stryker709

No question, as most have already stated, the winter is the absolutely best time to hot tub! There is nothing like sitting in a hot tub with a cigar at -15 while the snow is falling an seeing someone shovel their driveway! The coldest I have been in the hot tub is around -33.

Well that's a good thing for sure! I would say you should be fine if it calls for say a 2 pole 40 amp feed, and may have cause for concern if you are getting up to a 2 pole 60 amp feed. Check the draw on the tub and like I said, many manufacturers leave you the option of setting it at a range between 40 and 60 amps. It will just change how the tub operates, ie, the heater will only run when only the circ pump is on in the lower setting or something along that line.

Depending on the draw of the spa you plan on getting (keep in mind that many brands can be hooked up for lower current draws, mine can be set for 40, 50, or 60amps) I would say that you "should" be fine with your 100 amp service. As many have pointed out, the only risk you run is tripping your main breaker. If it does happen, it will most likely happen in the summer when you are running your AC. Just running your hot tub, range, and hot water tank shouldn't be an issue. If your house is built in the 50's and there hasn't been a recent panel upgrade, then with out looking at your panel I would think it is quite likely that you don't currently have space in it for a 2 pole 50 amp breaker. Most of the electrical panel service upgrades that I do are due to an older house getting a hot tub and not having enough room for another 2 pole breaker. Depending on how bad it is, I have charged anywhere from $1000 up to $3500. The reason for the big price range is that when upgrading the service, there may be other code issues uncovered. Sometimes the feed coming into the mast turns out to be too low and involves raising the mast up through the roof to meet code, so it's really hard to say without looking what it will cost you.

I can't rally comment about others, but I really like our 365. The center jets are great on the feet. The jets are all very adjustable for pressure. I don't really use the air. The seats are great. Build quality is also impressive.

I thought the number 1 rule was don't talk about the Dichlor/bleach Method.

For hot tubs, Nexa spa recommends 1500 ppm salt. Not sure about pools, probably the same. I would think damage to be very unlikely at this level,

I ordered mine on line from spadepot.com

Thanks for your concern everyone. It's still early but I think the duck is going to make it. And no, I was not the one that got sucked down the line and I'm not quite sure how I would have been typing a distress message if I had been.

Joe, A timer only makes sense if you're on a 'Time of Use' billing. As I described, at 'Peak Time', summer cost for us at 1-7 pm is 2 1/2 what it is at night (29 cents per kWh vs 8 cents per kWh). Obviously, we want to be off-grid at the high cost hours. My electrician is coming Thursday to install a 'connector', that is a switch that can control 50 amps, and a timer. Each of these will be in a separate box. A 110 volt line will control the timer, which will signal the 220 volt, 50 amp, connector to control the spa. He says $800. Very expensive, I say. Had I been able to readily find a configuration and source on line I would do it myself. Not finding that on line, I asked here for help and to my electrician. After a week, my electrician has responded. And here I got zero useful feedback (excuse me, michelle). My guess is that the electrician will pick up $150 in material at Home Depot, and insall it for $800 total. I guess I will call that a bargain, and think of all the gas money I saved. I would have probably located a 240v timer, mounted it inside the tub enclosure and wired the heater in series with one of the timers contacts. 240v only because the Jacuzzi tubs don't incorporate a neutral. Unless you are an electrician yourself however, I would recommend going with someone with experience in these things.

I bought the Nexa Spa chlorine generator from spadepot.com for $300 a few months ago. It did take a bit to get it set right, but it does work well.

Bastards, they always get you with those extras!!! Well, the operation was a success and the duck was pulled out. Doesn't seem to have caused any damage so it looks like I got off easy here.

Flushing and draining my Jacuzzi 365 today. Had it running without the filters then thought I should remove the filter cover now since it is draining and I will want to spray it down as it drains. Once it was done running the cycle, I shut it off and began to drain. My tub usually has 6 ducks floating around in it, and now it has 5. I believe one of the ducks had sunk due to being filled with water and while the filter cover was removed it got sucked down the filter hole without the screen. I think I figured out which pump this leads to and will be unhooking it once the tub is drained and hopefully pulling one brave little duck out of the end of it. I also hope there is some kind of moron resistant screen that stops larger items from actually making it to the pump. Wish me luck.

Do the flush out chemical some hot inhibit the performance of the chlorine?

The dead sea salt I use is from the manufacturer. Interesting that you wouldn't use the scale inhibitor or scum free though. Are they just not really needed?

I would like some input on my plan for water treatment. Any input would be appreciated. 1. Fill tub (this is after running spa system flush overnight and draining) 2. As per Jacuzzi guide, add 90ml of spa life secure (scale inhibitor), 27 grams dichlor, 60ml of super clarifier. 3. Get calcium hardness into acceptable range 150-250 ppm 4. Get total alkalinity to withing acceptable range 80-120 ppm 5. Adjust PH to within 7.4 to 7.6 6. Add borates to 50 ppm using the pool calculator. I use the Borax and muriatic acid method. 500 gal tub = 28oz Borax and 14oz muriatic acid. 7. Continue adding dichlor daily keeping free chlorine level at 6ppm until about 30 ppm of cyanuric acid is reached. 8. Add 1500ppm dead sea salt and turn on the salt water generator (nexa spa). 9. I have adjusted the timer so the generator goes on for 15 minutes every 4 hours. I also turn the timer on and leave it on every time I use the tub. It automatically shuts off when it runs the next 15 minute cycle. I have notices this is not sufficient when more than 4 or 5 people are in the tub for a long time so in those cases I will shock the tub with bleach after use. The Jacuzzi guide suggest a weekly addition of 45 mls of spa life secure, 25 mls of super clarifier and 110 ml of spa life scum free. I use similar products I purchased from spa depot. I have read mixed reviews on the use of a clarifier such as some saying it is not required unless you run into cloudy water problems so I am not sure about weather or not it is needed.

I have read this thoroughly and have not seen the question "Why can't I just add the chlorine after the spa flush?" answered. My thought is this. What would be the negative effects of using the spa flush, running the jets, leaving it overnight, then after this increasing the chlorine to over 50ppm, then running for 30 to 60 minutes, then drain? Why do you have to drain before adding chlorine. I understand that the chlorine will destroy the enzyme, but at this point hasn't the enzyme served it's purpose? Am I just too cold that I see nothing wrong with destroying the enzyme in this matter? Is destroying enzymes just plain wrong in some peoples eyes? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

I am using the Nexa spa right now. Took a couple of weeks to figure out the right setting for timing, but it's working great now. I set it up so it goes on for around 10 minutes several times a day. When I go in the tub, I hit the on button. I leave it so that it stays on until it hits the next cycle. The beauty about it is that if I don't touch anything for several days, the chlorine stays at a good level and the tub is ready to use when I am.

I bought the 365 a few months back. So far I am extremely happy with both the tub and Jacuzzi's service. The install was very professional and they are quite helpful with setting it up. The tub itself is so much better than the last one I had. Not that it was a bad tub, but the 365 is much more comfortable. I love the center foot bed it comes with. I don't use the air all that much, but it does seem to work well. I was really impressed with how well it keeps the heat up at extreme cold (-30c) temperatures for over an hour. Can't go wrong with it.

I bought the 365 myself a few months ago, I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed.

Wow, thanks Richard. That is an insane amount of info. So it seems there is much more to the Cya than just protecting the chlorine from sunlight. I kinda figured as much from what I have read on this site. While not as scientific, I actually found your wife's evidence the most practical. I'm curious if there is a constant based on the Cya levels that can be used to determine the relationship between how effective the chlorine is as a sanitizer and how damaging it is to swimwear, covers, skin and such. For example lets say at 20 ppm Cya, a free chlorine level of 3ppm will be as effective as 2ppm free chlorine without Cya as a sanitizer but with the harmful effects of .5ppm free chlorine without Cya. Not sure if I am even close to understanding how this works, but hopefully I am getting my question across here.

I think I may have found the answer to this from chemgeeks post about how without the Cya the chlorine will be too strong at levels above 2ppm. Still, any other comments on this subject would be appreciated.

I am running a chlorine generator and went into a few local hot tub stores to find test strips that measure CYA since I have read a lot on here about getting the CYA up to 20 to 30 parts per million. The guy at the first store was in the business for around 6 months and had not even heard of the concept of chlorine generators. The girl at the second had about the same experience and knew little about CYA. The girl at the third store had about 15 years experience and told me that CYA was only needed in swimming pools due to being exposed to uv rays that would drop the chlorine. She said it is pointless for a hot tub that does not see much direct sunlight. Any thoughts on this or possibly an explanation of why CYA would be important in a hot tub?

Went in a couple of times this year at around -30c. The wind where I live in Cochrane, just north west of Calgary, pretty much always comes from the west, so I built up a 6' wind guard on that side of the tub to cut it down. I was impressed with the Jacuzzi's ability to keep the temperature up for over an hour uncovered at this temperature. No hat or anything, hair does turn pretty frosty though. There is nothing quite like sitting in a hot tub outside while watching people walk by in their winter parkas.

I hope your guests at least flush the toilet after use. gman Hahahaha. Or at the very least, use the toilet before getting in the tub. I think there is really no easy way around this issue. It's either just live with it, or you can have that awkward "Okay, so everyone have a shower before getting in the tub" conversation first where most people will just hear as "I don't want you in my hot tub unless you shower you dirty bastards". I was actually considering installing a shower at my back door that had no way around it and having it cranked as people come outside.

I see that Southwire lists NMWU as "Canadian building wire"... Here I would run THHN/THWN in conduit outside or under the house (or UF-B, ugh, I don't like direct burial), and splice in a box to 6-3 NM-B for inside the house through studs etc. #6 UF-B is also 55A rated... yet another reason to avoid it. I'm guessing your NM-B is simular to our NMD-90?