What hottub!?

[Uncle John]

We have a 13a tub & it holds the temperature no problem.

[8bit]

Steve Campbell said:

We just use a "dirty water" submersible pump. You can get them for about £40 off amazon / screwfix etc. Cleans out our 1500L tub in about 15 mins and that's pumping over a 6ft 6 wall to drain.

Thanks for that. Will that fully drain the tub? Some of the reviews of those things suggest they still leave a few inches of water in the bottom. Also what about attachments for hoses? I don't see any (certainly around that price range) which have standard garden hose fittings?

[Zoon]

snowandrocks said:

Zoon said:

You can't really beat Thermodynamics, although a large body of water should hold heat quite well.
If it's snowing and you are outside wet through there's only going to be one outcome.

I'm well aware of the physics but just wondered if there are electric models that have a powerful enough heater to maintain the set temperature.

I know from past experience with a wood fired heater that cold weather only improves the hot tub experience - that would quite happily boil you if you kept the fire stoked!

Thanks for the other replies - sounds like a 32A model might manage.

As someone has already mentioned, get one with pumps rather than air jets as it does have a massive effect on how hot the water feels.

[PushedDover]

snowandrocks said:

Out of interest - are any of the electric tubs capable of maintaining temperature while in use?

We used one at a recent holiday cottage and the temperature dropped off quite quickly with the lid removed. The weather was relatively mild and calm - I like the idea of sitting surrounded by falling snow but slowly getting cold doesn't really appeal!

Ours stays hot no probs in use. The big effect on the temp is the wind taking the heat away it seems versus the outside ambient temp.

[FRG0]

8bit said:

Thanks for that. Will that fully drain the tub? Some of the reviews of those things suggest they still leave a few inches of water in the bottom. Also what about attachments for hoses? I don't see any (certainly around that price range) which have standard garden hose fittings?

I just put a garden hose with the fittings removed into our Lay-z-spa with the end weighed down and siphon the water out. It’s not the quickest option but drops it enough to allow me to just open the plug in the base to dump the last bit.

[Steve Campbell]

8bit said:

Thanks for that. Will that fully drain the tub? Some of the reviews of those things suggest they still leave a few inches of water in the bottom. Also what about attachments for hoses? I don't see any (certainly around that price range) which have standard garden hose fittings?

It leaves a couple of inches in the bottom which you can either scoop out or not bother with. In 1500L tub it makes no difference for me so I leave it. The tub has a central footwell which means there isn't that much in terms of Litres of water left. I bought a 10m lay flat hose (I think its 1" or 1.5"...can't remember) and just jubilee clipped it to the outlet. If you constrain the outlet to garden hose size it will limit the throughput and slow the process down .... and when I'm doing it I want to empty it as fast as I can (within budget of course !). The hose just rolls up and is stored away for next time (remains attached to the outlet, I just unscrew the outlet from the pump).

Edited by Steve Campbell on Thursday 24th June 14:14

[dhutch]

Troubleatmill said:

What is a PITA - is that after 5 years, the plastics of the jets are starting to perish.
I now have lots of of plastic jets bobbing around the hot tub.
If I end up replacing every jet.... I'll be close to £1000.

The top cover needs to be replaced at some point... Some £250 - 300.
The cheap Chinese pumps seem to just last 3 years... Another £200-250
I would suggest trying to find out what the total cost of ownership over 5 and 10 years will be.

What brand tub was this?

[RyanOPlasty]

Surprised at the problems people have had with their spas on here.
We have had an LS Spas Tropical for over 14 years.
In that time, I have had two ozonators at around £100 a pop and a replacement cover at £400ish.
Everything else has been flawless. The pumps are still as powerful as when new, Jets still working as they should.

For convenience, we have an external hot tap now, so we can reflll with hot water instead of having to wait.

[AndyTR]

As posted earlier in the thread our Jacuzzi was sat idle outside for 18 months since we moved and had other priorities before sorting out a new base, gazebo, 32A circuit etc. The cover hadn't travelled well and had a small tear and a hole in the lining, resulting in it taking on water and it was a mess. We removed one half of the insulation, removed the plastic sheet lining and let it all dry out in the garage. Some new plastic sheeting, plenty of Gorilla Water resistant tape and some sealant and it's now ok. Been on for 4 months with no issues, so that saved about £500. The tub needed a really good rinse through and we filled and chemical rinsed it twice, third fill was good and I changed the water last week. No issues with the plumbing or the pump, which I expected, it was -11C here for a few days. After 7 years two of the outdoor speakers have perished and with supply chain issues they are hard to find (and expensive) so just bought a Sonos Roam which has a better sound quality anyway.

I was expecting the worst and I'm quite impressed overall.

[russy01]

Didn’t think it was worth starting a new topic, but I’ll see if I get any opinions on here.

On the edge of ordering a tub. If you don’t like hot tubs then I appreciate your opinion, but go tell somebody else

Anyway. Where do you draw the line with these things. I have one person suggesting a cheap £4500 tub, another suggesting a mid range £8000 tub and another fairly high range model at £12k.

The basics, I.e hot water in a tub with bubbles and lights exist in all 3. But typically as the price has increased the more tacky features disappear and more emphasis is put onto quality, reliability and actual hydrotherapy, not just bubbles.

Cheap one - basically unbranded
Mid one - Master Spa
Higher one - Sundance/jacuzzi

Ultimately the actual cost doesn’t matter, I care more for the value.

Any feedback appreciated.

[Car Obsessed]

russy01 said:

Didn’t think it was worth starting a new topic, but I’ll see if I get any opinions on here.

On the edge of ordering a tub. If you don’t like hot tubs then I appreciate your opinion, but go tell somebody else

Anyway. Where do you draw the line with these things. I have one person suggesting a cheap £4500 tub, another suggesting a mid range £8000 tub and another fairly high range model at £12k.

The basics, I.e hot water in a tub with bubbles and lights exist in all 3. But typically as the price has increased the more tacky features disappear and more emphasis is put onto quality, reliability and actual hydrotherapy, not just bubbles.

Cheap one - basically unbranded
Mid one - Master Spa
Higher one - Sundance/jacuzzi

Ultimately the actual cost doesn’t matter, I care more for the value.

Any feedback appreciated.

I’m certainly not an expert, but was recently in exactly the same dilemma as you. We ended up going for a mid-range British Hot Tubs one for around 8k. I was wary of the sheer volume of unbranded/new hot tub websites that seem to have popped up in the last couple of years. I went to Award Leisure, partly so I could see the tubs in person before buying but also having a bit of reassurance that they have been in business for over 30 years and have very good aftersales support along with ongoing maintenance packages for a very reasonable price (£30 p/m). It doesn’t turn up until the end of the year so won’t be able to tell you if we’ve made the right choice until then!

[AndyTR]

You can get a very good spec Jacuzzi for 8k. We've had ours for 7 years and have been really impressed. We had issues with a couple of jets over 2 years in and they were replaced at service under warranty even though we were outside the warranty period. Can't fault the build quality or service so far.

[Happy Jim]

How much does a hot tub service cost? And how often would it need doing?

I’m currently wallowing around in a lazy spa Las Vegas which is great (for a cheapie), pondering moving up to a glass fibre jobbie

Thanks
Jim

[don'tbesilly]

Happy Jim said:

How much does a hot tub service cost? And how often would it need doing?

I’m currently wallowing around in a lazy spa Las Vegas which is great (for a cheapie), pondering moving up to a glass fibre jobbie

Thanks
Jim

Costs vary, however, this will give you an idea of what to expect:

https://www.canadianspacompany.co.uk/products/once...

We do the full service once a year (£340.00), and when we change the water (3 times a year) we do the cleaning once emptied ourselves.

A couple of people we know use the Spa Guys:

http://www.thespaguys.co.uk/prices

[Douglas Quaid]

greengreenwood7 said:

FWIW - i've just been doing the rounds on all this; 13amp vs 32amp, makes, models etc etc.

We decided to get one to see whether it helps with Mrs recovering from a broken knee - so for therapeutic more than just lazing in the sun.

TBH, I got frustrated with the long lead-in times that so many suppliers had - 8-16weeks. Plus i'm not sure in truth how much use it'll get, so was loathe to 'invest' big £'s.
For us running a 32amp supply was a minor hassle, as its a bungalow and we could go straight in through a gable/loft and drop into the consumer unit cupboard. Had that done yesterday. That opened up a number of different options.

Found a company selling 2nd hand units, many of which were/are known brands. So Thurs we're due to get a Hotsprings Aria delivered, at the price we paid i can't see that we should lose a whole heap if its a 5 minute wonder.....18k new, a shade over 5k delivered, warrantied ( hopefully we wont need to test that).

OP - maybe that's an alternative route for you?

Hi what company was that please?

[russy01]

Interesting angle on the used ones there. Care to share the name of the retailer?

Figure you bought this one?

https://www.usedhottubs.co.uk/product-page/preowne...

Edited by russy01 on Monday 16th August 22:02

[Nickyboy]

russy01 said:

Didn’t think it was worth starting a new topic, but I’ll see if I get any opinions on here.

On the edge of ordering a tub. If you don’t like hot tubs then I appreciate your opinion, but go tell somebody else

Anyway. Where do you draw the line with these things. I have one person suggesting a cheap £4500 tub, another suggesting a mid range £8000 tub and another fairly high range model at £12k.

The basics, I.e hot water in a tub with bubbles and lights exist in all 3. But typically as the price has increased the more tacky features disappear and more emphasis is put onto quality, reliability and actual hydrotherapy, not just bubbles.

Cheap one - basically unbranded
Mid one - Master Spa
Higher one - Sundance/jacuzzi

Ultimately the actual cost doesn’t matter, I care more for the value.

Any feedback appreciated.

I bought a 2nd hand Blue Whale tub which is a Chinese brand, new it was around £8.5k i only paid just over £2k plus a few hundred to get it moved. I asked a chap i know who sells Marquis and American Whirlpool spas about the differences, the main ones were the insulation and quality of pumps etc. The heater/controls are Balboa so no issue with them. He was however right about the other points, in the year i've had it running i've had to replace the circulation pump and now have another leaking pump so that will have to be done soon. Over the winter it was costing around £80 a month to run which is mainly due to the heat loss so i'll be adding more insulation to it before it gets cold. That said, even with the repair costs, it's a damn sight cheaper than a branded one.

[Belle427]

I’d stick to an inflatable one if your new to it as it’s easy to move on when you get bored of it which isn’t that long in my case!

[Superleg48]

Nickyboy said:

I bought a 2nd hand Blue Whale tub which is a Chinese brand, new it was around £8.5k i only paid just over £2k plus a few hundred to get it moved. I asked a chap i know who sells Marquis and American Whirlpool spas about the differences, the main ones were the insulation and quality of pumps etc. The heater/controls are Balboa so no issue with them. He was however right about the other points, in the year i've had it running i've had to replace the circulation pump and now have another leaking pump so that will have to be done soon. Over the winter it was costing around £80 a month to run which is mainly due to the heat loss so i'll be adding more insulation to it before it gets cold. That said, even with the repair costs, it's a damn sight cheaper than a branded one.

Not saying this is applicable to yours, but be aware that the Chinese tubs will often have “Balboa” controls and motherboard, which are not actually genuine American Balboa at all, but manufactured in China as knock off. One way to tell, is the bona fide American Balboa motherboard is a single board, whereas the Chinese Balboa motherboards are not one piece.

The advice in the this link is worth a read.

https://glspas.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Chin...

[mikeiow]

Tye Green said:

brake fader said:

8bit said:

Question for the fellow Lay-Z-Spa owners - any idea how much your electricity bills have jumped since you bought your spa? I got a shock when I worked ours out last night, we've had our tub for three months now and comparing the electricity usage for each month with the same month last year, we're up about £100/month on average. That's quite a bit more than I was expecting, thought it would be in the order of £50-£60/month.

Wondered if I can get some sort of additional cover with some sort of thermal insulation lining to fit over the top to reduce heat loss, found this which looks like it might be OK - https://controlla.co.uk/product/insulated-and-weat...

Anyone got one of those or something similar? Seems pricey for what it is but I guess if it works well then it'll pay for itself and then some.

We have a lay-z- spa i found that placing the spa on a piece of the foam stuff you use for sleeping on whilst camping out it's about half a inch thick, helps keep the heat in over night, i also put a piece on top of the water as well, it heats up for about 5 hours a day starting at 2 pm its ok then for a dip in the evening, i find this keeps the bill down quite a lot.

we also have one (Bahamas model) and drain every couple of days and refill when needed. it takes about 10 mins to drain and 30 mins to fill up ready to use hot via combi boiler. Edit: (we don't have a water meter!)

Cheeky thread reboot!
We have the cheap Aldi inflatable tub: Quarantine Tubatino, bought back at the start of Lockdown v1
Works great!

On this costs thing....the heater on ours appears to kick in every 30 minutes for 30 minutes, so effectively running the 2kW heater for half the day - around 24kW energy.
We have what is still a decent Octopus GO tariff, so costs somewhere around £2.50-3 each day. That will likely be a lot more next winter.....

It is drained down at the moment, & I am now wondering whether it is cheaper to fill up for the weekend, use it, then drain down, rather than keep it heating throughout the week when we may only use it once or twice.

However: I have no idea how to work out what the gas heated water might cost!

We have a mains pressure central heating & hot water system. Had it a few years, boiler perhaps 3-4 years old now. Works great.

Perhaps the only way is to note the gas meter, fill it up, and note the gas meter an hour later after it has perhaps reheated the sealed tank....I just wondered whether anyone had "done the maths". My brain tells me it must surely cost less than £10-15 (plus chemical costs).....but my brain has been known to be wrong.
& yes, there probably are better ways to spend my afternoon than fretting about this