Rick B

Hi All. We are in the beginning stages of researching options for an in ground pool and have narrowed the choices down to fiberglass or a liner pool. We live in Hunterdon County NJ and have a very high water table, which is a result of a high clay and shale soil makeup. I have read warning s about fiberglass pools popping out of the ground from high water tables, but have also heard that liner pools can be destroyed in the same way if the walls collapse as a result of water pressure. Are either or both of these claims true? Or is one more likely than the other? I guess I am looking for advice from those that have installed either type of pool and what their experience has been. Thanks for any info!!! Rick

Hi. We have owned a Frontier Ultra model for 4 months now, and LOVE the spa. Even though we have not gone through a winter yet, the efficiency of the spa seems great. Had a bad heater in the first month, but the dealer replaced it in a day and all has been great since. Good luck in your search, but from what I have found, you will not be sorry for buying an Arctic.

Hey Roger… So right you are… I believe I have narrowed my problem down to the heater. I was able to duplicate the problem and troubleshoot by doing this… I ran the “boost filter cycle” today, as the water was a little cloudy from being used all weekend. About 5 minutes into the cycle, the breaker kicked off. Since I was right there, I immediately went over and turned the breaker back on, and it tripped immediately. It tripped on me immediately about 5 times in the next minute, so I took the panel off the spa and started unplugging component, and seeing if the breaker would stay on. After unplugging pump 1, 2, and the blower, the breaker still tripped when I turned it on. I then unplugged the heater, and the breaker stayed on. So, I plugged everything back in to the board, and the breaker tripped when I turned it on. Then I unplugged the heater, and the breaker stays on. I tried the breaker with the heater plugged/unplugged three more times, and it tripped every time the heater was plugged in, but not when unplugged. I plan to call the dealer tomorrow, but it looks like the heater is causing a ground fault. I just wanted to follow up on this for all of you that provided help. Thanks again, and I will let you know if anything else pops up!!!

Hey Guys. Thanks for all the tips on this, but it turns out that it was my bad about how many amps were being drawn. I was measuring the amps on each hot lead of the 240 circuit, and then adding them together, thinking that would give me the total amps being drawn. After having an electrician out to take readings (and explain them to me), I now realize that you do not add the amps from each leg up, but count each leg once for the total amperage drawn on that circuit… So in all, it looks like I am drawing 26 amps at peak usage (not bad since the spa is rated for 44 amps) and my issue with tripping the breaker must be a GFI issue. I am going to get a new breaker and if that does not trip, chalk it up to a faulty breaker. If that also trips, then I will get my dealer involved again and see if any of the spa components could be faulty. Thanks again for your help, and sorry to take up your time on what turned out to be a non-issue. Tom, since you liked it the first time… We still LOVE the spa!!!

Thanks for all the advice. It is truly appreciated. Wire is all copper (I would not consider aluminum) I was thinking along the same lines as you with connections, and did verify them all again as a first step…. Removed, re-stripped, and re-torqued them all. I have not shortened the length of the wire, since I did not think 50 feet total was too unreasonable (even with 50 Amp & #6 wire. Once again, I appreciate your time and information. Thanks for all the troubleshooting steps Tom & Roger. I will be sure to update this post when we figure out what is going on…

Hi All. We have an Arctic Frontier Spa Ultra model and have had a few electrical occurrences in the past 2 weeks we have had it. I was hoping that maybe someone out there may have had a similar problem and/or could offer some advice. To give the background… When we bought the spa I was told I needed a 50 Amp GFI breaker installed more than 5, but less than 15 feet from the tub. I have 25 feet of #6 wire run from a 50 amp circuit in the main panel to the sub panel that has a 50 amp GFI breaker in it. This sub panel is mounted to the outside of the house and was bought at Home Depot as a kit from Cutler Hammer. From that point I have another 25 feet of #6 wire running from the sub panel to the tub ( left about 15 feet of wire coiled up in flexible conduit in case I need to move the tub for service). After the tub ran for about 2 days, we had some rain and the breaker tripped while we were in the tub. Since the first time this happened it was raining, I thought the GFI tripped and rechecked all my connections on the next dry day. The breaker has tripped every day or so since (for the last week), even in dry weather, so I borrowed an ammeter from work and found that with all three pumps on, the spa is drawing 52 amps. (so the breaker is tripping since it is overloaded, not faulting to ground). The plate on the side of the tub has a maximum amperage rating of 44 amps, so…. My question is…. Does it look like there may be a problem with a motor or other component inside the tub that could cause a higher amperage draw? My dealer is looking into this for me as well, but thought someone on the forum may be able to provide some advice. Other than the annoying electric problem, we LOVE the spa…

We just bought a Frontier Ultra and so far we love the spa and have been in it every night for the last two weeks. We bought this model because of the seat layout and also the size. The 8 foot models were little more pricey, and we had a spot that was perfect for the 7x8 footprint of this model. Also, we like the kid’s seat with a jet so they can enjoy the fun as well. We paid 9k (plus tax) and that included everything; setup, delivery, northern lights, forever floor, waterfall arctic ozone and chemicals. One other feature was the forever floor, which meant I did not need to poor a slab or lay down pavers.