duck_man

I have a 2007 Artesian Gold Opal spa and after nearly 8 years the suction fittings are starting to self destruct, right on schedule (I read that they have a working life of 6-8 years). Problem is, they are now no longer legal because of some law passed in the US (I'm in Canada) so I cannot replace them. I have been looking everywhere and I am unable to find a replacement suction cover to fit. The old ones were: Pentair Max Flow 200 (x4) Pentair Max Flow 124 (x1) I have tried European websites that may still be able to sell them. No Canadian vendors have them because apparently we get most of our spa parts through the USA. I'm not worried about anyone drowning in my tub due to these suction fittings. No children go in the spa, let alone unsupervised children, and I'm still here after 8 years. You can't make parents smarter, so you make a law? Has anyone been able to come up with a replacement?

Thanks for the info. I'll try this for a few months but I'm already tempted to change back to bromine. For such an 'easy' system it's a pain in the rear.

Our spa dealer recommends we use SpaSolution, chlorine and nothing else. He recommends we add a 'little bit' of chlorine every 2 or 3 days and don't even bother checking the PH as the SpaSolution takes care of it by itself. How much is a little bit for our bather load? 2 adults, 1 hour per day. The PH seems very high compared to our last tub, in which I used bromine in a floating dispenser and had very few problems for eight years. Isn't PH above 8 too high? Is it hard on the tub? Also I have itchy dry skin all the time after using the tub. It seems like the chlorine disappears in no time and I'm constantly adding more. Should I just get a floating dispenser and little pucks like I had with the bromine tub, rather than testing and adding all the time? I used to simply shock and hose out the filter once per week. Now I'm constantly worrying about it. How do I do this?

Man, good thing you had that Costco lifetime protection warranty, allowing you to return the malfunctioning spa so easily and without question. Say, when did you buy the spa and what Hydro model was it? I bought a Platinum III (that's what the receipt from Costco said), otherwise known as a Legend - at the end of May. It sat in the garage until early July when the concrete/wiring were ready. I don't think it had a lifetime protection warranty - more like no warranty at all. When you call the company to get a leak fixed, a bottle of stop-leak arrives at your home 2 weeks later. Now that is a fantastic warranty! Luckily, Costco let me realize my mistake and return the POS - after I wasted a good portion of my summer messing around.

holy shite, people, can there be one thread here without the usual crew bickering about each other?

If you know your way around inside a panel go for it and buy the blank cover to take its place. BUT like pathfinder says - you wouldn't be here if you didn't need help and an electrical panel is no place for a newbie. If you kill the main breaker you should be fine because the live connections should be in a separate part of the box so you would have to be pretty unlucky to contact something live. If it's a modern panel ie. Siemens or Cutler Hammer, the breakers pop right out. You might want to get a friend to do it who's more experienced. Doesn't everyone 'know a guy' that could help out? I don't think you really need to go as far as to hire a Sparky to do it - it's easier to pull it apart than put it together - and remember to take a note as to how it was done so you can replicate it for your next tub!

That is obviously not a Costco tub - the insulation I see in the picture is about twice as thick as the insulation I found under the Hydrospas Costco hot tub I returned a few weeks ago. It DID have that silver bubblewrap thermal blanket crap but they must have ran out because it didn't go all the way around. I guess they couldn't seal it up too good, otherwise how would all the water drain from the various leaks? /disgruntled

[i did a 10x10 pad, 4" thick with 5x10" radius 4 foot deep sonotubes. One on each corner about 8" in and one in the middle. I also did rebar. At my last house I hired a concrete company to do the whole thing and this time I just copied what they did to prep it. That pad didn't move at all, or crack. This time it was $700 for the concrete and 2 guys to finish it all nice (better than I'd probably do). I was going to do it but I don't have the tools, experience, etc. I added the concrete into a load for a basement floor being done down the street so I avoided the small load charges etc.

We ended up getting the Opal - after spending some more time poking around at 2 Beachcomber dealers we went with the Artesian dealer - smaller dealer, nicer guy, better service. Less of a cheeseball sales pitch. After looking at every tub in town I was ready to give up and go home - I can only take so much of the BS 'our tub is the best', 'nobody else can do this' bla bla bla... I like both tubs but the Artesian seems more comfortable. Both are the same price at the end of the day. I wanted the Piper but it's way more tub than the two of us need. We also considered a Pacific but we were put off by the local dealer.

They come out to around the same price at the end of the day with the same goodies. the Beachcomber has a cooler stereo but the Opal has better controls. Opal has 3 pumps plus circ, Beachcomber has 2 plus circ. Both have ozone, similar jets, etc. Beachcomber has what may be better foot massage jets - have to try them. The beachcomber outboard pumps won't work where we need to put the tub so we'd get them in the tub like everyone else's pumps. Warranty looks a little better on the Artesian - Beachcomber makes you pay to have the same warranty as everyone else has standard??? What about insulation? Both are FF. What should I get.....or suck it up and get the Piper Glen - nice but over budget!

We sat in a Piper Glen Artesian model that is 37" deep. The Opal is 36". Not a deal killer. They seemed plenty deep. There's just me and the wife in it - I don't need a tub I can dive into.

I don't recall ever specifically highly recommending a Pacific over any others - I just thought after talking to a few people that it was a solid Canadian-built tub (and there are very few Mexicans up here so it's probably not made by cheap Mexican labor:) I returned my piece of garbage HydroSpa to Costco today. After talking to the dealers and seeing the spas I'm leaning towards Artesian. Yesterday I liked the Beachcomber 720 - especially the sound system. Now I want the Artesian. I kind of liked the Jacuzzi on Friday but it was nothing special. Good, but not great. I'm confused. Sundance was underwhelming for the money. The only D1 dealer in town is a company I swore I'd never again do business with after my experience with household appliances there - plus they're WAY overpriced - here in Calgary, anyway. At this point the dealer makes up just as much of my choice as the tub and the price. This is after realizing what it's like to spend ALL my free time taking apart, fixing and putting back together MYSELF a brand new spa that's UNDER WARRANTY. I've met a lot of cheesy stereotypical scumbag sales guys trying to sell me a line of bullcrap, and I've met some really good, honest guys, with valid reasons why they prefer what they do. Tomorrow I will probably go buy the Artesian Gold class Opal with all the goodies. I like the dealer and I like the tub - even if it IS built in the US. I hope it's better than your cars! duck_man

Thanks for the link to all the pics. you'd think for the cash we shell out a lot of the big names would clean it up a bit. On the other hand, brands like D1...it's easy to put a plastic divider behind your pump to hide the ugly and make the pumps look pretty - I'd like to tear down a D1 and see the reality behind the fancy plastic compartment. Wait until you see my soon-to-be-gone Platinum Legend. It's a legend all right. A Legend of embarrassment.

Here's a novel idea - let's keep this thread open for people to display pictures of the plumbing/electrical under their tubs. This way we can come on here and see the $3000 brand XXX tub's build quality vs. the $12000 brand YYY and make our own decisions. I'm going to post some pics of the embarrassing mess underneath my Platinum tub when I open it to disconnect the electrical to return it to Costco this weekend. I'd like to see underneath a Pacific/Arctic/Cal/D1/Jacuzzi/etc. before I buy another. It's easier to do here than to go to a dozen dealers. this way I can narrow the field first. Post away, people!

Wow, if that wasn't an outright product plug, I don't know what is. Were you simply being facetious?