Just Purchased Leisure Bay Spa - Model Chesapeake

[SpaMon345]

Hello all, I'm a newbie to the world of spas. This weekend I purchased a spa at Recreational Factory Warehouse. I decided on a Leisure Bay model Chesapeake (model #L403SDRC2). I live in Florida.

I was suprised at the lack of detailed information on the Leisure Bay website, as well as on the Internet as a whole in terms of spas. http://www.leisurebay.com/Products/Spas.html

It seems more than coincidental that I cannot find as much as an online owner's manual or detailed specifications for not only Leisure Bay spas, but all of the others I looked at (is there a conspiracy or is the industry way-behind??)

The salesperson told me that this spa normally goes for $5500, but due to month-end goal seeking, it was reduced to $4000 plus $99 installation, and the stair and starter chemicals were thrown in. They also provided a wall mountable electrical box as well as a 50 amp GFCI breaker in the price.

I searched online at Sams, Costco, Walmart, etc., and although I found cheaper prices, the warranties are less, and all advertise about minimum 2 weeks to maximum 8 weeks delivery.

The spa is to be delivered today (yes, less than a week).

I would like to know what you all think about Leisure Bay spas. I saw a couple of other posts asking the same question but I have not seen much content in response.

If you have any other comments/observations/helpful hints please feel free to reply.

Thanks.

[hottubdan]

Most of the major brands have owner's manuals and warranties posted on their web sites. Cannot comment on Leisure Bay, as they are not in my market.

[mattNY]

Here's one thread that talks about them, responses were somewhat negative: http://www.whatsthebest-hottub.com/cgi-bin...9087325;start=3

However, that is often the case when you are comparing the tub to a Hotsprings, Dimension 1, etc., they are higher end models and that is reflected in the cost difference.

Here's another: http://www.whatsthebest-hottub.com/cgi-bin...6297197;start=7

You should be able to use the search function to find many more. At least one response I've seen was from someone who had their Leisure Bay for 11 years without any significant problems other than it was a bit noisy with the jets on. She was much happier when she upgraded to a Marquis that that point, but at the $4000 pricepoint it's probably a reasonable option.

Post some feedback and let us know how you like it.

[Roger]

Welcome to the Hot Tub family. Enjoy your honeymoon!!

[poolspaadvocate]

Hello all, I'm a newbie to the world of spas. This weekend I purchased a spa at Recreational Factory Warehouse. I decided on a Leisure Bay model Chesapeake (model #L403SDRC2). I live in Florida.

I was suprised at the lack of detailed information on the Leisure Bay website, as well as on the Internet as a whole in terms of spas. http://www.leisurebay.com/Products/Spas.html

It seems more than coincidental that I cannot find as much as an online owner's manual or detailed specifications for not only Leisure Bay spas, but all of the others I looked at (is there a conspiracy or is the industry way-behind??)

The salesperson told me that this spa normally goes for $5500, but due to month-end goal seeking, it was reduced to $4000 plus $99 installation, and the stair and starter chemicals were thrown in. They also provided a wall mountable electrical box as well as a 50 amp GFCI breaker in the price.

I searched online at Sams, Costco, Walmart, etc., and although I found cheaper prices, the warranties are less, and all advertise about minimum 2 weeks to maximum 8 weeks delivery.

The spa is to be delivered today (yes, less than a week).

I would like to know what you all think about Leisure Bay spas. I saw a couple of other posts asking the same question but I have not seen much content in response.

If you have any other comments/observations/helpful hints please feel free to reply.

Thanks.

If it is not too late, I'd reconsider your purchase. Go to www.ripoffreport.com and search "Recreational Factory Warehouse." All I'm going to say.

[SpaMon345]

Day 2 now with the new spa and so far so good. Delivery was next day as promised, and setup was complete with the exception of: One small accessory was missing, and that was promised to be mailed to us. Oh yeah, we were given the incorrect owner's manual. Normally, this would be an issue. However, I picked up the correct owner's manual before delivery.

I spent about 2 hours in it last night and am so relaxed today.

Here are several observations:

#1)

6:30pm> Spa temperature = 84 deg F. Turned on spa heat at this time.

9:30pm> Spa temperature = approx. 98 deg F.

Avg Ambient temp approx 78 deg F.

Therefore, spa heats at about 14 deg F in 3 hours = 4.6 deg per hour.

I was surprised at how slow it heats, but I can work with that. Not a big deal.

I can see where tub insulation comes in handy, ESP. in the northern states. I'm in FL and not too concerned at this point.

#2)

Measured full-on energy consumption with an induction ammeter (both pumps, and heater on):

Power leg 1: 30.1Amps

Power leg 2: 30.4 Amps

Therefore, watt consumption at full on is: 7,260 (7.2 KWH). At $.11 per KWH, that's $.80 per hour...whoa, lol.

Now, for those of you who do this for a living, don't get your feathers ruffled, but I am going to downgrade my circuit breaker from 50A to 40A, GFCI of course. I don't think the surge will trip it but if I am wrong then it is only my labor that is lost.

(I have experience and a very good understanding of home wiring & safety).

#3)

Initially I was floating quite a bit (temp <90 deg). When the temp was hotter (95-98 deg), I seated better. Coincidence or direct correlation?

#4) Control panel is confusing and not intuitive. It is something I will have to spend some time on and learn. This control panel is not for people who don't deal with universal remote controls well, lol. Controller is a Balboa V200R.

I was given a photocopied sheet "Millenium Series Warranty". The warranty shows details about frame, tub, cabinet, equipment, etc. However, I see no reference to my spa as being a Millenium Series. Can someone tell me what Millenium Series is? I am trying to make sure I was given the right warranty document.

For the sake of mankind & information-sharing, I will be scanning documents in that I received and will be sharing them online down the road (and pics). Stay tuned...

[Guzz]

Day 2 now with the new spa and so far so good. Delivery was next day as promised, and setup was complete with the exception of: One small accessory was missing, and that was promised to be mailed to us. Oh yeah, we were given the incorrect owner's manual. Normally, this would be an issue. However, I picked up the correct owner's manual before delivery.

I spent about 2 hours in it last night and am so relaxed today.

Here are several observations:

#1)

6:30pm> Spa temperature = 84 deg F. Turned on spa heat at this time.

9:30pm> Spa temperature = approx. 98 deg F.

Avg Ambient temp approx 78 deg F.

Therefore, spa heats at about 14 deg F in 3 hours = 4.6 deg per hour.

I was surprised at how slow it heats, but I can work with that. Not a big deal.

I can see where tub insulation comes in handy, ESP. in the northern states. I'm in FL and not too concerned at this point.

#2)

Measured full-on energy consumption with an induction ammeter (both pumps, and heater on):

Power leg 1: 30.1Amps

Power leg 2: 30.4 Amps

Therefore, watt consumption at full on is: 7,260 (7.2 KWH). At $.11 per KWH, that's $.80 per hour...whoa, lol.

Now, for those of you who do this for a living, don't get your feathers ruffled, but I am going to downgrade my circuit breaker from 50A to 40A, GFCI of course. I don't think the surge will trip it but if I am wrong then it is only my labor that is lost.

(I have experience and a very good understanding of home wiring & safety).

#3)

Initially I was floating quite a bit (temp <90 deg). When the temp was hotter (95-98 deg), I seated better. Coincidence or direct correlation?

#4) Control panel is confusing and not intuitive. It is something I will have to spend some time on and learn. This control panel is not for people who don't deal with universal remote controls well, lol. Controller is a Balboa V200R.

I was given a photocopied sheet "Millenium Series Warranty". The warranty shows details about frame, tub, cabinet, equipment, etc. However, I see no reference to my spa as being a Millenium Series. Can someone tell me what Millenium Series is? I am trying to make sure I was given the right warranty document.

For the sake of mankind & information-sharing, I will be scanning documents in that I received and will be sharing them online down the road (and pics). Stay tuned...

Glad everything is going well for you, thanks for sharing.

[grahamtasia]

Good luck with your spa! You will absolutely love it!!

[SpaMon345]

I've decided not to downgrade the GFCI breaker at the box that connects to the spa for legal, local code, and warranty reasons. However, the feed from the main breaker box is 40A and is holding fine.

Need to ask a question to you electricians out here:

Is it safe to have 2 GFCI breakers in series?

For example: Breaker panel supplies spa box with 40A GFCI. Spa box has 50A GFCI. This amounts to 2 GFCI in parallel.

Safe?

[mattNY]

I was told by my electrician no, never.

[HydroMan]

I work in electrical design and have experience designing ground fault and arc fault circuit breakers. There is no problem putting GFCI breakers in series. I would never do it though simply because of the cost. I would use two 50 amp breakers rather then the 40A unless the owners manual calls for a 40A breaker. Not that it is a huge deal, but you will get slightly more voltage drop across the 40A.

[grahamtasia]

Not a good idea. They will keep tripping each other out. One is all you need.

[SpaMon345]

HydroMan, thanks for that information.

It has been running several nights now on a 40A GFCI feeding the 50A "required" GFCI. No trips, all is well.

[Guzz]

HydroMan, thanks for that information.

It has been running several nights now on a 40A GFCI feeding the 50A "required" GFCI. No trips, all is well.

Sounds like all is OK, enjoy your spa!

[SpaMon345]

Just posting a follow up folks.

A week after I purchased this spa, the whole Recreational Factory Warehouse stigma was wearing on me. That along with an inconsistent warranty document given to me prompted me to go back to RFW and question the salesman. I basically had him write a comment on my invoice "Same Warranty As Millenium" then sign off on it. Then I had his manager sign off on it.

I received the missing accessory in the mail.

I am satisfied now. I don't feel I was ripped off. I think the bottom line is that Leisure Bay / RFW is nothing more than a bit disorganized (as far as MY experience with them is concerned).

The spa is still working well. We are in the process of beautifying our porch. Life is good but it the weather is so hot now that we haven't used the new spa much.

[Brulan1]

Just posting a follow up folks.

A week after I purchased this spa, the whole Recreational Factory Warehouse stigma was wearing on me. That along with an inconsistent warranty document given to me prompted me to go back to RFW and question the salesman. I basically had him write a comment on my invoice "Same Warranty As Millenium" then sign off on it. Then I had his manager sign off on it.

I received the missing accessory in the mail.

I am satisfied now. I don't feel I was ripped off. I think the bottom line is that Leisure Bay / RFW is nothing more than a bit disorganized (as far as MY experience with them is concerned).

The spa is still working well. We are in the process of beautifying our porch. Life is good but it the weather is so hot now that we haven't used the new spa much.

I am glad you got the cleared up. Everyone makes mistakes as far as organization.

[floridaspaman]

Ok first you purchased a 4k dollar spa and just fell for the typical rec warehouse sales speak about end of month sales or whatever. I hope your spa does well for you. I could have sold you a HS tiger river sumatran for about 5300 with cover cradle, ozone system, step and delivered and set up. You would have received a full 5 year warranty. I would imagine your leisure bay comes wiht a pro rated warranty after about two years or so.

The heating up quick issue should not even be a remote concern for you because once your spa is heated it is heated however you will find that with your leisure bay spa it will cost you much more to maintain that heat than if you had purchased a more top of the line spa. I'm curious why you did not get an owners manual with your spa. And you definitely should have been asking the warranty questions BEFORE you bought the spa an had it delivered.

[spatech (the unreal one)]

Ok first you purchased a 4k dollar spa and just fell for the typical rec warehouse sales speak about end of month sales or whatever. I hope your spa does well for you. I could have sold you a HS tiger river sumatran for about 5300 with cover cradle, ozone system, step and delivered and set up. You would have received a full 5 year warranty. I would imagine your leisure bay comes wiht a pro rated warranty after about two years or so.

Florida,

Take note of the dates of the posts you reply to. This topic was last touched about a year prior to your response.

[donotbuylb]

HEADLINE: LEISURE BAY GONE BANKRUPT!

I wanted to make this post to try and save anyone else the hassle and headaches of owning a Leisure Bay poll or spa.

My husband and I purchased a Leisure Bay hot tub from Rec Warehouse 3 years ago. The siding has bowed and buckled, one of the pumps has gone out, there are 2 cracks in the spa surface due to wet and swollen wood, and the cover has broken and came apart. This spa was suppose to have a 5 year warranty on all these issues except the cover. We ordered a new cover at the cost of about $400 and put in a service order to have everything, supposedly still under warranty, repaired and/or replaced from Rec Warehouse. They told us all this would be taken care of in 3 weeks, since that was how long the cover would take to arrive at our home (also paid shipping on that). My husband called them today, after waiting 6 weeks, for the repairman and the cover and he was told that Leisure Bay has gone bankrupt and Rec Warehouse has closed 64 stores, AND they don't know when we will get our cover and we can't get a refund on it. They are also telling us that we will have to PURCHASE the pump that we need from another vendor because they can't get parts from Leisure Bay. It's a crock, to say the least!

I am posting this in hopes of saving someone else from purchasing a Leisure Bay hot tub, spa or pool from Rec Warehouse or Leisure Bay. Your warranty is useless and you can't even get the parts you order and pay for yourself!

Trust me, I am am very unhappy costumer that WILL NOT make that mistake again!

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

Did leisure bay go bankrupt or rec warehouse. We used to be a dealer for leisure bay and have some tubs out there still under the 5 year warrenty. Guess i will have to research this one....another one bites the dust????

[bigDave]

i find what donotbuylb says to be a bit miss leading, i just bought a leisurebay spa from the Rec Warehouse in SC, i was told by the sales man that they were one of only 48 factory direct stores for leisure bay spas. i had been looking at getting a spa for a few years now and looked at different models (Calspa, Bull Frog, Hot Springs, and Dream Maker) at three local dealers, but none could really give me much more information about the saps they were selling other than what was written in the pamplets that came with the spa. When i went to Rec Warehouse the salesman was very informative on all of the diffences between their spas and other makers, he did say that the company had closed some stores in states where they had multiple stores and that was why they were running a large sale to reduce their inventory. I bought the Tropez, which he said was a 2011 model spa, if they were bankrupt could they be making new spas to sell? i wouldn't think so. It did come with a longer warranty than the other dealers offered.. i will be checking with the store this week to find out if Leisure bay did go bankrupt and find out what effect i would have on my warranty and post back...

[virginia spa guy]

Actually he is somewhat correct....you didnt buy a "leisure Bay" hot tub. You bought a hot tub they labeled as one...Check out IPGSpas.com. Its the exact spa from the real maker. I would be leary of your warranty. They have only carried that brand for about two months. I used to work for Rec. They are in some serious $$$ problems. The reason your warranty seems so long is because you are being charged after one year for a travel charge (aprox. $95) and they mark the parts up double so you cover the cost year two and after...