Stuart A

As posted previously I would of thought most circulation pumps now run 24 hours per day. This will provide a small amount of filtration, in your manual does it have a program for a main filter/purge cycle. The main pumps will shift a lot more water over a short time than the circulation pump, which is mainly fitted to put ozone into the spa and for quiet operation during heating. I am sure a Sundance serviceman will post here soon to tell you.

You are writing that you are happy and not making any over the top comments, its a shame people cant accept that. Enjoy your spa.

You will find on this forum that a lot of people do not get the support from their dealer, no matter what the make. This is why it is important when buying a spa from a dealer that they are asked about the service they can provide after the sale has been made. Afterall those of us that brought from a dealer paid extra for this. I know that if have any questions I can ask the dealer I brought from and they will give me advice. I am not saying that is the case here, but it could be.

Try and wet test as many different makes and models as you can, adjusting the contols as well. We did. You will know the spa which is right for you, there are a variety of spas with different levels of power. Some are just weak and some are excellent. Dont take much notice about horsepower specs. The way a spa is plumbed in is very important. I wont suggest any particular makes, but you can be sure some people will. If you find a particular make and dealer you are happy with then go with that. Look at warranties all good manufacturers and dealers give parts and on site labour included.

I started reading this and gave up quite soon, as others have said summerize please.

I bet your filters are looking a bit worn after all that time

Am I missing something here. Why would you look on a Hotspring spa website to get details about a Jacuzzi spa?

All spa manufacturers hype and some do it a lot better than others. The wet test should help you decide also do you feel more at ease with a particular dealer? I cannot comment on Maax spas, when we were looking we wet tested varous models and makes and met quite a few dealers, most were fine but a few told us outright lies. Obviously we did not buy from them. When you buy from a dealer you pay extra for that so you need to feel comfortable with them, ours is still very helpful and answers our questions even though it was sometime ago we brought from them. I can tell you about our LA Spa HEET, which we have had for just over three years now, perhaps someone else can tell you about Maax Spas. In the first year we had two jets replaced which stopped rotating and at the end of the first year our ozone was replaced, both were done under warranty and with no fuss. We had two sets of filters and we replaced them last year, these have been trouble free but we do use chlorine, there is another thread about people using bromine and there appears to be issues with this. I recently just changed one of my head cushions and will change another next month, the others are fine. We chose a spa with a circulation pump for two reasons it put ozone into the water all the time and when the spa is calling for heat, one of the main pump does not have to switch on. Circulation pumps do filter the water a bit but the main filter/purge cycle can be set either once or twice a day for between 10 and 60 minutes. If you look on the LA Spas website you can have various options on each model, you dont have to have what the dealer has in stock. We choose to have 3 main pumps and the power is superb. All in all we are still very happy with our spa and would recommend.

Spa bashing on this forum? Never

My reply was for a very basic test. Rather than going out and buying any equipment to test it yourself it could work out cheaper, and safer, to call a local spa company to send out a person to check everything for you.

All of the above, also what temperature do you have the spa set at. We find that if it is too high we get uncomfortable after about 10 to 15 minutes.

Did you find out what item had developed a fault?

I would first get a voltage indicator and see if you are getting 230V output from the power pack to the heating element.

Is it the spa which is two years old? If so it should be under warranty. When I brought mine there was a three years parts and labour warranty on the heater amongst other things.

Yes but how thick is that foam? Yes and as said earlier its the amount of use that contributes to higher bills.

The dealer I brought from did not make this an issue at all. The discussion could go on and on, I suppose if both methods are done correctly and for the right reasons, then both should be fine. In the end it is down to personal preferance. I think it is a good thing that we have a choice.

I forgot to add that to we also brought a cyanuric acid test kit from Palintest.

We also find it refreshing to drop the temperature a few degrees in the hot weather.

I would expect a house to last quite a few hundred years.

Which goes to defeat the intention of a dead air space. I'm in the middle of remodeling my kitchen. I'm thinking of leaving out any wall insulation and not taping over the screws holding the sheet rock to the walls. Man, there's miles of plumbing and electrical wiring in the walls I may need to repair sometime in the future. Sounds like the logical thing to do. I also removed the fenders from my car so I could get to the engine easier. Seemed rather rediculas to only have access through the hood area. However the insulation method still appears to work fine. Like your joke about the kitchen, but here in England we dont put plumbing in the walls, just cables which dont need replacing for sometime.

Just thought I would add that some spas that use perimeter insulation also have a covering of decent quality foam on the back of the shell as well.

Here is the link to the people who she got her spa from http://www.hottubs2buy.co.uk/ She purchased it last year and it is located indoors, she is still very happy and still buys the chemicals online from them, she also mentioned that they have a showroom in the London area, but that might be too far for you to travel. However in my opinion I would still recommend buying from a local dealer, if you can find one you feel comfortable with, because you can wet test and hopefully find one that will answer all your questions etc. Some dealers do leave a lot to be desired though, you only have to look at some of the basic questions and problems posted on this forum.

What area are you from? Since we were looknig for a spa another four manufacturers now sell in my area, there could even be more. I live near Reading which is about 40 miles West of London. However if you would still like to buy off the internet I know a person who did this and she is very happy with it. I can find out the company who she brought from on Monday if you want and any other details which she might have about it. Having said the above I would suggest to anyone buying a spa to wet test as many makes and models as possible before spending. If you do not want to spend a lot on a spa some dealers sell secondand and end of line spas with a warranty

When we were looking for a spa we found quite a few makes and models had this problem as well, it is not unique to your spa. I would suggest a wet test when spa shopping, as others have, move around each seat and adjust the controls, that way you can see if they are powerful enough for you.

Below are two other threads on this, looks like Staffordshire Trading Standards are building a case against this company. http://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=22074 http://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=24739