heygreene

Here's the info on their site. I was unable to wet test due to no Nordic dealers in 2hrs of my house having any tubs in stock. It's not a huge issue, as most of the time when I want jet power it's only me and my wife in the tub, and we can just turn off all the other jets temporarily. I was more just wondering if there was an issue. As for "blowing you out of your seat" kind of pressure... I know what you mean, sitting in front of this whirlpool diverter is insane... like hard to stay in front of and almost uncomfortable. A friend of ours has a tub that they hate running on high because it makes them itch it's so high of pressure, so I guess things could be worse.

Here you go. Maybe it's called a selector and not a diverter... my terminology could be wrong. All I know is it doesn't really click into any of the 4 positions. Therefore you can "semi" turn on multiple positions by just barely rotating the diverter. It's just hard to know what position it's in since you can't feel it click in, and I'm wondering if that's what is making the pressure lower when it's on "all seats" setting (or at least what I "think" is all seats.. it's so hard to tell).

I believe the diverter may be bad, but I'm not really accustomed to adjusting hot tubs so maybe I'm wrong. When it's on the whirlpool setting, it will blow you out of the seat if you're sitting in front of it, so that one's easy to tell what position it's in. Then there should be 3 other settings, one for left side, one for right side and one for both sides (each 1/4 turn away from each other). However, it's not really easy to tell when it has "clicked" and went into one of the 4 settings. I can normally tell when it's on whirlpool, or one of the two sides just due to pressure at the seats, but it's hard to tell where it 'clicks' into the position to turn on all 4 seats at once... you can never really feel good pressure at all and so it's hard to tell if it's even in the right spot or not. Hope that makes sense.

Am I correct in my thinking above about the 3hp and the 2hp pump. Is the main purpose so that you don't have to close off any jets to get the full pressure out of each side? Thanks.

Update: I'm only really concerned with getting a good massage from the jets when it's either just me by myself, or me and my wife in the tub. For the last few nights I've just closed all other jets and opened the air vents for those 2 seats and it's been sufficient for us. While there's no "wow" factor at how strong the jets are, they do the job and have been relieving some sore muscles from all of the yard work we've been doing. One question: If the LS has a 3hp and a 2hp pump, and my SE only has a 3hp pump, how would that affect me if I had the LS? Would that just mean that instead of having to close off half of the tub jets to get it strong enough, it would be that strong with all jets open? I'd assuming it may even be more strong on the side with the 3hp pump, since it would only have to feed half of the tub instead of the entire thing.

Thanks, I kinda figured that it is what it is. I talked to Nordic and they were very helpful with just describing the air vents, how to adjust everything. etc but it really doesn't make that much of a difference. Lesson learned, but unfortunately it's an expensive lesson (and long term one). 🙂

Hi all, we just received our new Nordic Escape SE and the family is loving it. With that being said, there were no Nordics around to wet test, so we bought it without sitting in it. First impressions are the size is good for our family of 5 (wife and I, and our 12, 10 and 5yo kids), and we could probably put one or 2 other kids or maybe 1 more adult in with no issues, so that is a good thing. The whirlpool on high will almost blow you out of the seat, it's super intense. However, when we turn it to one side or the other it's "okay" (not a huge amount of pressure coming out, but you can feel some massaging... kinda feels like what I would expect it to feel like on low). When it's on both sides, you can barely even feel anything at all... absolutely no pressure/massaging, just warm water moving around. I'm assuming this is normal for a 1-pump HT, but figured I'd ask before I called Nordic or my local dealer. In hindsight I should have probably purchased the LS to get the 2 pumps but there was no ETA on when those were coming in, and I figured I wouldn't need it. This is likely a mistake on my part being a first time spa buyer... lesson learned. Is there any "help" for this? I'm assuming "it is what it is". Thanks, Heygreene

I think you are right... the more I talked to the guy the less it made sense. He said it had failed last year... which is 2015, so parts should have been under warranty (he doesn't sound like original owner). Also a quick google search of him found that he owns a spa/pool place nearby and has since 2015, and they even state that they do repairs... so that would imply they can't fix it? I'm going to pass on it... thanks for your input.

All, while I'm waiting on my Nordic to come in, I'm still looking around and found a 2015 HS Grandee with salt water system for $1200. Here is the description of the issue it's having: "It is tripping one of the breakers. With direction of hot springs tech support I removed the pumps and salt system from the control board and was still tripping. They said the control board was bad and needed to be replaced. You can hook power straight to pumps and heaters and make it run but it has the salt System and other features that need the control board. If you wanted to bypass the board and just have pumps and heaters that wouldn’t be too difficult to do either." Does this sound accurate to you all? If so, how much should this cost? The guy said around $300 for the control board is what HS told him. Is it worth it to take the risk? He says it's been sitting for a year without water. Thanks, Heygreene

I decided against the used Hot Springs and I'm sticking with the new Nordic Escape. All in all it would have been about half the price by the time I got it moved, but 11 years old to start out as my first tub. Also, the Nordic has the bench seating which I think will be better for the kids (they like to do whirlpools, etc). Thanks for all the input, can't wait to get the tub installed (late Feb we hope)!

According to the lady selling it there's no issues at all. She's filling it in morning and turning on the heater... just not sure how long it's been sitting without full water in it (you could see water in the picture, but it wasn't even up over the benches). I'm pretty handy so I'm sure I could fix most any smaller issues on a hot tub, but to your point not sure about the tub leak. Plus I've got the headache of moving it... it's 1000lb DRY! The Nordic I've got on order is 500lb dry, but I'm sure that's due to the difference in quality and type of tub. What to do what to do...

Whew okay thanks... I've never heard anybody remark that Escapes are considered "small" but I just wondered. Also what are your thoughts on this 2011 Hot Springs tub instead? Seemed like a good deal but it's 11 years old... at least I'll know the Nordic is new (but at 3 times the cost and about 1/3 less size).

I found a 2011 Hot Springs Vista SS today used for $1750 on FB Marketplace that I was looking at and I noticed it was a 7 person and was 500 gallons and 100x90. The Escape SE is a 6 person (no loungers) and is only 300 gallons and 82x80. Is this considered a tiny hot tub or something? I have not wet tested one in person but when I saw it I did not think it looked very small.

Thanks @RDspaguy, not sure if I mentioned it or not, but the Nordic also comes with the insulation upgrade, and I'm in SC so hopefully I should be all set on that.

Thanks everyone. And Castletonia, I agree that the next step up for any tub is around $7000 it seems like, maybe more. The only other option I've found is a friend of my co-worker who sells Aspen Spas, he can get me a Monarch VS for $5800. However, it's very hard to find much on Aspen Spas. The guy seems great, the spa looks good and the few reviews are good, but I'm thinking I might be safer with the Nordic?