I Just Bought One! Need Some Help!

[turbottt1]

Might be a little to late,but what type of breaker are you looking to purchase??? As many details as possible. Size, manufacturer, GFI or not etc. steve

[mattNY]

I need the GFCI breaker box that goes with the tub, on this model it's a separate 240V 2-pole 30A and a 240V 2-pole 20A. I found several boxes with just the 50A breaker (all less than $150), but that won't work for this model since the 30A is on the heating elements and the 20A on the pumps (so I'm told). My local dealer was trying to charge me $350 for this, which I thought was totally ludicrous (as did my electrician). I know they're expensive, but $150-175 is what I think they actually cost, and unless the other out-of-town Hotsprings dealer misunderstood me that's what they sell them for.

[East TX Spa]

Fuller "Foam" Festus sez:

"Hangfire Matthew, you shore done a fantabulous job fixin' up that ol' derelict spa. I never knownt that spas would be lastin' more'n ten years, but I keeps seein' these ol' Hot Sprang spas that just 'bout seem to last furever. You done good, 'specially for some fella from New York!"

[mattNY]

Rofl. *UPSTATE* NY, upstate, no city boy here

[turbottt1]

I'll check in the morning and see actual cost for this panel w/ gfi breakers. Let me ask you. You are running one feeder out to your tub from your breaker box??? 50a./60a.????????? I know we purchased a midwest 50 amp nema 3r[ raintight]rated box with a single gfi breaker, but the panel has four poles availble. As you know it's not the cost of the raintight panel, but the cost of not just one but two gfi breakers. Who makes the panel in your home????? I'll post up wednesday during the day and let you know what I find out. steve

[mattNY]

UPDATE

Progress thus far:

Finished staining the cabinet this weekend (business trip delayed it). Here's a couple of shots half-done, I'll have to take the "finished" shots tomorrow:

I took the trip back to Syracuse on Easter weekend and the dealer there sold the breaker box to me for $175 plus tax. (With just a little nudge - they were going to charge me $260 until I brought up the fact that I called ahead and they told me $175. Cmon, guys. Seriously.) A far sight cheaper than the $350 the crappy rip-off dealer was going to charge me (which is how I refer to them now to all my friends and acquaintences).

I got two concrete estimates, both were more than double the estimate I got last year. I called, concrete has gone up, but I can still get 3 cubic yards delivered for $395, and 2 yards of crushed stone for $140, which is more than enough to do a 12 x 16 patio. I'd rather not do it myself if I can get a reasonable price, I have another guy coming tomorrow that was referred by a contractor friend of mine, so we'll see what happens on that front.

So, the spa is cleaned, exterior is stained, I got protectant wipes for the cover, I bought the breaker box, my electrician is ready to go when I am. Once the patio is done, I just need to set the tub in place and call the electrician and I'm good to go.

I think I'm pretty set on Nature2 and dichlor, but I haven't bought chemicals yet. Does anyone have any tips on what I could soak the filters in to clean them? Or is it sufficient to just hose them off.

Thanks for all the help. I'm having fun as the project progresses, but I just keep looking up late at night when the stars are out and thinking "what a night for a hot tub."

[mattNY]

UPDATE

Now, I'm looking up from inside my hot tub and thinking what a great night it is

Everything is installed and it's been running since last Friday. Going great. There's a whole picture excursion you can see here, I didn't want to repost it all: http://tinyurl.com/ktv59

Thanks for all the help!

[Brulan1]

UPDATE

Now, I'm looking up from inside my hot tub and thinking what a great night it is

Everything is installed and it's been running since last Friday. Going great. There's a whole picture excursion you can see here, I didn't want to repost it all: http://tinyurl.com/ktv59

Thanks for all the help!

C'mon matt with a 600k dollar house you couldn't get something new? j/k Congrats on your 1st tub. I like how you took a picture of your first test strip lol. Happy tubbin.

[Amanda]

C'mon matt with a 600k dollar house you couldn't get something new? j/k Congrats on your 1st tub. I like how you took a picture of your first test strip lol. Happy tubbin.

Those were great pictures! Good job on the research and footwork that it took to be able to get this accomplished! Your perseverance paid off for sure!

[susan]

UPDATE

Now, I'm looking up from inside my hot tub and thinking what a great night it is

Everything is installed and it's been running since last Friday. Going great. There's a whole picture excursion you can see here, I didn't want to repost it all: http://tinyurl.com/ktv59

Thanks for all the help!

Hi Matt,

I just read your entire story, start to finish. I wish I could find a deal like that somewhere! We went to look at tubs yesterday for the first time and I was overwhelmed; then I was disappointed. I don't know if it's ok if a jet needs to be replaced on a tub, or who can do it, so I'm a little leery of a used tub - BUT! After looking at your project and the end result, I am very impressed! I think this might be something we can tackle. How long, start to finish? You did a beautiful job with the project and your documentation of it. It's exactly what we need to do and even close to the same place on the house. It was very helpful to read, gave me an idea of what I'm looking at, and I can't WAIT to get going on it.

My best friend's dad is a master electrician, so I have a good connection (no pun intended) but the cement pad is going to kill me. We want a big patio instead of the crappy deck we have so want to tear that off, put in the patio and a screenhouse and the spa inside. Any thoughts/ideas/suggestions would be most appreciated!

Best Regards,

Susan

[mattNY]

Hi Matt,

I just read your entire story, start to finish. I wish I could find a deal like that somewhere! We went to look at tubs yesterday for the first time and I was overwhelmed; then I was disappointed. I don't know if it's ok if a jet needs to be replaced on a tub, or who can do it, so I'm a little leery of a used tub - BUT! After looking at your project and the end result, I am very impressed! I think this might be something we can tackle. How long, start to finish? You did a beautiful job with the project and your documentation of it. It's exactly what we need to do and even close to the same place on the house. It was very helpful to read, gave me an idea of what I'm looking at, and I can't WAIT to get going on it.

My best friend's dad is a master electrician, so I have a good connection (no pun intended) but the cement pad is going to kill me. We want a big patio instead of the crappy deck we have so want to tear that off, put in the patio and a screenhouse and the spa inside. Any thoughts/ideas/suggestions would be most appreciated!

Best Regards,

Susan

Hi Susan,

Glad you liked the pictures! If you've just started looking, don't get discouraged yet - you're in the right place to get good information, so you're one step closer already!

It took me about 2 months, start to finish, but only because it took time to do some of the legwork. Moving the hot tub took about an hour (but it was a tough hour for 6 guys). To refinish, all I did was wash the cabinet and apply the stain. That only took about 2 hours. Now that the tub is installed and I'm sure it works, I can put more effort into it in the future if I want to powerwash or sand it down to get a really nice finish. Then I cleaned the shell (took about 15 minutes). Moving the hot tub from the garage to the patio only took 20 minutes.

Getting the patio done was a lot of legwork. I called and got 2 quotes from local companies, both wanted to charge me in the vicinity of $2600 for standard, non-stamped concrete, which was ridiculous compared to last year's estimate of $1200 for the same work. One of my coworkers knew a guy who did concrete work so he referred me to him, he quoted me $1000 with no brick removal and $1400 including brick removal of the old patio. I had them do the whole thing, they did prepwork on a Monday, returned on Saturday for the pour, sealed and cut the joints on Sunday, then caulked them on Tuesday. I allowed a week for the concrete to cure before I moved the hot tub down there.

Then I called my electrician, who did the job for $488, including the additional 110V outlet. I had to wait a week for him to be available, the actual job itself took about 2 hours.

So that's my experience in terms of time - most of it was waiting for scheduled work, or researching, asking friends, and calling around to get estimates and the best price.

Your situation sounds very similar to mine. I purposely didn't get stamped concrete because I am planning on enclosing the patio with a 3 season porch/screenhouse sometime in the future. It sounds like you are all set on the electrical hookup, which is one major expense. The patio is another, and while prices vary widely depending on your area of the country, you can find out for yourself what it is. Figure out how large you want your patio to be, and you can call up the local concrete guys and ask how much that many square yards is, delivered. (Ex. my 12x16, 4" slab required less than 3 yards, and 3 yards was $400 delivered. A 24' x 16' patio would be 5 yards.) This gives you a price base to draw from. My plain patio was $6.25 per square foot. A rule of thumb for stamped concrete is $10-12 per square foot installed, but again, that varies.

All of that is secondary to the hot tub itself, of course. I was willing to gamble on the tub I got because it was so cheap, it was in fairly nice shape, and I saw it running in person. If you want a newer tub, but are really put off by the prices, I would definitely look into purchasing a used tub from a dealer. Some reputable dealers will offer them at good prices and with some remaining warranty, as well as cover lifter, steps, etc. Some will not advertise these, so make sure to ask them if they have such things available. You can find premium hot tubs that are only a few years old for half price (just like cars). For instance, here's hottub.pool_boy's page, as an example of a dealer that offers pre-owned spas for reference. http://www.scarritt.com/preowned.htm The nice thing about this option is you will still get a nice cover, cover lifter, steps, chemicals, new filters, and delivery, all of which can add up quick on a privately purchased tub.

One final comment, being that this will be installed "inside", you are going to want something that will last and hopefully not be moved for some time. Make sure to get a high quality brand and dealer, and leave enough space around the equipment cabinet for servicing. Do your research, and make sure to wet test when you've narrowed your choices down.

Good luck!

[susan]

Hi Susan,

Glad you liked the pictures! If you've just started looking, don't get discouraged yet - you're in the right place to get good information, so you're one step closer already!

It took me about 2 months, start to finish, but only because it took time to do some of the legwork. Moving the hot tub took about an hour (but it was a tough hour for 6 guys). To refinish, all I did was wash the cabinet and apply the stain. That only took about 2 hours. Now that the tub is installed and I'm sure it works, I can put more effort into it in the future if I want to powerwash or sand it down to get a really nice finish. Then I cleaned the shell (took about 15 minutes). Moving the hot tub from the garage to the patio only took 20 minutes.

Getting the patio done was a lot of legwork. I called and got 2 quotes from local companies, both wanted to charge me in the vicinity of $2600 for standard, non-stamped concrete, which was ridiculous compared to last year's estimate of $1200 for the same work. One of my coworkers knew a guy who did concrete work so he referred me to him, he quoted me $1000 with no brick removal and $1400 including brick removal of the old patio. I had them do the whole thing, they did prepwork on a Monday, returned on Saturday for the pour, sealed and cut the joints on Sunday, then caulked them on Tuesday. I allowed a week for the concrete to cure before I moved the hot tub down there.

Then I called my electrician, who did the job for $488, including the additional 110V outlet. I had to wait a week for him to be available, the actual job itself took about 2 hours.

So that's my experience in terms of time - most of it was waiting for scheduled work, or researching, asking friends, and calling around to get estimates and the best price.

Your situation sounds very similar to mine. I purposely didn't get stamped concrete because I am planning on enclosing the patio with a 3 season porch/screenhouse sometime in the future. It sounds like you are all set on the electrical hookup, which is one major expense. The patio is another, and while prices vary widely depending on your area of the country, you can find out for yourself what it is. Figure out how large you want your patio to be, and you can call up the local concrete guys and ask how much that many square yards is, delivered. (Ex. my 12x16, 4" slab required less than 3 yards, and 3 yards was $400 delivered. A 24' x 16' patio would be 5 yards.) This gives you a price base to draw from. My plain patio was $6.25 per square foot. A rule of thumb for stamped concrete is $10-12 per square foot installed, but again, that varies.

All of that is secondary to the hot tub itself, of course. I was willing to gamble on the tub I got because it was so cheap, it was in fairly nice shape, and I saw it running in person. If you want a newer tub, but are really put off by the prices, I would definitely look into purchasing a used tub from a dealer. Some reputable dealers will offer them at good prices and with some remaining warranty, as well as cover lifter, steps, etc. Some will not advertise these, so make sure to ask them if they have such things available. You can find premium hot tubs that are only a few years old for half price (just like cars). For instance, here's hottub.pool_boy's page, as an example of a dealer that offers pre-owned spas for reference. http://www.scarritt.com/preowned.htm The nice thing about this option is you will still get a nice cover, cover lifter, steps, chemicals, new filters, and delivery, all of which can add up quick on a privately purchased tub.

One final comment, being that this will be installed "inside", you are going to want something that will last and hopefully not be moved for some time. Make sure to get a high quality brand and dealer, and leave enough space around the equipment cabinet for servicing. Do your research, and make sure to wet test when you've narrowed your choices down.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for all the info! The patio we're talking about is 20x53 and, I'm thinking, will need to be downsized a little bit (!) now that I've seen prices on the tub. I don't want to settle for less than i want. Thanks again, and I'll be checking back on a daily (at least) basis. I couldn't stay off this forum today at work, haha, I'm so excited about getting this thing in and using it.

susan