F15DOC Posted September 22, 2009 Report Share Posted September 22, 2009 Hi all, I found this forum when I started researching hot-tubs and decided it was time I actually register and file my first post. Amazing how long some of you have been using this forum! Great to see there are some old hats that have "been there and done that"! So here is the story of the purchase.... We went to the Regional Fair for the traditional corn on the cob and elephant ears and came home with a piece of paper saying that we own a spa....? Not quite sure how that happened, although we had been talking about getting one for several years. We were wary due to friends horror stories of money wasted on products and promises as well as concerns over escalating electricity prices. Well, while at the Fair we walked by a spa dealer, Apollo Spas, and met a guy named Craig. He was from the Arctic Factory and was working the show. He gave us "Hot Tub 101" and we learned about pumps, filtration, heaters, jets, covers and all the rest of it.... He was a very good salesman and found me a pretty easy mark if you talk about build quality and longevity of a product. Anyway, we purchased an Arctic Tundra Legend (8'x8') with 3 pumps and 61 jets. We decided we didn't want the "aroma therapy" air bubbler whatchamahoozit. Every time I have been in friends' hot tubs, I always think the bubbler is cold and worthless.... so what is the story with those? I feel that we got a reasonably fair price on what is believed to be a pretty high quality product, thoughts? Final price was a little over $11K (after 8.3% sales tax), we got the Tundra Legend with the Onzen Salt Filtration System, Arctic lights with a mix of single and double vent jets, cedar enclosure with steps, Forever Floor, Castcore cover and a 10 year warranty. We passed on the music systems as we will have speakers in the gazebo. It is a beautiful spa and we spent about $5k more than I ever thought I would spend on a spa, but I still think it was a reasonable value if this thing lasts as long as it sounds like it should. Delivery is in 4-6 weeks and we have to get wiring to the site and get the ground prepped, so now for a few questions for you pros. What should I think of, that I didn't think of.... ie. the insider questions that I should have asked and should prepare for... Did we do OK on the price? What would you suggest for the pad? Concrete pad? Leveled sand with wood elevated floor? We are planning on having a 10'x10' cover/gazebo constructed in the next few weeks that will be built by a few guys that donated it to a local auction we won last winter. We are currently living in the "guest house" that we built with our own hands from an old work shop, we demolished the old house and the foundation is just now going in for the new house. We are planning to put the Hot-Tub in a walk-way between the two houses. Suggestions/thoughts/heads up for our site prep and dealer setup issues? Glad this site it here, I love online forums! Roger L Silverdale WA http://home.wavecable.com/~yiotta/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glid Posted September 22, 2009 Report Share Posted September 22, 2009 You should have had them throw in the Aquatremor. These are transducer type speakers and turn your whole tub into a speaker. Even though the forever floor can sit on anything, anything can shift and heave. Mine is on 18" of packed crushed stone. We lost power on Tuesday and popped a breaker when it came back on. We showed up on Friday and the tub went down 5 degrees on the week that we had our first frost. That is why I chose Arctic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15DOC Posted September 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2009 Very nice, that sound system was $1500, they reduced it to $1000 but that was more than I was willing to spend on it. Which reminds me of another question, how much power do I need? We are going to run a breaker from the main fuse box... 30AMP? more? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdnpoolboy Posted September 22, 2009 Report Share Posted September 22, 2009 I had an Arctic Tundra installed about a month ago and love it. As For the GFI, the Tundra requires a 50 amp breaker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey_in_NY Posted September 22, 2009 Report Share Posted September 22, 2009 I had an Arctic Tundra installed about a month ago and love it. As For the GFI, the Tundra requires a 50 amp breaker. Sounds like a nice tub. IMHO if you're going to place it on the ground then go for a concrete pad rather than crushed stone. As for the electric, some tubs (mine's a Sundance) require a 60A circuit for 'everything' (both pumps and heater) to all be on at the same time. For example with a 50A circuit the heater will switch off with both pumps on - this could(will) be an issue in a very cold climate when using the tub for an extended period. Because you need a new circuit installing suggest you research this particular tub and go with the most amperage you can get, as long as you don't overload the main breaker of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15DOC Posted September 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2009 We have plenty of room in our circuit panel, should I have separate breakers for the heater and the pumps/lights? Do they hardwire these or plug them into external outlets via ground fault interrupts (GFIs)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey_in_NY Posted September 22, 2009 Report Share Posted September 22, 2009 We have plenty of room in our circuit panel, should I have separate breakers for the heater and the pumps/lights? Do they hardwire these or plug them into external outlets via ground fault interrupts (GFIs)? For safety reasons it's obviously critical this is done correctly - suggest you consult with a qualified/knowledgeable electrician regarding the best way to set up the wiring with consideration for any local codes, but get the spec / manual for your tub to refer to of course. 240v tubs are typically all hard wired into the service panel, or a sub panel, with a GFI either in one of these panels or the external disconnect - personally I'm not aware of any that 'plug into' external outlets, but I'm not an expert on this. From my recent experience you should expect to pay anywhere from $600 to $900 for an electrician to set up the wiring, but again it depends on code, amperage, and how far your tub will be from the service panel. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15DOC Posted September 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 Looking at the information on Arctics website, should be 50A and it appears hardwired, perfect, that is my preference. Wiring is easy just need to pay attention to code and your conduits. We wired the "guest house" and the building inspector didn't find a single item out of code. We left room on our service box for expansion, specifically for a hot tub and we already have a conduit running out there... just need to pull the wire, and pop in the 50A GFI breaker. Since I posted I have seen several other similar posts about concrete vs crushed rock, but I don't see anything about sand. We are going to pour a pad and sink in some building anchors at the same time. What have I not thought of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shovelhd Posted September 23, 2009 Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 We left room on our service box for expansion, specifically for a hot tub and we already have a conduit running out there... just need to pull the wire, and pop in the 50A GFI breaker. In MA you need a GFCI disconnect near the spa, but not close enough to be able to touch the water and the disconnect box. You can't just put a 60A GFCI breaker in the service panel and run a wire to the spa. You have to have a disconnect. What my electrician did was use a double pole 60A standard breaker in the panel and a 60A GFCI disconnect box outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rusty-D Posted September 23, 2009 Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 in Cali is 5 feet and no more than 15 away from the spa, at least 24" from the floor. thx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15DOC Posted September 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2009 Great info, very helpful thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.