So Confused--Help Us Decide

[canadave]

My wife and I owned a hot tub 15 years ago, then moved and left it behind. Now we're ready to buy another one, and we're a bit overwhelmed with information and contradictory opinions.

We've basically got it narrowed down to two options:

Option 1: Buy a new hot tub from Arctic Spas. We're looking at the 8x8 Kodiak model. It'll be about $13,000 CAD with everything.

We've heard all kinds of things about Arctic Spas. Most reviews I've read seem to be great. Then I phoned a service guy locally who does inspections of hot tubs (and who presumably has no reason to promote or slam any particular hot tub model), and he had nothing but bad things to say about them. He pointed out that their parts are proprietary, so they can charge whatever they want; he also said their trapdoor access panels make them difficult to service (as opposed to other tubs, which he said you can take the entire sides of most of them, making it easier). He also said there was some kind of issue with their heaters that has caused occasional fires (he mentioned a fire that happened in an A.S. tub in a town not too far away).

Option 2: Buy a used (2012) Maax 811 hot tub from someone in town. This is listed at $10,500 CAD, and I could probably get that down to $8,000-$9,000. This is a bigger tub, has all the bells and whistles, but of course it's used, so no warranty. The owner told us he's used Purox liquid chlorine in it, which from my understanding is not a great idea for hot tubs. However, he demonstrated that everything works, and it seems to be in fine working order and condition. He also pointed out that although there is no warranty, if something broke and needed to be replaced, then that would still likely be cheaper than if we bought a different tub new.

So, we're torn what to do. Everything I'd read up until now (except for this service inspector's opinion) has led us to believe that Arctic Spas are better than Maax as a brand. However, we can definitely get "much more tub for less money" with this used Maax; and I wonder, "how bad can it be, really, if everything is working fine?"

Any comments/opinions?

[Brian VT]

The owner told us he's used Purox liquid chlorine in it, which from my understanding is not a great idea for hot tubs.

Chlorine, by itself or when used to convert bromide to bromine, is the most common way to keep hot tub water sanitized. I can't imagine how you got the understanding that it "is not a great idea for hot tubs".

Purox is a more concentrated chlorine solution (10%-12%) than household bleach (5%-6%) so you would use less of it for treating your tub's water. There are calculators available online that will tell you how much to add based on the concentration % of the chlorine solution you are using.

Sorry that I don't have any info. on the tubs that you are considering. Best of luck with your decision.

[canadave]

The owner told us he's used Purox liquid chlorine in it, which from my understanding is not a great idea for hot tubs.

Chlorine, by itself or when used to convert bromide to bromine, is the most common way to keep hot tub water sanitized. I can't imagine how you got the understanding that it "is not a great idea for hot tubs".

Purox is a more concentrated chlorine solution (10%-12%) than household bleach (5%-6%) so you would use less of it for treating your tub's water. There are calculators available online that will tell you how much to add based on the concentration % of the chlorine solution you are using.

Sorry that I don't have any info. on the tubs that you are considering. Best of luck with your decision.

Hi, my understanding not to use Purox in a hot tub comes from this link: http://www.spas-direct.com/chemicals.php

It says, under Liquid Chlorine: "Sodium Hypo chlorite has a very high pH, and when used in a spa can help the formation of calcium scale and make pH maintenance difficult. Liquid Chlorine is not recommended in spas."

[Brian VT]

It is important to maintain proper PH level of your tub's water. High PH can be caused by many things.

Many of us use a combination of di-chlor and bleach, or bromide and bleach, to maintain our spa water. We, of course, also maintain a proper PH level.

I assume that the owner of the used tub that you are considering maintained a proper PH level in the water so I would not be concerned about his use of liquid chlorine in that tub.

You might read these threads:

http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/84-How-do-I-use-Bromine-in-my-spa-%28or-pool%29

http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/9670-How-do-I-use-Chlorine-in-my-Spa-%28or-pool%29

Back to tub selection. Sorry for the diversion.

[marq]

So I can understand your situation, went through the new/used purchase decision last year after we sold our 06 swim spa. Looked at everything from new smaller basic spas up to some larger used spas.

Ultimately with many hours of searching I came across a 6 month old Master Spa that I picked up for $8K ($14K new) moved it and everything so far is great. It was more than some of the new units but at 520 gallons it was the biggest we could find coming off a 2500 gal swim spa,

Bottom line, talk to enough people and you will eventually find someone who has seen, heard, had an issue. They are all money pits and will eventually run out of warranty and need repairs. There is such a huge mark up in spas that if I can find a clean, functional unit and is only a couple years old I'll accept the risk of having to fix something down the road.

[Dizzypc]

I've had an Arctic Spa summit for 2 years (3 motors)

We overall love the spa for comfort, winter use (in Montreal) etc... We use it still more than we thought we would - just getting out from a 2 hour soak with friends.

However as of right now I would not but another or recommend another to anyone for the problem we have had with the components and electrical parts of it - both ability to actually control temperature and the fact it is not able to run even a 30 minute filter cycle without turning on and off. It is a more expensive spa and I would expect it to function as such.