ncc63725

The salt cell itself looks fine. And I agree that there are streaks as well as what looks like some rust coming down from the jets. That would lend itself to the theory that the material is actually eaten-up gaskets. As for chlorine and PH I can only speak to the last time I checked it, which would be the last time I used it which would have been the second week of March. At that time chlorine was a little on the low side and PH was normal. That said, I keep the cell set on the lowest setting because it's just me using it and my usage is very occasional, maybe once or twice a month. You are probably onto something with the chlorine because I did check it again before I drained it and it was off the scale on both free and total chlorine. But what I don't get is how that happened given I keep the cell on usage level 1, the lowest. It is a new cell; I just replaced it when I refilled the tub in early March, so I'm wondering if it was/is defective and is ignoring the usage setting. If so, and it was working overtime to chlorinate the tub, I could see how it would get so high it would eat up the gaskets and that would account for the black material and staining. I guess I should have been checking it more frequently than once a month but for 10 years I've never had to deal with it that much. My guess is the new cell is defective and is constantly generating chlorine. Now the question is how am I going to clean all of this melted gasket material off the tub and out of the plumbing?

I have a 2009 Hot Spring Vista with the ACE salt cell for chlorination. I'm experiencing a problem I've never had with this tub and cannot find information about anywhere. I just drained and filled the tub the first week of March. Used it twice since then, no trouble. I went out to check the chlorine level and do the maintenance on the salt cell when I opened the tub to find that the water had, in a period of just a couple of days gone from blue to greenish-black. I've never seen water like this in a tub. On top of that, a coarse, black material appears to have come out of the jets and settled into areas of the tub. I grabbed one of these chunks and it's quite brittle and breaks apart, leaving a black stain on your hands. I ran the jets, they all worked. The heater is working, the temperature is maintaining itself at 100. I'm flabbergasted because I cannot tell where this came from. I did do a quick chemistry check before I drained it; free chlorine was really high and ph was high as well but other than that it was normal. The really high free chlorine and total chlorine makes me think that maybe the salt cell malfunctioned and super-chlorinated the water? Still, I'm not sure that would produce black chunks and turn the water black. Upon draining the tub, the entire thing is now badly stained. It does wipe off, but will require a sponge or something; just spraying it with water does not bring it off. Nevertheless I'm now afraid to refill it not knowing what this is or where it is coming from. Does anyone have any ideas? Any ideas of what I can use to get all of this staining off? Maybe something I can put in the water to help dissolve it so that I do not have to hand clean every inch of this tub? Pictures attached.

We're very happy with it - last night was our first soak in it (took me a couple of days to get the electric run into it) and it was sublime. congratulations on you pick, sorry you did not go with the D1 , but i am curious the Vista would compare with the D1 reflections series, like the nautilus or the chairman..... again just curiousof your decision....but otherwise congratulations on a new spa owner With D1 it really had nothing to do with the spa itself, it was the lack of dealer support in my area. There is only one dealer for D1 in my area, he's an hour away, and didn't have anything from D1 for me to wet test and I certainly wasn't going to order one without having been in it. For all I know the D1 may have been a better pick, but with little to no dealer support I just wasn't comfortable. d1dennis2009 (whom I assume is with D1) posted above about the dealer and I PM'ed him the dealer's information and the full story so he's probably going to look into getting better D1 dealer support here locally. I live in a city with over 2 million people, you'd think there would be a good D1 dealer fairly close but it just isn't so at this time, and I really looked hard because I did like the Amore layout and videos I watched on the D1 website, but again without a good local dealer I just couldn't see it.

We're very happy with it - last night was our first soak in it (took me a couple of days to get the electric run into it) and it was sublime.

Just to give everyone an update, we finally made our decision! We weeded out the D1 only because the nearest dealer is an hour away and admitted he had no experience with the Bay series at all and is a one-man shop. The Sundance was nice but not as nice in the wet test as the Hot Spring. In the end we chose Hot Spring but did not go with the Aria; after seeing the options laid out on paper price-wise, we ended up going with a Vista. Minus the leg jets in the lounger it had everything the Aria had plus several other jets and an extra seat, plus it was only a few hundred more and is a lot more tub. I'm going in to pay for it and fill out the paperwork this evening, hopefully I'll be very happy with it for years to come!! Incidentally I did not get the stereo or the AutoFresh system.

Do the prices I indicated seem fair for these models? Agree. You won't go far wrong with any of these tubs.

Greetings! I've read many great posts on these forums and wanted to get some opinions on this match-up. I presently own a 20 year old Nemco which I found on Craigslist a couple of years ago and which actually still works but has some serious leak issues and needs a new topside panel since you can't read the temperature readout anymore, and considering there hasn't been a replacement panel for it in years, I'm searching for a new spa rather trying to put a bunch of money into this old one. Rather than a mid-to-low range tub like the Nemco was, I wanted to get something high-end that is larger than the 7' Nemco, with much better jets and some frills like a stereo and some lighting, maybe even a waterfall. What I found was that tubs have changed a LOT since 1990! I went through several brands/models and have narrowed it down to a choice of these three and I'm hoping some of you can answer some questions about them. HS Aria - The reason I chose the Aria on the HotSpring side is because of the leg jets on the lounger; the other models with loungers have no leg jets. I wet tested a Vista (dealer had no Aria on the floor) and enjoyed it for the most part but still have no way of testing whether or not the leg jets will feel as nice as I anticipate. The MotoMassage feature was not as nice as I had thought it would be; it's basically a jet that just moves up and down over and again. Not bad but not terrific either. Also, does anyone have experience with the AutoFresh system that HS is selling? No water maintenance sounds awfully nice but how well does it really work? A new HS Aria w/MP3 dock stereo and the AutoFresh system, cover, and coverlifter delivered was quoted at $13,700 total. Thoughts? The reason I chose the Cameo on the Sundance side was again the lounger, and the overall size of the tub. My wet test in this was good as well; I enjoyed the waterfall feature a bit more on this than the HS model and the wrist/carpel tunnel jets were much more soothing than I thought they would be as well. It was quoted to me with a Stereo and coverlifter at $12,300 delivered. Good, bad? On the D1 side I went with the Amore because of the dual loungers and the numerous jets in the tub as well as the synchronous jet programming available. I am also intrigued by the UltraPure Plus water management system and how it might compare to the HS AutoFresh system. I did NOT get to wet test this or any D1 Bay model as the dealer had none on the floor, only the Home models and had none of those filled so I'm at a loss as to how this one feels. I'm looking for opinions on that one. It was quoted to me with a Stereo and coverlifter delivered at $13,850. Seem right? Thanks in advance to everyone, I'm sure some of you who've had experience with any of these can provide me with some valuable advice!!!