/e and my alkalinity was low...dealer recomended 1.5 caps of "perfect balance". Meanwhile, at the same time my home test-strip analysis also showed that my bromine was low....but this wasn't mentioned in my in-store analysis. Ok fine, I went with the experts and added the perfect balance on Saturday. Yesterday (Monday) bromine still showing low, so I added 6 new pucks....TA was "ok" but still a little low I thought. This morning (14 hours after bromine addition) there is very little change in the bromine level, and ph is showing high...alkalinity is still roughly the same in the lowish-to ok range. I know the written instructions say to wait 48 hours for chemistry changes after additives, but I feel there should be some slow, incremental change...or am I wrong on that? Also, the test strip colours never seem to match anything on the bottle label...like nothing precisely...so it's guess-work more-or-less in trying to match up the colours. I'm in the medical field and used to very precise test strips when it comes to measuring body fluids (LOL, sorry)....so this is quite frustrating to me!!
Any help, advice or next steps advice?
thanks a million!!
You sound just like I was when I started out. Do yourself the best favor you can by going out and getting a drop test kit. Do NOT try and balance the water using strips. Put the strips on the shelf for a few months and once you get a better Idea of balancing using the drop test kit you can use the strips to get a quick idea of sanitizer, pH and TA. Taylor make good kits. If you're in the US then Leslie's pools have re-brands that are cheap.
Greg
I'm in Mississauga...so it's a Taylor kit? Would I buy this at my Arctic store, or somewhere else? Thanks!
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Ok, so I have a new Arctic, using the bromine system. Got the tub delivered and set up on November 20th, so 2 1/2 weeks ago. All was well the first week. I brought a specimen in for analysis this past w/e and my alkalinity was low...dealer recomended 1.5 caps of "perfect balance". Meanwhile, at the same time my home test-strip analysis also showed that my bromine was low....but this wasn't mentioned in my in-store analysis. Ok fine, I went with the experts and added the perfect balance on Saturday. Yesterday (Monday) bromine still showing low, so I added 6 new pucks....TA was "ok" but still a little low I thought. This morning (14 hours after bromine addition) there is very little change in the bromine level, and ph is showing high...alkalinity is still roughly the same in the lowish-to ok range. I know the written instructions say to wait 48 hours for chemistry changes after additives, but I feel there should be some slow, incremental change...or am I wrong on that? Also, the test strip colours never seem to match anything on the bottle label...like nothing precisely...so it's guess-work more-or-less in trying to match up the colours. I'm in the medical field and used to very precise test strips when it comes to measuring body fluids (LOL, sorry)....so this is quite frustrating to me!!
Any help, advice or next steps advice?
thanks a million!!
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Ok thanks everyone...I'll start with the towel and check out the nonslip tape at home depot....
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Could you guys please tell me how you de-ice your hot tub entry steps? I don't want to use anything that's going to get dragged into the spa (chemical wise), but I really need something that's going to make the steps safe during the winter. This morning there's ice on the steps for the first time...
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We were just contacted by the spa set up team. Scheduled for delivery on December 9 at 7:30 in the morning. The electrician is all booked to hook it up on the 9th as well.
Spa school is set for this Saturday.Should be a really great Christmas surprise for our kids and their spouses coming home for Christmas.
We are thinking of putting a temporary shelter over the hot tub till spring when we can build a proper structure. Anyone have any suggestions?
We get a fair bit of snow in the winter so it has to be snow load rated. We are thinking of one of those temporary shed structures we can get from Canadian Tire.
Just brush the snow off before you get in - personally I'm looking forward to sitting in my new tub with snow all around, and looking up at the stars - but that's just my preference!
I totally agree!! We are in Mississauga and I had originally thought we'd need some kind of a structure. Now that we've been the proud owners of an Arctic Summit for 2 weeks, I can honestly say it would take a lot of the pleasure away if we were housed in. It's perfect just having it out in the open....nothing like a starry night to look straight up at!!!
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Congratulations on your new Spa! What a great Christmas present I too had to upgrade my electricl to 200 amp, do some interlocking and dig for a pad, add limestone screening etc... All the prep cost me over $2000. which was more than I had anticipated. I paid $11,000 for my Arctic Summit (signature series, all prices Can. $$)...so the whole thing has been more costly than I had intended. We've had ours a week, and so far so good...we are very pleased. Went back to the spa store on saturday with the first water sample for analysis, and spent another $300. (swing shelves and booster pillow)... It sure is a luxury to have a spa!!!
Congrats on your new tub. We cannot wait to get ours. We agree with your comment, the prep costs exceeded what we thought as well. Did you get the Onzen system with it?
No Onzen...just regular bromine...
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Congratulations on your new Spa! What a great Christmas present
I too had to upgrade my electricl to 200 amp, do some interlocking and dig for a pad, add limestone screening etc... All the prep cost me over $2000. which was more than I had anticipated. I paid $11,000 for my Arctic Summit (signature series, all prices Can. $$)...so the whole thing has been more costly than I had intended. We've had ours a week, and so far so good...we are very pleased. Went back to the spa store on saturday with the first water sample for analysis, and spent another $300. (swing shelves and booster pillow)... It sure is a luxury to have a spa!!! -
I bit the bullet, we bought the Arctic Yukon with the Onzen system. We expect delivery on/around December 15.
Now - site preparation. We will have ground that's fairly level, so - we are wondering about spa pads. We did see the ez-pad advertised. Does anyone have any experience with this? Or can they recommend anything else?
Not an expert by any stretch....not even close! But, we just got delivery on Friday of an Arctic Summit and spent about a month trying to deduce which was the best foundation for us. Our ground is also quite level. After talking, looking and reading a lot on-line we opted to go for a gravel/screening base. We dug down about 3 inches and filled the area with limestone screening and tampered it down so that it was very hard and very flat. It was almost as hard as concrete....when a bit of rain mixes in and it "sets". I looked at spa pads but Arctic kept insisting that this expense was not necessary....so I listened
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How's the new spa? Any problems with delivery/setup and initial operation? Hopefully all went well for you and you're enjoying your first weekend with your new Summit!!! I'd be interested to hear how it all went on Friday...
Thanks
(awaiting ours on Friday)
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Thank you Canucker, and Noarctic, nice to hear about other peoples experiences! Canucker, and Noarctic did you go with the salt water system? Noarctic did you have to pay a service fee even though your tube was under warranty?
Thanks for the input really appreciate it!
No I didn't end up going with the salt water system. I guess I heard from too many other makes' dealers that salt is good for pools, but not so good with hot tubs. Arctic's system sounds like it's ok though. I just didn't feel strongly enough about it to go with it...
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Hello all, we just bought a spa, a Coast Spas Radiance Lounger model.
We just received it yesterday and proceeded to do the initial start up, and figured we might as well register on an online forum, as experience showed that this is often the best way to find easy solutions to some annoying problems.
Oh, we're from Québec City in the great white north, so bear with us if our english is not perfect at time.
So without further ado, a question.
Our spa will have a salt machine. The salt machine is not installed yet, as the model that comes with this spa just got updated but was not received by the salesman yet. Instead of having an obsolete model installed only to replace it a weel later, the salesman told the factory to wait and will send a tech to install it this week or something.
So in the meantime, he gave us some bromine to keep our spa water clean. I only want to make sure that I can safely put bromium in there without risk of this interfering with the impendeing istallation of the salt machine. No way I'm draining all the spa and filling it again anytime soon...
Thanks in advance, we look forward to exchanging with your community.
Hello from Ontario!
I have no idea how to answer your question because I am new to spas myself and am awaiting delivery in a little over a week. I ended up buying an Arctic Summit, but was very strongly considering the Coast lounger model. I found that not many people knew a lot about the Coast make when I was doing my research, so maybe that's why you haven't had any responses to your query. Anyway, good luck and I'd love to know how you like the lounger in it...the design was slightly different from other spas with a lounger..it looked much better to me and felt very comfortable sitting in it.
Good Luck!
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I am getting my artic summit signature next friday, I also have the salt (onzen) system, any advice on settings and start up would be great.
Thanks
We're a week behind you...ours is coming November 20th...a bit delayed due to our city's hydro people being unable to coincide with electrician's availability. Oh well...another week to wait isn't so bad, after all this time! I just spoke to our delivery people and they said they spend about 2 hours on site with the delivery/set-up/teaching process. If after all that it seems over-whelming (for a newbie!) they also offer "spa school" at their show-room site. I was a little nervous about learning everything in a cold backyard on November 20th, but now I feel pretty good about the whole process. I'm sure they will be the same up where you are...have a list of questions ready for them!!!
Good Luck
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Any help would be appreciated with opinions of these two company's as my wife and I are very new to the hot tube scene. Thanks in advance!
Hydropool 725 self cleaning and Arctic Yukon
I haven't received my Arctic Summit yet, but I was also looking at Hydropool during the search. I don't know...something about them just turned me off...they just didn't look as strong/sturdy or something. The sales reps also continually bashed the Arctic system AND they talked us right out of even looking into salt-water spas...so after much looking and assessing and sitting in, we went with the Arctic. It was more pricey than my original intent, but I wanted to get it right for the long haul....
Good luck with your decision!!
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I am trying to decide if my privacy structure should be roofed or not. We haven't taken delivery yet of our new Arctic Summit and have never owned a hot tub before so it's really hard to know what is best. We live in a sub-zero snowy winter climate. Is it best to be open to the sky for the ambience and beautiful night skies, or is it best to have a roof so that snow and rain isn't an issue while bathing... Any opinions?
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The warranty is still valid, it's just a service call which in my area costs $39. per visit during the warranty period. That's all part of the agreement
Arctic Summit Bromine Levels
in Hot Tub Water Chemistry
Posted
I am a new Arctic Summit owner and was having the same problem. The test strip showed negligible amounts of bromine, but when I take in my water sample to the dealer they say its ok. I am finding the test strips too subjective and not very accurate, so I have just ordered a Taylor K-2106 kit.
Back to the bromine issue, the levels always measured very low unless we added powdered bromine, as opposed to just replacing the pucks...