Buckster Posted November 30, 2007 Report Share Posted November 30, 2007 My local service tech with 16 years experience is installing a home made heater tomorrow with parts from lowes. He is a calspa dealer but of course services anything. I have read over and over again that hotsprings makes it very difficult to avoid using their watkins parts. My service tech made the heater that includes areas for the high and low thermo controls. He also added a flow switch that was not there before and he thinks it should be to protect the element. The reason for all of this is it will be easy to repair later if needed, and i wont have to pay the 230 dollars for the no-fault 6000 on line price. This sounds i bit dangerous to me...have any of you tried this approach? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wireman Posted November 30, 2007 Report Share Posted November 30, 2007 Guess if he is warranteeing the installation and you have a GFI protected tub it would be safe enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckster Posted November 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2007 Guess if he is warranteeing the installation and you have a GFI protected tub it would be safe enough. I do have it GFI protected, and the tech has a pretty good reputation so i hope it all works out. I have searched through a couple of forums and have not found any topics dealing with hot tub modifications. I will try and post pics of the install later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan.The.Spa.Man Posted November 30, 2007 Report Share Posted November 30, 2007 How much is it for the home-made heater and his work? I would just buy the No-Fault Titanium heater for around $275, put it in yourself, and most likely never have to worry about it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chas Posted November 30, 2007 Report Share Posted November 30, 2007 I agree with Dan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spatech (the unreal one) Posted November 30, 2007 Report Share Posted November 30, 2007 How much is it for the home-made heater and his work? I would just buy the No-Fault Titanium heater for around $275, put it in yourself, and most likely never have to worry about it again. I could see this if this was some old spa and the replacement part wasn't available or maybe if the replacements kept failing but this is kind of crazy. The OEM heater should last 5 to 10 years. The homemade heater should last ??? years. The service guy may be a whiz and what he does may work but are the savings/year worth it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckster Posted December 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2007 How much is it for the home-made heater and his work? I would just buy the No-Fault Titanium heater for around $275, put it in yourself, and most likely never have to worry about it again. I could see this if this was some old spa and the replacement part wasn't available or maybe if the replacements kept failing but this is kind of crazy. The OEM heater should last 5 to 10 years. The homemade heater should last ??? years. The service guy may be a whiz and what he does may work but are the savings/year worth it? Thanks for the responses, he is charging me 120 for parts and labor. I thought that this sounded a little crazy, even after I found the heater on-line for $220 brand new. So, if i have to do this again in 6 months i will not be worth it. I called the local Hotsprings dealer and they were not very helpful, tried to get me to replace the flow pump too but it seems to work fine. The tech that is doing the work on my tub thinks that watkins is pretty ridiculous on their pricing so he tires to avoid them if he can. I did a bit of research before i bought this tub and most reviews were very positive. The good thing is, I have no leaks and I can get parts if needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chas Posted December 1, 2007 Report Share Posted December 1, 2007 I would sure try a few other repair guys. I have four or five in our local area who buy parts through me. They pick my brain a lot too - and I am glad to have their support when folks call to ask opinions on brands etc. They rave about the quality and dependability of our tubs and send countless customers through our doors. However, there is a guy who lives a block from my house - I run into him from time to time, and he comes to get help and parts when he gets stuck - but he doesn't like HotSpring tubs. He got it into his head that they are hard to work on. The other five local guys love HS and totally disagree with the old guy. I think his dislike stems from the old tubs which had a large black electrical box which was hard to drop out of the spa if it needed work. Some people just form rigid opinions and have a hard time changing them even when the situration changes. What I'm saying is that HotSpring is the best selling tub on the planet, and if your repiar guy's opinion was the common thought, they wouldn't be. So I bet you could find another repair guy who would replace just the element if possible, or upgrade you to a newer HotSpring heater as was mentioned above. In my own spa, if I can choose between buying something which has been designed by real engineers, and is UL/ETL listed for safety, and has proven itself over the years to be dependable and reliable - or a home built contraption which may or may not even house the heater element in stainless steel or provide good electrical gounding as well as bonding - Give me your serial number, and I will see what heater you need. It might be possible to replace just the element? I would be glad to help you with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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