op1

Here is something I found in the manual of my spa pak Since your spa will normally be expected to maintain warm to hot water to be ready for your use, a great deal of attention has been directed to the energy conservation detail of insulation so as to keep electrical costs down. This energy conservation efficiency may be achieved by extensive insulation of the skirt, plumbing and spa shell, and in some climates full foam insulation may have been provided. This energy conservation feature may cause an inconvenience during warmer times of the year. During warm periods of the year, the temperature within the equipment compartment can elevate to a point that the pump will automatically turn off for a short period of time (15-30 minutes) to allow the pump to cool down before automatically restarting. This cool down feature will not harm your spa but serves only to protect the pump from damage and as an indicator that it is too hot. To minimize this occurrence, refrain from using your Hydrotherapy Jets for prolonged periods of time during warm seasons.

I did a rebuild myself. I shopped around and ended up buying an easypak controller. At the time of purchase (on-line) I went down the check list and had it configured to the pumps I had that came with my spa. Not sure about the specifics on your controller, but I would contact the manufacturer and tell them the specifics to see if it can be done. The one thing I can say is, if any pump is 220/240 then the feed from the house to the controller will need to be that. You can not feed a 220/240 from a 110 source, regardless of how the controller box is configured. OP1

I would really try running it with the heater disconnected just to make sure the heater is not being energized some how. I ran my unit with the heater completely disconnected and it still climbs in temperature. Come winter time this will not be such bad thing. It will actually be a good thing. Now, if I run it with the panel off the temperature climb is minimal. I've got some ideas for a fix on this and will report back if I do it. OP1

This is may seem like a dumb question, but have you tried physically disconnecting the heater. Then run the spa and see what happens. That would be my first test. Let me add to this question and explain what I found with my spa. First of all I do not have many years of experience with a spa. I got mine for free on Craigslist. I immediately had to put in a new controller (easypak 500) and re-skirted the entire tub (made it from wood siding) Fixed a few minor leaks, and I have a hot tub for a fraction of the cost. Now my spa has been doing the same thing getting hotter a number of degrees past the set point. Here is what I found. The Easypak is mounted on the metal heater. The easypak itself seems to get hot when I run multiple 20 min cycles. The skirting is solid with no air vents. When I remove the panel by the service bay I can run without the temp climbing. Here are my options Take the easy pack and mount it somewhere else. Put in air vents. Put in air vents I can open and close. I like option number 3 because come winter, I am going to want to recapture as much of that heat as possible. Now I know yours is a new spa and not a re-design. But if you end up having to keep it this could be a fix. OP1

I'll second that!!!! I spoke to him with regards to my Sundance. The guy is a world of knowledge and was helpful with no ulterior motives. Not often you see folks like that. OP1

I can help with your issues send me an email and i will reply with my nuber and you can call me premierhottubs@etcmail.com James, It worked!!! Came right off. Thanks you really know your Sundance!!! OP1

Bump Anyone else with any experience with these jets and changing the escutcheons? OP1

no I just did one of these jets and could not find anything to fit in the hole and get one soon as they are hard to get and sundance took a month toget it to me. good luck Thanks for your reply. The Jets are available on line through a couple of different vendors. If you google Select-A-Sage or Sunstorm you'll find the parts along with some pretty detailed parts drawing. That's how I found out the spinning part is suppose to be interchangeable. The only thing I am not sure of is how to remove the estuchen that doesn't have the center piece to hold the spinner in. They seem pretty firm in there and I don't want to force it. OP1

Anyone here familiar with the Sundance Select-A-Sage jets. According to what I've read the jets are suppose to be interchangeable. I should be able to put in one of the Sunstorm spinning jet and take out the stationary nozzle. But the jet housing has a rather large estuchen which does not appear to be removable. I don't want to try to force it. If anyone is familiar with these jets I could use some guidance. I really like the spinning jets and am considering purchasing some more. OP1

Looks like that sites been hacked. I hadn't been there in a while. I guess you need to stick with craigslist.

PM sent

So I am a newbie spa owner. The craigslist thread got me thinking about one of the oppositions I heard when I first mentioned getting a spa. It was said at first you will use it all the time and then you will slowly stop using it. This brings me to the question, how many of you use your spas regularly and as often as you did when you first got it? How long did the spa honeymoon last? OP1

...and all thats true but people need to hear more than just the stories of how it worked well for you or my B-I-L got a free (or nearly free) spa a couple years ago and is handy and it worked out great. But I can tell you MANY stories of other people who got nothing more than a headache and even if you're handy, some spas are just not worth it and you almost never get the straight scoop form the person who wants you to clear his yard out for him so "buyer beware" (or in this case "hauler beware"). Agreed there is a "hauler beware" clause one should keep in mind. In my case on the surface things looked like they had been cared for. I figured if worst came to worse, I would put the sawzall to use and put the pumps up on ebay to recover some of my time. As it turned out maybe I just got lucky. One other point to add. I have heard tons of reasons not to get a spa. Including look at all the spas they are giving away. To much cost, to much work, don't use it enough. For me this just might be a trial spa. Is this really for me? Will I lose my enthusiasm for this after a while. If so it will have been a minor investment. Which brings me to another question which I will post separately. OP1

Here's a different deal, if its not gone already. http://humboldt.craigslist.org/zip/2684978081.html The estimates are obviously for a dealer to do the work. Needless to say if you're handy and do the work yourself its a fraction of the cost. OP1 …BUT there are always better deals than this kind where you have a lot of work to do to get it going. Its not really free and it all depends on what your time is worth to you. There may be a lot of time and effort in this and you may find it needs more work than they claim (imagine that?). As a general rule you should not buy a used hot tub that you can’t see filled, up to temp and fully operating. When this isn’t possible, owners who just want it gone resort to the “free for the taker” route. Often times “free” tubs are just someone’s attempt to get you to haul their junk away for them. I’ll never forget the “free” car I got from a relative when I was 15. All I needed to do was get it towed home and fix it because I was told it just needed x and y. Shortly thereafter someone with more experience than myself (it didn’t take much) examined it and explained to me why the car was not even close to being worth repairing. Then it became my job to get it hauled to the junkyard. Thanks for the "free" car Uncle $%&@#. There is definitely a caveat here, and I did a lot of tire kicking. I picked up a 1993 Sundance Maxus, free. I knew I would have to put some sweat equity into it. In short I put in about $800 and maybe 12 hours here and there getting it ready. (New controller, heater, spa-side framing and skirting) Fixed a few minor leaks,( diverter valve) and now have a nice hot tub on my patio. Would I have liked a new tub. Hell yea! But I wasn't going to get one for this price. It also was a great project for my son and I to work on together. So if your a tinker and handy its an option to explore. OP1 (If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy)

Here's a different deal, if its not gone already. http://humboldt.craigslist.org/zip/2684978081.html The estimates are obviously for a dealer to do the work. Needless to say if you're handy and do the work yourself its a fraction of the cost. OP1

Wow all I wanted to do was have a spa to soak my bones in. Now I'm learning chemistry. OP1

Nice job. Great concept. The Titanic was built by professional, Noah's Arch by an amateur. OP1 I think Noah had someone watching over his work and maybe gave him a few pointers here and there (subliminally of course)! I think I used the same person on many of my projects. Gotten me home a couple of times too. OP1

Nice job. Great concept. The Titanic was built by professional, Noah's Arch by an amateur. OP1

IMHO, don't waste your money. Thank you. Is there any good brands of spas out there to keep an eye out for? If your handy, and have some patience you can lucky like I did and get a free one. Keep in mind that it may require some work and a little investment. I got a free one from craigslist. Between the new controller and rebuilding the skirting I spent around $800 but the shell was in great shape and the pumps and blowers work great. Again all depends on how handy and how much work you can put in it your self. Read my blog on my free hot tub. OP1

I'm not familiar with this unit and haven't been around spas too long, but I would imagine you would want to try and isolate the problem between the sensor and the board. BTW Here's a question everyone will probably ask. What condition is your filter in? If you run without the filter does the same thing happen? If your spa side is showing a temperature past your set point, and your heater is still running, I would think your problem is in the board somewhere. That may end up having to the manufacture or to someone who specializes in board repairs. If on the other hand your spa side is showing 90 degrees but a thermometer is showing 100 then it is more than likely your sensor. Is your sensor on the heater or is it in a drywell? If its on the heater is it making good contact and is it well insulated? If its in a well, is the well clean? any build up? I had a similar problem with a brand new controller. Seems like it was the board. Hope some of this helps. Keep us updated. OP1 Newbie learning quickly.

Update. Spadepot & Hydroquip did the right thing!!! I will post an update once I have the spa up and running again. OP1 The new controller and spa side is in and appears to be working nicely. Temperature for the last two days has been +/- 2 degrees from set point. Kudos to Spadepot and Hydroquip for standing by their product and doing the right thing. OP1

Update. Spadepot & Hydroquip did the right thing!!! I will post an update once I have the spa up and running again. OP1

Well just got off the phone with SpaDepot. Long story short they seem to be a stand up company. They have a real interest in seeing that I am happy with my purchase and will be taking care of this. More to follow in the coming days. OP1

The problem begins. I purchased an Easy Pak ( Hydroquip ) from Spa Depot, this July for a 1992 Sundance, I am refurbishing. It wasn’t long after I started using it that I had inconsistencies with the water temperature. I have been on and off with Spa Depot’s technical support with a couple of issues. First issue the ozonator doesn’t work. The smart jack lights up but not the ozonator. No problem they will send me a new one. In the interim I discuss the temperature issues. I keep it set to 80 and only raise it a couple of hours before using it but it always reads high. Then one morning I woke to find the spa had overheated. (however actual spa water did not seem that hot) I called Spa Depot and spoke to the tech,. I ended up having to turn off power, letting it cool. After about two hours with cover off and power off I was able to run the pumps and blower again and got it to cool. I set the temperature way below the read out and noticed that the heater light stayed on. Called Spa Depot again. Turned temp all the way down. Turned power off and on and the system seek to reset and it seemed to be functioning correctly. Tech advised that it was probably a fluke of the controller. Ok I'll work with it. But skeptical. I set it to 85 and kept a close eye on the temp. Next morning I checked it, and was at 85, great. So I set it to 95 so that I could go in for a soak at night. Later I got ready for a soak took the cover of. Spa said 95. So far so good. But it didn't feel that warm. Had my soak. Turned it up to 100 and covered it up. Next morning checked the temp, it showed 95!!! WTF? Checked the setting, it was set for 100. Most of the time in the past the temp was higher then what I set it for. This time it was 5 degrees lower. The spa has a pretty good cover. In addition to the Sundance insulation I added 2 inches of foam board. I cleaned the filter no less than 2 weeks ago. So it shouldn't be losing heat. Tried resetting power all over again and setting temperature to max, but could never get temp past 95 I contacted Spa Depot, they contacted the manufacture Hydroquip who in turn issued a call tag for the equipment. I drained the spa, packed up the controller and heater along with a note explaining everything as above and sent it back to Hydroquip. It takes a week for the unit to get there and a week to get back to me with a few days while it is there. In short no less than three weeks without use of my spa. Arggg The saga continues I get the controller back and found a work order that came with it. It advised that the heating element was bad and that it had been replaced. The unit was bench tested for two hours and heated the water to 100 degrees ran well. Somehow I didn’t have warm and fuzzies. Ok I reinstall everything, and refilled tub. New ozonator not working ! The water temperature is 59 degrees so it will be a while before its hot enough for a soak. Best if I leave it overnight. So I set it to 100degrees and went to bed. Got up in the morning had my coffee and went to check on my spa. OVERHEATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I called SpaDepot. I was asked to put some cold water down the filter port in order to cool the temp probe quickly and be able to run the pumps. This worked. However despite the water, hotter than what the temperature was set for, the heater continues to stay on. I shot videos of the controller and heater continuing to heat even after the water temperature setting is exceeded. In addition even after the pumps turns off the heater continues to stay on. This causes and overheat condition. I am now waiting to hear back from Spa Depot and Hydroquip as to how to proceed. This unit is only a few months old in short it has spent more time in transit that it has installed.. To be continued…… Anyone else have issues with Hydroquip? OP1

I am by no means an expert. But I am just finishing up a reconditioning project on a 1992 Sundance Maxxus I picked up for free. (I'll post my story and pics eventually) If you post or email me some pics I may be able to help you out. As far as the air intake valves mine were stuck and difficult when I got this unit. I used some Teflon spray on them and worked them free. OP1