Used 1997 Sundance Optima

[utah]

Would you have concern buying a 10 year old hot tub from the original owner? She has receipts for everything and obviously took good care of it. Wood skirt seems in good condition as well.

Kudos to Sundance. In 10 years, all she has had to do is to replace each of the pumps one time. Other than that it has run like a champ.

My question is....how long does a tub like this last. Can I expect another 10 years of relatively maintenance free operation or do these tubs start to age and get leaks/cracks.

Thanks

Doug

[jfish]

Would you have concern buying a 10 year old hot tub from the original owner? She has receipts for everything and obviously took good care of it. Wood skirt seems in good condition as well.

Kudos to Sundance. In 10 years, all she has had to do is to replace each of the pumps one time. Other than that it has run like a champ.

My question is....how long does a tub like this last. Can I expect another 10 years of relatively maintenance free operation or do these tubs start to age and get leaks/cracks.

Thanks

Doug

I am the owner of a 13 year old spa('93 D1 Seville Ultra). It was given to me in good condition 6 years ago. Based on my experience I would not buy a 10 year old tub unless it was real cheap. It would also be a good idea to be handy with repairs. I was an electrician for 15 years so I have worked on a few spas in the past and wired up over 30 of them. The only thing on my tub I haven't replaced is the motor. Right now I am struggling to keep the water clear for 6 weeks at a time. I don't mean to rain on your parade just be aware there can be alot of isues that come up at the worst times. Good luck in your decision.

[utah]

Great point. This is the type of feedback I am looking for. I live in Park City and rent out my house over Xmas and Sundance.

The worst thing that could happen to me is for the tub to go down while I am out of town for 10 days. It would be one big ice cube!

Any other stories....good or bad.

Doug

[Roger]

Great point. This is the type of feedback I am looking for. I live in Park City and rent out my house over Xmas and Sundance.

The worst thing that could happen to me is for the tub to go down while I am out of town for 10 days. It would be one big ice cube!

Any other stories....good or bad.

Doug

If your handy and can get it for less than a grand (I wouldn't pay more than 3-5 hundred) It may run for a few years without any trouble. But I wouls suspect the heater anytime will quit. Other than that if it hasn't leaked yet it will be unlikely to start, except after the move. It could devoelope a leak but like I said if your handy once located (follow wet foam) and cleaned up properly, glueing PVC is easy.

[Chas]

Any other stories....good or bad.

I sold used tub to two of my neighbors.

One tub I actually gave away, but they had to buy a new cover to get it going. That one has needed a new heater element about a year ago. He also put in a circ pump by choice. I told him the new pumps were quieter, and that I was amazed to see his original pump still running. He wanted it to be quieter, and wanted to not have to pay another service call later, so he popped for the circ pump - $150.

That spa is a HotSpring Classic. It was made in about 1983 or 1984. He uses it regularly, and has had it long enough that he is looking at buying a new cover as his is starting to look a bit old. He loves it. I put in new Moto Massage jets as a favor before we delivered it to his house, but that was five or six years ago and to the best of my knowledge they are still moto'ing.

Another tub was sold to the neighbor behind us - a 1989 Grandee. It has real wood siding which looked pretty bad. I had two guys go over it with power sanders and dust masks while it was up on a stand - then we scrubbed it inside and out, stained it and painted the bottom wood black again. It still looks good - but it is far from looking new. I glanced over the fence the other day and he needs a new cover. He has had it for close to ten years now, and they use it three or four times a month that I can hear. Unless they are in it while I'm at work, that's about all the use it gets. But that model has a timeclock, and I hear it kick on faithfully every day. That one went for a couple of grand - I had put in new shaft seals, o-rings and gaskets in the jet pumps, new circ pump, and I had calibrated the high limits and control thermostat in addition to new filters and new Moto Massage jets before they came in, saw it running and bought it. That two thousand dollars included a new cover and delivery, but not tax.

It has had one service call in that time: it needed a new circ pump, and then we had a call back. It needed a new control thermostat. I don't know if the two things were related or not, but it is a mechanical thermostat and they don't last forever, and he is my neighbor, so I did it for parts only and we were all happy.

He came in the other day and bought some new filters - I sure don't recommned going that long on a set of filters, but he was still getting service out of them until one cracked.

We have sold a couple dozen used tubs over the years, but those two are right on the other side of my fence at home, so I have been able to keep an eye on them.

[utah]

Great posts...thanks for the advice.

What I liked about this tub is that in 10 years it has been trouble free. She replaced each of the pumps once and the cover every 3 years or so. That is my dream. A low maintenance tub that just runs and runs and doesn't cause headaches.

Sounds like $2,000 is a bit high for the tub. Not sure what I will do. Perhaps the best route is to wait and keep looking for that 3-5 year old tub. The good news about this search is that it seems people keep their brand name hot tubs once they buy them. Don't see many of them on sale in my area (Utah).

Thanks for the help,

Doug

PS - Do older units typically have higher energy costs? Has there been alot of innovation/advancement in insulating of the tubs over the last decade. Probably sounds like a silly question to most but I really don't know.

[Pathfinder]

Not a silly question at all There are alot of variables what condition the cover is in does the heater have any build up in it do the motors sound like they run well or on their last legs. Check to see how everything runs Hi speed low speed fell the pressure from the jets. Look for all the little things that might be wrong or could go wrong bc alot of little things add up.