Who Owns An Arctic Spa? Happy With The Tub?

[Larrybk]

Do not buy Arctic spa......We have owned an Arctic spa for 3 years and it is the WORST spa we have ever owned. In that time we have not had more than two months where it did not require service. So far we have had the heater replaced, one pump replaced, the system board replaced, a leak in the plumbing, several relays, the lighting. Not to mention the amount of jets we have to replace since they break and pop out. You would think spending over $10,000 you would receive quality and support. When ever we call for service the dealer in Salt Lake City is always at least two weeks out. Basically that comes out to over twenty weeks I have had to wait for service in 3 years. Before this we had a Hot Spring for 10 years with very little problem, I should have stuck with it.

[PoolSpaGuy30]

Do not buy Arctic spa......We have owned an Arctic spa for 3 years and it is the WORST spa we have ever owned. In that time we have not had more than two months where it did not require service. So far we have had the heater replaced, one pump replaced, the system board replaced, a leak in the plumbing, several relays, the lighting. Not to mention the amount of jets we have to replace since they break and pop out. You would think spending over $10,000 you would receive quality and support. When ever we call for service the dealer in Salt Lake City is always at least two weeks out. Basically that comes out to over twenty weeks I have had to wait for service in 3 years. Before this we had a Hot Spring for 10 years with very little problem, I should have stuck with it.

honest question for you and just out of personal curiosity after owning a Hot Spring for 10 years, what made you switch to Artic in the first place?

[bdubya200]

Besides the wait time for service repairs, how has your relationship with the SLC dealer been?

[thecanuck22]

interesting how many dealers are mentioned above as being out of business now....spa dealers slit their own throats sometimes when it comes to selling tubs. Everyone gets so fixed on the price of the tub at the time of purchase that they forget the service end of things. Spa dealers barely, barely break even on warranty jobs compound that with next to no profit on a tub and you have a recipe for a failing business and end up with a tub you got a great bargain on but are now looking for someone to service your warranty, then when you do find someone you whine about being charged for a service call.....this industry is pretty messed up sometimes. Of course he is going to charge you, its to cover the part that the warranty will not cover, travel time, tools, troubleshooting....etc.

the analogy with the Audi above, i bet when you bought your car they held their line on price much better than your now out of business spa dealer, and as a consequence they can service you better and are still around to do so because they actually made a profit on the sale of the car.

Arctic is the competition to me but they do make a decent tub, they have been doing it for awhile now, not as long as us, but still decent. Find a dealer that has been in business at least 10 years with the same line.

[bdubya200]

The Audi guy prob sells on lower margins %age wise consistently, and likely sells more cars in a few days that the dufunct Arctic dealer sold in a month as well.

The problem for a owner/salesperson on high end luxury items sold on high margins is...everybody knows it and shops/offers accordingly.

[SpaParty]

A friend of mine has had an Arctic Spa for the last 3 yrs and loves it, The only problems that he has had is the odd jet blowing out , which is replaced under warranty and the operating costs are more than advertised. It is running him a little over $60 a month.

We also compare, as my tub runs about $ 40 a month ,which is a different brand

[drylandfarmer]

Owned an arctic spa summit for 3 months now and love it. Is really energy efficient in my opinion and have not noticed any big increases in my power bill.(I do have a large power before I bought the tub, so the increase is only marginal) The tub has been trouble free and I use it about 5 nights/week. Have the genesis salt water system installed and it has been running perfect. Keeps the bromine level right where I want it. Would highly recommend the arctic. I have the Legend jetting package and the northern lights. The winters here are very cold, have tubbed in -20F many nights. If you have a wind blowing across the tub with the cover off in these temps you will lose water temperature. When the wind is calm temp stays right at 104. The jets do turn a little to easy and you always have to check the position of the jets before sitting down. (you can control the flow on each individual jet by turning them)

Really like the filtration system on the Arctic. The floating weir is a very nice feature. The main pump on low speed pulls a nice volume into the filter when on filter mode, so my tub stays sparkling clean and I have found no floating debris at all in the tub. I filter for 2 hours 2 times/day.

Seating is awesome on this model and is very versatile with different heights and widths so everyone can get comfortable

There are many people who like to pile on the Arctic. There may be a few unhappy owners out there but most of the piling on comes from other dealers who like to bash arctic for what ever reason. I have come to the the conclusion that other dealers like to attack Number 1, and it's kinda lonlely at the top.

No other brands of tubs were injured or attacked in this post.

[north_of_boston]

Owned an arctic spa summit for 3 months now and love it. Is really energy efficient in my opinion and have not noticed any big increases in my power bill.(I do have a large power before I bought the tub, so the increase is only marginal) The tub has been trouble free and I use it about 5 nights/week. Have the genesis salt water system installed and it has been running perfect. Keeps the bromine level right where I want it. Would highly recommend the arctic. I have the Legend jetting package and the northern lights. The winters here are very cold, have tubbed in -20F many nights. If you have a wind blowing across the tub with the cover off in these temps you will lose water temperature. When the wind is calm temp stays right at 104. The jets do turn a little to easy and you always have to check the position of the jets before sitting down. (you can control the flow on each individual jet by turning them)

Really like the filtration system on the Arctic. The floating weir is a very nice feature. The main pump on low speed pulls a nice volume into the filter when on filter mode, so my tub stays sparkling clean and I have found no floating debris at all in the tub. I filter for 2 hours 2 times/day.

Seating is awesome on this model and is very versatile with different heights and widths so everyone can get comfortable

There are many people who like to pile on the Arctic. There may be a few unhappy owners out there but most of the piling on comes from other dealers who like to bash arctic for what ever reason. I have come to the the conclusion that other dealers like to attack Number 1, and it's kinda lonlely at the top.

No other brands of tubs were injured or attacked in this post.

I'll pile on in the defense of the Arctic Spa.

We've had an Arctic Yukon for 14 months now.

We also have the onzen system.

Now - I was skeptical, because I read about the problems with earlier onzen generator systems, and the jets popping out.

I saw a new one on the floor of the shop. The dealer convinced me that they were beyond those problems. Different jet fittings on the 2009-10-11 models.

I've had it for 14 months and have had ZERO problems. Count 'em. ZERO. Zilch. Zud. Bupkis. Nada. I have had the chemistry go off-kilter a couple of times but we got around that quickly -- details =

1) PH running too high. So every couple of weeks I had to put in a capful of Ph reducer, and cut down the onzen.

2) I thought I had to replenish the salt -- and mistakenly, I did so. I was advised to reduce the water level a few inches and just re-add water (well, I just shoveled snow back in. Snow *is* water), because the salt content was too high. Did so, it's fine.

But I don't consider those "problems" or "headaches", just normal operation. It's all good.

[Sjaak5]

I own a Klondiker legend since July 2008. After one year, the onzen cell failed, replaced under waranty, but still had to pay Euro 150 for dosier costs and travel. One year later, the cell failed again, since then I run without...... HEadrest were completely dissolved by the water. After 2 years I had condens in the lcd display, got it out by adding an extra plastic sheet as rainwater protectiion (lcd is right below the spli in the cover) After 3 years ALL yets have failed, bottom bearing falls out. I think the arctic spa is grossly overpriced, they do not use quality components.

[noarctic]

Please add me to the group of unhappy Artic owners.

One time about 10 minutes into a soak, a pipe came loose and most of the water leaked out of it in about 3 minutes. Kind of spoils a hut tub party when that happens.

Another time I go to get into the thing and I lift the cover and it 87 degrees F. Again kind of spoils a hot tub party and embarassing to say the least. Both of these incidents happened on a tub that was less than 6 months old.

I don't have enough time to describe all of the problems I experienced. It was by far the worst buying decision of my life.

[Tbone97504]

After shopping 5 different spa brands that all claimed to be the "Mercedes or BMW" of the spa world I decided to purchase an Arctic Spa Kodiak Signature Series. That was back in 2001 and my spa is still running strong and looks FANTASTIC! I had previously owned a Hot Springs Spa which worked fine for many years and then the LEAKS began (of course after my warranty had expired). Digging through foam to find leaks is miserable, and if you don't believe me give it a try sometime. The Arctic Spa design simply made sense to me: use the waste heat created by your spa pump/pumps to maintain the spa water temperature while giving you 360 DEGREE ACCESS to the equipment and plumbing!!!

I have moved numerous times since purchasing the spa and have been able monitor the increase in my power bill each time I have hooked up my spa. It seems to average about $15 to $20 a month, so I simply don't buy the claims made by some that their Arctic is running $60 a month. I did encounter a leak around the filter cannister after about 3 years but because of the access and simplicity of the problem I fixed it myself with a little bit of silicon. I had to replace my main pump at about year 9 but that's the life expectancy of those type of pumps from what I have found. My spa is now 12 years old and it looks virtually brand new, but I do treat the cedar cabinet once every spring. The structure of the cabinet is amazing and it is as solid as a rock! One of my good friends bought a Catalina Spa around the same time I bought my Arctic and his spa cabinet has literally fallen apart.

I definitely would recommend an Arctic Spa to anyone looking for an efficient and extremely well built product. I had great service all throughout the warranty period which was 5 years. I would AVOID a foam filled spa AT ALL COSTS!!! Would you buy a car that when you popped the hood you found the engine compartment filled with foam?! HECK NO! Been there, done that...

Happy hot tubbing!

[Roger]

Lovely sales pitch Mr Arctic. I though you guys stopped doing that many years ago after you found out through your own funded study that there were brands more efficient.

[Hot Spring Ace]

Roger caught on easily and there are multiple things about the post that tell you this is not a consumer but the "Would you buy a car that when you popped the hood you found the engine compartment filled with foam?" analogy is the obvious giveaway. That’s a common theme used many times before which makes it obvious this is an Arctic person. Its probably promoted in sales classes to use that analogy and that’s all fine. I have no issue with Arctic guys believing in their product but the idea this is just a consumer and spinning that obviously false story is unnecessary.

[Dr. Spa]

Of course the response is, would you take all the insultion out of your house, floors, wall and attic, to make the plumbing and electrical more accessabel?

And I love the "I have moved numerous times since purchasing the spa and have been able monitor the increase in my power bill each time I have hooked up my spa."...did he live in each house for a year before hooking up the spa? Otherwise, how could he possibly know the homes energy usage BEFORE the spa was running, in order to determin the increase?

[Roger]

I have to do some electrical work in my attic. Oh shoot there's insulation up there! I'm going to have to find a house without any insulation so I can do my electrical work. But this house is so efficient with all that insulation. Oh well.

[jmgodfr]

I've had an Arctic for about 10 weeks in Northern CA at about 4,000 feet, was snowing and in the 30s when delivered, have to fill it with well water about two hours for well pump and then another 6-8 hours to get up to 100 degrees, have filled it twice as I did the first fill and ran for a week then dumped.(Norwegian 8 foot) temps were "cool" for first few weeks 30s at night and 50s in the day and warm the past couple. The first "real month" of fill and running cost me about 100 bucks, tub is used everyday at least 2 times a day for about 40 minutes a crack. To me - you get into this game, you expect the costs and the 20-30 bucks a month here or there between competing tubs wasn't a big deal to me. I was mostly interested in having a quality tub, ease of maintenance, having full access to the inner workings to me just in case was far more important then saving some bucks on the energy. But I realize different priorities for different folks. To me unless someone can come up with a tub that is 50% head and shoulders above anyone else on efficiency, the monthly electrical is not important and the construction and serviceability is more more. But that was my priority, different priorities for different folks. Very pleased with initial impressions with Arctic - hopefully a few years from now I'm just as impressed.

[Roger]

No one is doubting the quality of Arctic. They are in my top ten favorite tubs and are highly regarded along side some very high quality brands. I think some are better and others think Arctic is better. But when a shill comes on here with a crap load of nonsense they get called to the carpet.

And why does it "simply makes sense" to tout the 4 hours of warmth generated by the filter pump and not think about holding as much heat in as possible for the other 20 hours of every day?

[jmgodfr]

Yeah - agree, the "schill" is not helpful to people, folks don't come on here for marketing speak, but are looking for real world experiences. All the Mkting BS does is fill up the forums.

[Spa_Guru]

" I have moved numerous times since purchasing the spa and have been able monitor the increase in my power bill each time I have hooked up my spa."

That one broke my BS meter.

[Tbone97504]

I frankly don't care if you "beleive" my experience or not. I'm perfectly happy with my Arctic Spa and will state my opinions and experience regardless of your attempts to belittle me.

"And why does it "simply makes sense" to tout the 4 hours of warmth generated by the filter pump and not think about holding as much heat in as possible for the other 20 hours of every day?"

Do you own an Arctic Spa? I assume not. Oh wait... I DO and have had it since 2001. Just to show how incredibly clueless you are I when I saw your post I immediately went outside, opened my spa up and unplugged the heater. Guess what... it's now been a solid week and my spa is maintaining 101 degrees. Must be the lack of insulation! More of something doesn't necessarily make it better, especially when the perfect amount gets the job done and then some.

One more thing, I was under the impression that this topic was "Who Owns An Arctic Spa? Happy With The Tub?". So apparrently Arctic Spa owners shouldn't reply, but "Spa Guru's" should dominate the conversation. You remind me of an Ivy League liberal who must bash anyone's opinion that differs from theirs. I am an Arctic customer, and based on how irritable people can get on a simple Spa Forum I'm glad I'm not in the retail spa business. So the salesman I bought my spa from did a darn good job of selling me his brand. I liked his analogy of the "popping the hood on your car" and it makes sense. I'm frugal and try to buy things once, so I shopped around, liked what the Arctic Spa offered so I bought one.

Anyone interested in calling/emailing me with questions just let me know just as long as you aren't some troll that just wants to tell me that I don't own the Arctic in my backyard. My suggestion to anyone in the market for buying a spa would be to shop around and gather the information yourself, then decide based on your opinion and common sense as to what works best for you. Based on this brief conversation I would safely say that would give you a better feel for the brands available than an internet forum. Who's to say that the "Spa Guru" isn't a spa retailer pushing his brand?

When a consumer is asked for his opinion he or she should respond. Why is an "Independent repair technician" hi-jacking this consumer based question anyway??? Enough said.

[Roger]

I frankly don't care if you "beleive" my experience or not. I'm perfectly happy with my Arctic Spa and will state my opinions and experience regardless of your attempts to belittle me.

"And why does it "simply makes sense" to tout the 4 hours of warmth generated by the filter pump and not think about holding as much heat in as possible for the other 20 hours of every day?"

Do you own an Arctic Spa? I assume not. Oh wait... I DO and have had it since 2001. Just to show how incredibly clueless you are I when I saw your post I immediately went outside, opened my spa up and unplugged the heater. Guess what... it's now been a solid week and my spa is maintaining 101 degrees. Must be the lack of insulation! More of something doesn't necessarily make it better, especially when the perfect amount gets the job done and then some.

One more thing, I was under the impression that this topic was "Who Owns An Arctic Spa? Happy With The Tub?". So apparrently Arctic Spa owners shouldn't reply, but "Spa Guru's" should dominate the conversation. You remind me of an Ivy League liberal who must bash anyone's opinion that differs from theirs. I am an Arctic customer, and based on how irritable people can get on a simple Spa Forum I'm glad I'm not in the retail spa business. So the salesman I bought my spa from did a darn good job of selling me his brand. I liked his analogy of the "popping the hood on your car" and it makes sense. I'm frugal and try to buy things once, so I shopped around, liked what the Arctic Spa offered so I bought one.

Anyone interested in calling/emailing me with questions just let me know just as long as you aren't some troll that just wants to tell me that I don't own the Arctic in my backyard. My suggestion to anyone in the market for buying a spa would be to shop around and gather the information yourself, then decide based on your opinion and common sense as to what works best for you. Based on this brief conversation I would safely say that would give you a better feel for the brands available than an internet forum. Who's to say that the "Spa Guru" isn't a spa retailer pushing his brand?

When a consumer is asked for his opinion he or she should respond. Why is an "Independent repair technician" hi-jacking this consumer based question anyway??? Enough said.

OK well move to Northern Minnesota. Here if you unplug the heater on an Arctic spa in the winter it will freeze. I have seen plenty of Arctic spas and they are no better at heating the water than 100 other brands. They actually cost more than several brands and the funny thing is the motors seem to suffer in the summer because of the excessively hot environment they live in. Or you could get the winter kit and switch cabinet doors a couple times a year. This will help but venting the cabinet well, never mind. 80 during the day and 35 at night make sure to filter at night oh wait, venting the warmth outside.....sigh. What a conundrum.

Another sales pitch straight from the Arctic book "Unplugged the heater" and "common sense" An independent tech is calling a sales shill on the carpet and the sales shill isn't doing a very good job defending himself.

What brand am I pushing?

My opinion is based on years of real world experience. I have seen hundreds of Arctics and thousands of tubs in other brands all running side by side in one of the worst environments you will ever find hot tubs in. And can tell you factually what they cost to operate. And your "consumer" BS doesn't help anyone except Arctic sell tubs based on misinformation.

There are plenty of Arctic owners that frequent this board. I happen to know a bunch of them. Matter of fact one of them is a moderator here. They don't respond because they to can see through your roost and are likely embarrassed that you would come here and flat out lie like that.

And if you would like your own thread to sell Arctics and only get responses from Arctic owners who praise the brand then get your own board and only allow Arctic dealers and buyers to join. This is an open forum for anyone who has a membership.

[Spa_Guru]

As I recall from my visit to the Arctic "Farm" the sales trainer kept saying "It isn't about the spa or how it's made, it isn't about reality, it is about the story you tell, so TELL THE STORY." Then he went into a long list of reasons how you could drop the price for the customer as long as it came with the right story.

Funny thing, there was two hot tubs at that house, and neither one of them worked. The internal cabinet temps from the pumps running overheated the temp probes for the water and shut the heaters off -- and guess what? They needed heaters to heat with the lids off, no matter what the pitch.

ANY spa will heat to 104F or even more from equipment temperature, given enough time.

ONLY Arctic spas have an optional cabinet cooling device the "Arctic Chiller" to keep the tubs functional below the 45th paralell.

http://www.google.com/search?q=arctic+chiller&um=1&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-ContextMenu&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&hl=en&imgrefurl=http://www.arcticspas.ca/support/glossary-of-terms/&imgurl=http://www.arcticspas.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Arctic-Chiller.jpg&w=200&h=128&ndsp=20&tbm=isch&tbs=simg:CAQSEgk4Xi14QMa4QSH1CDXJ9YpeRA&sa=X&ei=zdGKUZSJJtC0igLP_IGACw&ved=0CAUQrBE&biw=1280&bih=626

[Dufferdan]

Owner of a Yukon here. Not sure of the model, have had it three years now. It was some kind of factory special build a few years ago. We had the Pump 1 fuse issue which the dealer bypassed and now all works well. We are in the mountains of the East Kootenays, BC, Canada. Typically, we get 6-8 weeks of December - January temperatures that can drop to -30*c or worse. My wife and kids were pushing for a hot tub for years, but two things kept me from buying after we built our ski cabin. Those temperatures, which if we lost power for a few days would leave me with a very expensive ice cube, and 2. The cost/logistics of actually installing the darn thing. Our cabin is literally on not the side of a mountain. And due to positioning, we can't get a crane to access where our patio is. The dealer suggested a helicopter. Of course, at $2,000 and hour, I said no way. As it turned out, our maintenance guy ran into a roofing team and chatted them up. They took a look, said that they could crane it over the garage, put some sleepers up the side of the hill, and a bunch of pulleys, hoist into place in a manner similar to the Egyptians building the pyramids. At the same time, the hot tub dealer made me aware of the manufacturer special, so, you now realize, I had no choice as the family was pushing hard for this thing.

It has 40 or 50-something jets, three motors and some ozone system. I am guessing around $8k Cdn in 2012? Hot tub purchased, install date set. I got a call at noon and the tub was in place and in process of filling. No one was injured or died in the process.

Our experience. When we are at the ski cabin, this thing is used daily. We can have up to 15 relatives visiting and they can be in it for 8 hours a day, many bodies. The pattern is zero use for weeks on end, then maybe 3 months use in the space of four days. It can be hell to balance, and frankly, that has been my nemesis. Keeping it balanced and clear. My maintenance guy used to dump it fall and spring, and also after the 2 weeks of Christmas holidays and after family reunions in the summer. During fall/spring, we might get out only one week in four. So long periods of no use. Because we were only out every two to six weeks it took me a while to figure out. But now I think I have it.

I rotate two sets of filters, and pull/rinse clean them when in the midst of a heavy use period. I am also using the filter clearing agent with less fear than before, I was always afraid of clogging filters. This week, I had a heavy use period, used the chemical shock, pulled and cleaned the filters twice as I used the clearing agent with some liberalness, and the water was crystal.

I think I have it now. And to be honest, we use this thing every day we are here. A family of five and extended family of over 20, when used, it is hit hard. No breakdowns, I have to hit it with some stain this week, save the pump 1 fuse issue, which is now bypassed. And I need to get the pump 3 jets turned back on. The kids hit a switch combo that seems to just have that big therapy jet working.

Happy? First spa I have ever owned, but I like the build quality, the idea of using the pumps for heat. If I were to install one in my main house, I would buy an Arctic again.

[Roger]

Happy? First spa I have ever owned, but I like the build quality, the idea of using the pumps for heat. If I were to install one in my main house, I would buy an Arctic again.

Correction, the idea of using the pumps to offset the lack of full insulation, not heat.

[north_of_boston]

OK, new angle on the Arctic I own. Installed January 2010 - Arctic Yukon.

My Arctic Spa went out of warranty in January - five years.

The Onzen system - the cells which cost around $70 (US) are no longer warrantied for a year - but for 30 days. In reality - they lasted around six-seven months, so I would buy one, get the second one on warranty replacement, then buy another one after a year. That worked. I might also add - this is the second Onzen system - they replaced the first one at no charge, in 2011.

In replacing my last cell - the contact nub came out of the socket with the cell and it would require a replacement (dealer service) -- which would be expensive.

We made the decision - disconnect the Onzen. I only have to use two capfuls of chlorinating concentrate a week. At $45 for a five pound jug, that's cheaper than the cells. Now.. a couple things to note...

- they have improved upon the sanitizing system , I'm told - greatly - and warranty calls are almost nothing. But ours had trouble (the first one, replaced by Arctic, no charge) and the second one (cells have a short life although the system did work).

- the cover. GREAT cover. One small problem - they stitched a diagonal logo on to it. The stitching on it leaks now. The cover isn't waterlogged but I have to get some vinyl sealant now. Hopefully they stopped that with their new covers.

We intend to use the spa for the next ten years -- but, the Onzen cost us extra at purchase time, perhaps $250 in cells - we're going forward without the fancy sanitizer.

Beyond that - NO PROBLEMS at all. I am rather disappointed that those who purchased the Onzen system back in 2009-2010 are being "abandoned" - what with the 30 day warranty on cells. But beyond that, it's been good.