critterkeeper Posted September 6, 2012 Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 Our HS Grande is four or six years old and we just moved from California to South Carolina and need the tub set up. While I am at the hospital with my daughter my husband met the Hot Springs installer at the appointment i had scheduled to move the hot tub from our driveway to its new wired home. During the setup a salt system was suggested and my husband said yes. I now wonder about the benefits, the damage to our "old" spa, the cost of the system vs. the standard HS system. We do have a salt pool that came with our new home so we are on a big learning curve. My daughter has a compromised immune system so I worry that the salt sanitation in a HOT tub will not be as effective as one in a pool. Please let me know your thoughts on overall cost of a salt system for a hot tub. Safety of the system Damage to retrofit an older spa not intended to have a salt system Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PreservedSwine Posted September 6, 2012 Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 ACE is not compatible with anything manufactured on or before Aug 5TH 2009 (Software issues). For a Grandee, check your serial number Anything after GG3L2227, you're OK. (GG is the designation for a Grandee. The number 3 is the quarter- this spa is a 3rd quarter 2009- L is the year... L=2009. The 2227 is the number off the assembly line- this is 1227th Grandee manufactured in the 3rd quarter 2009) If you have an earlier Letter for a year, or it was manufactured before the serial number listed above, you cannot have ACE installed without replacing either a control head, control box, or both. As far as sanitation- ACE will take care of it- but you need to still control ACE settings, as well as cya levels, PH, and Alkalinity. ACE is can be very, very powerful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chas Posted September 14, 2012 Report Share Posted September 14, 2012 If the tub was made after 3rd Quarter '09, as outlined above - then the ACE system will not 'harm' the spa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny W Posted September 15, 2012 Report Share Posted September 15, 2012 I thought there was a system that Hotspring made to work with the older spas? I thought it had a external interface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spawn Posted September 17, 2012 Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 critterkeeper - I can't respond the question of damage to the spa. Maybe I can help address your question related to cost, but really to do so, we would need to know how much you paid for the salt system. Since you have been using your tub successfully for 5 years+/- it seems you know how to take care of it and use the chemicals and sanitizer. It seems that most people who post here get their salt system thrown in as part of the deal or get it at a heavily redued cost when thy buy a tub. To me the biggest benefit of a salt sytem is to be able to leave town for a month or so and know that the sanitizer level will be maintained. As for day to day use, I prefer to simply add sanitzer when I get out of the tub - it is much cheaper than purchasing a salt system and the sanitzer dosage is exactly in response to the actual use of the tub, which in my case varies. Everyone's threshold is different but I would say it you got the system for $100 it was a good thing. If you spent $1000 that's way too much. In between? I can't see myself paying more than $100 but other people would perhaps spend more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PreservedSwine Posted September 17, 2012 Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 I thought there was a system that Hotspring made to work with the older spas? I thought it had a external interface. If there's an externally controlled salt to chlorine generator the dealer is suggesting, it doesn't have any connection to Hot Springs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chas Posted September 26, 2012 Report Share Posted September 26, 2012 HotSpring Does offer a retrofit unit which does have a control panel of it's own. I think it will go back only as far as 09. Here is a clip from the HS web site: CAN I ADD THE ACE SALT WATER SANITIZING SYSTEM TO A HOT SPRING SPA I ALREADY OWN? The ACE system is currently an option for Hot Spring spas built on or after August 5, 2009. Contact your local Hot Spring dealer to find out if your Hot Spring spa is compatible with the ACE system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PreservedSwine Posted September 27, 2012 Report Share Posted September 27, 2012 HotSpring Does offer a retrofit unit which does have a control panel of it's own. I think it will go back only as far as 09. Here is a clip from the HS web site: CAN I ADD THE ACE SALT WATER SANITIZING SYSTEM TO A HOT SPRING SPA I ALREADY OWN? The ACE system is currently an option for Hot Spring spas built on or after August 5, 2009. Contact your local Hot Spring dealer to find out if your Hot Spring spa is compatible with the ACE system. As previously mentioned, ACE won't work on anything previous to 2009. (and even early-mid 2009 models- check serial numbers to verify) What Hot Springs is saying, is that ACE will work on all models made after a certain date (Aug 5th 2009, refer to the 1st reply in the thread for exact serial number verification). Previous to that, no such luck... No "retro-fit" exists for spas made before Aug 5. ACE appears exactly the same on all spas made after Aug 5 2009, to current. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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