Buying A Used Spa

[Dan the tax man]

I am shopping for a replacement to my Cal Spa that died after 17 years of use. My research shows that the top brand to find would be Hot Spring, Caldera or Sundance. I have come across a Hot Spring Grandee and a Caldera Niagra. both 3 years old.

Are these, in fact, the best spas? is 40% of the original price a fair value for a Spa 3 years old? Is Caldera and Hot Spring a good quality product? Appreciate anyones input. Sacramento CA

[KIALDA]

I am shopping for a replacement to my Cal Spa that died after 17 years of use. My research shows that the top brand to find would be Hot Spring, Caldera or Sundance. I have come across a Hot Spring Grandee and a Caldera Niagra. both 3 years old.

Are these, in fact, the best spas? is 40% of the original price a fair value for a Spa 3 years old? Is Caldera and Hot Spring a good quality product? Appreciate anyones input. Sacramento CA

A couple of things to remember when buying a used spa. You should see the spa running. Check the equipment bay for leaks, and look to see if the spa is up to temp and the pumps and such work and sound good. Check the cover, cabinet shell etc.

Consider what it will cost you to move the spa, install and wire.Call the local dealer for that brand to see if they will service that spa prior to you purchasing it, they may even have a service history for that unit if it was purchased there. Check on the cost for a service call. There is usually no warranty available to a second time buyer.

On a side note, although Caldera and Hot Springs are owned by the same Parent company, I would not put Caldera on the same quality level as Hot Springs. If you purchase a Caldera, my advice would be to check over the shell carefully.

[Dnepr Dave]

My wife I bought a three year old Caldera Kauai off of Craig's list, we are very happy with it. There are photos of it in the, "Show your spa install picture thread".

It was full of water and running when we looked at it.

Be sure to get the GFCI sub panel with your Caldera or Hot Springs spa, they are unusual in that they have two GFCI breakers, a 20 amp and a 30 amp, instead of a single 50 or 60 amp breaker. Mine didn't come with it, the spa was wired to a regular house breaker for demonstration purposes when we looked at it.

The seller told me that it needed a special sub panel and that he didn't have one. I was able to piece one together with the help of a friendly local spa electrician, buying the components separately, but it took about two weeks to round up the parts.

The local Caldera dealer wanted nothing to do with me as I hadn't purchased it from them.

My final cost, after it was in place and running, was $2200.00. A far cry from the $7500 quoted me by that snooty dealer.

Dave

[russkat]

Just thought I'd share my experience buying a used '02 Sundance Altamar on Craigslist recently...

They were the original owners and the tub had been sitting in the same place since day 1.

In a sunken patio with a deck overhead. The sun had never hit any part of this tub.

Due to their increased time away from home, they hired someone to winterize it (or so they thought) a couple years ago.

They were very accomodating and filled up the tub so I could inspect it thoroughly.

The heater turned out to have a crack (not completely blown out and water was left in the heater, turned to ice and cracked the casing) and they promptly called out a tech to install a new one ($500.00).

It turned out pump #1 had a small leak and a seal was replaced.

They kept the tub full and running for 2 weeks so I could wet test it and then have a final inspection prior to moving.

The tub is in literally "like new" condition.

Price was $2,000 with a brand new heater and the circ pump just 2 years old.

I've been told the price was more than fair.

Does this tub have every single feature I wanted in a spa? No, but how long would I have to wait to find one for sale

from sellers who are completely honest and willing to make repairs to the tub prior to the sale?

I would not buy used tub that is not up and running for at least 7 days.

If there are any issues with the tub, the owners should fix the tub or adjust the price accordingly.

If the price is not significantly lower than "new with warranty", I would not buy it.

Just my 2 cents...

Good Luck

[Sailing_Faith]

Dan,

I guess it would depend on you. Are you a do-it-yourself guy? Do you think whatever changes a spa-maker makes from year to year are important? Are you pretty high strung, or more laid back?

As for me, I bought my Hot Springs Sovereign off of Craig's list and would not have it any other way. This site is an excellent resource, research whatever brand you are looking at before you go to look so you will have an idea of what problems to look for. I had decided to only look at hot springs tubs, since most of the others sold in my area are lesser quality.

I did not want to buy anything with a warranty. Trying to get someone else to fix something on your spa is much less preferable then just doing it myself.

The minor changes in my spa were not worth the price of buying new (they went from a cedar case to a plastic one, added lights which I don't use anyway, and minor jet changes).

FWIW, my local Hot Springs dealer has been good to me when I have had questions, and is quite willing to sell me any parts or supplies I might need. If that were not the case I would just buy more off of the Internet.

With this forum, and some horse sense I think you can get a great deal buying used.... but then that is me.

Good Luck!

[Dan the tax man]

I cannot thank you all enough for your input. I have been watching for a hot spring spa. I would like to stay below 8' in size. In Sacramento the Grandee model comes up frequently but the sellers want more than 50% of the orignal purchase price. I am looking at a Caldera Niagra this afternoon. The owners of this spa on www.whatsthebest-hottubs.com rated it excellent. I just dont want to overpay. Thanks again for your input. I will report back later.

[squidly]

I too bought a tub this summer from someone on Craigslist.

I saw it running and took the service pannel off to inspect the guts. They wanted another motorcycle,

so they took $1200 for a 2.5 yr old tub that was $7500 new ( I have the receipt).

So far so good...no problems at all.

[RickJ]

I bought my tub used on Craigslist two years ago. It was a three year old Down East spa, and I got it for about 1/4 the cost of a new one. The seller priced it cheap to sell fast; he had sold his house and the new owner required him to move the spa out of the yard.

We split the cost of professional movers, the seller paid to have it taken out of his yard, and I paid the delivery charge from his driveway to my house. I would highly recommend professional movers. They know what they are doing, and won't damage the tub like you and your buddies might when you try to move it yourself. With my tub, we hired the dealer's moving crew to do the move. As part of your negotiations, you might want to try to talk the seller into paying for the move, or part of the move. It might be a way to lower your overall cost, while making the seller think he got a better price for the spa.

However, even with professional movers, there might be leaks after the tub is moved. Mine had a couple of small leaks that I had to fix. So I would recommend filling the spa, and checking for leaks before you add a bunch of chemicals. That way, if you have to drain it to fix a leak, you won't be wasting the chemicals.

When you get the spa, I would recommend doing Hillbilly Hot Tub's sanitation flush to it. With a used tub, you should assume the the previous owner didn't maintain it properly. So flush it out before you use it, just to be safe. I didn't flush mine out, and I had a lot of water chemistry problems during my first six months of ownership. It was clear to me that the previous owner didn't care for the spa before he sold it. Of course, I was too stupid to see that when I was buying it. But after my first water change, my water issues disappeared.

[spa_newb]

I am shopping for a replacement to my Cal Spa that died after 17 years of use. My research shows that the top brand to find would be Hot Spring, Caldera or Sundance. I have come across a Hot Spring Grandee and a Caldera Niagra. both 3 years old.

Are these, in fact, the best spas? is 40% of the original price a fair value for a Spa 3 years old? Is Caldera and Hot Spring a good quality product? Appreciate anyones input. Sacramento CA

You're obviously a spa veteran and I'm a spa newb -hence the name but everything I've gathered so far in my research (buying first spa at some point) is that there are a lot of things that can and sometimes do go wrong with them. I've also noticed the warranties in general don't seem to transfer. I think you're taking a big chance by buying a used spa. I'd consider new ones.

The top brands that I like based on what I've seen so far are:

Artesian, Sundance, Caldera, Limelight, LA Spas.............Hot Springs looks and sounds like a great product, but their particular models don't fit my needs. Dimension 1 looks nice too but is expensive for what you get, imo....Arctic also appears to be a very solid tub but in my opinion is extremely expensive for what you get. (Some Arctic trim levels only have 14 jets!)

[Monk]

[

When you get the spa, I would recommend doing Hillbilly Hot Tub's sanitation flush to it. With a used tub, you should assume the the previous owner didn't maintain it properly. So flush it out before you use it, just to be safe. I didn't flush mine out, and I had a lot of water chemistry problems during my first six months of ownership. It was clear to me that the previous owner didn't care for the spa before he sold it. Of course, I was too stupid to see that when I was buying it. But after my first water change, my water issues disappeared.

What is Hillbilly hot tub sanitation flush? Is it a product on the market? Or some household product?

Thanks, New to this site very helpful.

monk.

[RickJ]

What is Hillbilly hot tub sanitation flush? Is it a product on the market? Or some household product?

Thanks, New to this site very helpful.

monk.

If I remember right, it's the one outlined on this thread.

http://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11906

That should kill any potential nasties that are living in a used tub.