arf1410

You lost me on this one. Why would one go to a store, for any product, for manufacturer's warranty. , One goes to the manufacturer! And should the manufacturer go belly up, Costco can and will make you whole regarding warranty!

A product warranty is a cost for the manufacturer. It costs a manufacturer >50% more to provide a 3 year warranty than a 2 year warranty. So if it is trying to keep the costs down, a shorter warranty will be a component. Don't assume, without evidence, that there is any physical difference in 2 products, from the same manufacturer, based on differing warranty length.

7 years in with an Evolution tub, from Costco. Replaced the cover 6 months ago... not desperate, but was getting heavy, meaning it was absorbing water. A few months ago, one of the pumps started having a slow leak at the "wet end seal" ... Went back and forth about calling a pro, trying to change it myself, or just not worrying about it until it got worse... A pro wanted 500-600$ to fix... ended up ordering the part from Spa Depot... was told it was likely the single most popular spa pump used... and 7-10 years is the typical life... so ended up replacing it myself for < $300, ~ 4 hours, and only one skinned knuckle. One of the things that attracted me to Evolution (by Strong) was, at least in 2011, they used just industry standard parts, as opposed to Jacuzzi(?) and possibly some others that used proprietary parts that are harder to source, and more expensive to replace. I also had the spa wired in such a way that I could easily attach an energy meter if I wanted to, but never did. I would GUESS the spa uses $40-$50 worth of electricity in the winter, and too little to notice in the summer. Keep in mind the Puget Sound has mild winters, and cheap electricity. I have seen no strong evidence that any brand of spas will use substantially more or less electricity than others. Much of the heat is likely lost thru the cover, anyway. So in the end, I am happy with the brand, and the Costco purchasing experience, in particular for someone who is willing to handle some of the installation tasks on there own... or in my case, via independent paid experts, Costco of course did not coordinate any of that other than basic delivery.

Thanks Dave and Casteltonia. Before draining the tub, I did try to buy a 2" screw on cap to close off the line, however Home Depot did not sell one. I did end up calling Strong this morning, and I 've called a few times over the years, and tend to get fairly knowledgeable folks on the phone. The basically confirmed what you stated about those 1/2" lines, that they were low pressure suction, and didn't see a problem at all with a lower PSI rated replacement. And you were spot on about some excess phone sprayed on, at the bottom of the tub, to "tack down" some of the lines. I considered removing it, but for the line in question, I still did not see any excess length that it would free up. And also thanks for not calling Strong a low quality junk tub, like some folks on the forum liked to do a few years ago, when I was last here.

I bought the Evolution line of a Strong tub at Costco, 7 years ago. Was working fine until last month, when I noticed a leak. It appeared to be at the wet end seal, of the #1 pump... which also seemed to be noisier, upon closer listening, with cabinet opened up. Pump was a 4 Hp Executive by Waterway. After speaking with several local spa repair folks, they stated that pump failure at 7 years was not that unusual, and suggested $450 for the pump, + ~$150 to install. found what I think is the identical pump / perfect replacement at SpaDepot, which they had in stock, as they stated this might be the single most common spa pump used... got it for $279... and decided to install myself. Mostly uneventful, with two minor stumbling blocks: /1/ there are 2 x 1/2" lines coming out of the front of the wet end, connected by a by a barbed fitting, that I think are to circulate to prevent freezing, among other things... I could not for the life of me get those lines off the barbed fitting, so I had to cut them. One of the lines was plently long, so loosing 1" was a non issue. The other line, the was no extra length, so I had to splice in an additional length. I found more line at home depot, though after reviewing the specs, it is rated at 45 psi. The OEM line was rated at 55 psi. Is this a big problem? What is the pressure coming out of the front end of those pumps? /2/ the spa used gate valves, rather than ball valves, and one of the gate valves did not 100% stop the water flow, so I had to drain the tub. I'm told ball valves are better. Do most spas use ball valves?

My Spa is about 3 years old. I've got two filters, which I rotate every time I change the water, which is about every other month. I clean the filters with a TSP solution. They seem to look fine. Can I keep doing this indefinitely until the filters physically start falling apart? If not, how can I tell when they need to be replaced? Thanks

I started using some softball sized foam like "scum absorber" balls that seem to be doing a great job reducing, or even eliminating, the scum at my waterline. Any idea if those things can be washed, and if so, how, or are they considered disposable?

Maybe I'm missing something, but don't really see any releavance in that link posted above to changing ones' mind on buying a hot tub...

Why in the world would a repairman agree to to business with Strong if he would only get paid $80 for a job that he would normally charge $300+ for? Also, I would think to some extent, the job of Spa repairing (at least of the electronic components) has gone the way of most other electronic repairs...even of high end equipment, they are probably not doing much true, high skill repairs anymore...just remove and replace the broken component, rather than actually fix it.

huh? What law is that ? and in what state?

Have a bit of a problem with 2 of your comments: "/1/ Reading arf's comments about feeling no obligation to pay the repairman is typical of consumer attitude, which is why it is the repairman's responsibility to make perfectly clear to the consumer what warranty does and does not cover. /2/ The only way the repairman is going to get $220 out of Strong is to claim on an invoice to have repaired a significant leak - commit a fraudulent act." /1/ since my contractual relationship is with Strong, I'm not necessarily opposed to paying Strong, or possibly even the repair man if they request it /2/ I don't know how you (or me) could possibly know for certain what type of contract or obiligation is between Strong and Mr. Repairman. As Strong is a large company, and I live in a major metro area, it would seem likely they had some sort of arrangement with a repair man here, as opposed to just trying to find someone when I called a month ago. Though I have zero experience with this industry, I've never before heard of a repairman who didn't have a set minimum truck or trip charge. UNlike a repairman who is servicing a product his store sells, and has no choice, why in the world a repairman would agree to a job (or even doing any business for Strong) without a minimum payment is just beyond me. I can't imagine all repairmen are that stupid?

So, in Rogers opinion, in this case the consumer (me) came out ahead dealing with 1-800- strong than if I had purchased from a local dealer...

If, hypothetically I had purchased the spa at a small spa dealer, how does this scenario play out differently?

If I wasn't so concerned about warranty expiration any day I would have indeed spent more time troubleshooting.... But my work schedule had been so busy at that time it would have been at least a week before I had time to do that.

Arches - you didn't read the thread cloasely - the very first post I stated I pulled off all (8) of the side panels and looked for signs of leaks, and saw not one drop of water inside the cabinet. The very first thing I did though was turn off the electricity. From a couple years reading this forum,I was fearful of doing damage by running the pumps dry. My other reason for almost immediately calling Strong was I knew I bought the tub roughly 2 years ago, and I didn't want to spend 2 weeks troubleshooting, the be told my warranty expired last week. Certainly one could fault Strong for not spending more time on the phone helping me troubleshoot, so maybe this could have been solved over the tele, and you could claim an experienced "ma and pa" dealer would have that extra insite and experience to look for this sort of "leak" The other thing I have noticed from reading this forum for a couple of years, is that I think the majority of posters are people in the industry, not spa owners. To an owner, my experience is good customer severice. To people on the "inside". this type of customer service could be expensive, and set up unreasonable customer expectations, therefore, is bad While I do not think they will, I do think it would would reasonable for Strong to ask me for reimbursement, whether they will or not, I guess too early to say. I think it is implausable that Strong wouldn't pay the serviceman for him doing what Strong told him to do. So from a spa owner perspective, if Strong does not bill me, they have gone above and beyond reasonable expectations. Maybe that would be unique in teh spa industry, but among places I do business at, Nordstroms does that, REI does that, Costco does that...a local tire shop did a free flat repair for my wife last week and not the shop she bought the tires at...