Hot Tub

[ponokareefer]

Originally Posted by ponokareefer

Has anyone ever heard of/dealt with Sun Ray Spas? Seems like an Edmonton based company.

Seems like some of dealers in Alberta are:

Home Resorts, Airdrie

Maple Bay Maintenance Ltd., Red Deer

R & R Mechanical, Sylvan Lake, AB

Has anyone ever dealt with any of these?


Sounds like a lot of happy Arctic Spa customers!

[phi delt reefer]

i was contemplating a hot tub but the electrical costs are too scary. Have you ever seen those guys in teh summer with tents that sell them? One of those companies actually setup a legit shop here in London Ontario. They have models from $2500 to $12,000 - they also have those fancy gazebos.

since electrical costs are going to continue to climb what about doing something like this. Get a hot tub and have a plumber plumb it inline with a natural gas tankless heater (about $800 for a decent one). Get a good pump to keep the pump recirculating the water through the hot tub then back into the tankless heater. Natural gas is cheaper than electricity. Its just a concept in my head - i am sure someone can point out the flaws and crush my personal hot tub owner ship dreams, lol.

[blacknife]

I have heard good things about arctic spas too, they are built between leduc and calmar. not sure where the dealers are.

My house came with an add-on with a hot tub in it. old from the early 80s, everything works but you really realize when you go to a public pool or something that it could use some more power. I really like that i can still use my tub when its -30 and not have my face freeze off i just close the windows a little more. they are left open for ventilation most of the time.

oh the point I'm trying to make don't settle for cheap if your going to take the expense get something that you will enjoy for years

[Ross]

Originally Posted by phi delt reefer

Since electrical costs are going to continue to climb what about doing something like this. Get a hot tub and have a plumber plumb it inline with a natural gas tankless heater (about $800 for a decent one). Get a good pump to keep the pump recirculating the water through the hot tub then back into the tankless heater. Natural gas is cheaper than electricity. Its just a concept in my head - i am sure someone can point out the flaws and crush my personal hot tub owner ship dreams, lol.

My brothers house had just that.
From what he was told by the previous owner was that the system worked great, but killed the heater after a few years.
The clorine, bromine or salt corroded the units out.


I have a used 1998 Beachcomber hot tub. It was a spray foam filled unit.
It developed several leaks over the years prior to us getting it.
I was quoted $1000 to re spray foam the bottom.
I replumbed alot of the fittings and lines as the glued joints were desintagrating with age.
What a lot of the Spa forums are saying is to use roxul insulation as it retains it's R value even when wet. So this is how i reinsulated it.

That being said, my electrical bill this winter (our first one with the tub) was alot higher than we we were expecting.
Approximatly $50-$75 a month more than last year.

If you buy used I would expect to have to toss at least a grand into it unless its only a few years old.
IE a 2 speed 3.0 hp pump with motor $500, a pump wet end $150, control module ($500), A cover $400+...

Next year, I'm getting a 5" cover to try to keep that heat in.


Does anyone here use the floating blankets inside there spa?

[muck]

Helped a friend move a hot tub he picked up off Kijiji. Never again.
It was stoopid heavy. Do yourself a favour if you go that route and hire some movers.

[frizzo1983]

We have had a Beachcomber for about 4 years fully insulated made in Canada for the climate, and have not had any troubles at all Knock on wood. Keep in mind that it is the new model with the full 1 piece bottom and made out of the trex deck material. great tub love it and would not give it up. I also have had 2 other friends own the same tub and never had any issues. I did alot of research for about a year and found this to be the best option due to all the pumps being under the steps was a great feature IMO. A true fully insulated Hot Tub. Stay away from Costco brands.

[shootingstar]

Originally Posted by muck

Helped a friend move a hot tub he picked up off Kijiji. Never again.
It was stoopid heavy. Do yourself a favour if you go that route and hire some movers.

HaHa, we did the same thing a year before we bought ours, so we knew how dang heavy they were.
When we purchased ours the store also wanted us to remove 2 whole sections of the fence to bring it in the "easy way".
Hubby nixed that right there, we had just finished the fence one year prior and it was a brutal job because of the lot.
He pulled his cell phone out and ordered up a massive crane. They went right over the top of the house and ever so gently put it right on the deck.
When I went to pay the guy he said the store phoned other customers awaiting delivery and 3 more agreed to go in...only ended up costing me about 50 bucks or so.
Best money I ever spent (other than the Hot Tub itself and the used volvo 760 turbo intercooler i had back oh late 80's early 90's.......still miss that car)
Side benefit - the crane with the flying hot tub without a doubt convinced the neighbours that we were truly nuts....haven't had to deal with neighbour zuccini's on the steps for 2 years now.

[ponokareefer]

So I went to Red Deer/Sylvan on Friday to check out all the hot tub places. Arctic Spa did seem to have the best built tub, but the salesman seemed more interested in bashing his competition than selling me a hot tub. I guess he must have realized that I wasn't going to spend 10K+ on a hot tub, so might as well bash his competition as much as he could.

The dealer in Sylvan only had one Sun Ray Spa in, so I decided to go to Edmonton on Saturday to check them out there. They had an ad on kijiji with 4 hot tubs from $3300 to $7800, so I wanted to buy one as they seemed like a really good deal. The salesman asked me early on what brought me here, so I told him about the ad. He had no idea what I was talking about and asked me for a copy of the ad. After about 20 minutes and showing me all their products, he asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I was interested in one of the ones from the ad. He then tried to upsell me to a better hot tub in every possible way, going so far as to call me cheap for only wanting a lower end tub with "pretty much no jets". Needless to say, I walked out without a hot tub. I thought any sale was a good sale? He pretty much drove me right out the door. BUYER BEWARE!

[The Grizz]

I have had dealing with the owner of Artic Spas her in Red Deer, never again!!! The only people I will ever deal with for hot tubs or my indoor pool is Jim & is great staff at Harbour Spa (formally Beachcombers). They hav a quality product and service is second to none. I have seen them install a tub once, they couldn't get the tub in without taking apart a fence so I thought. Instead the pulled out a long cart tipped the tub on it's side and wheeled it into the back yard and it was winter time to boot. The tub was ready to be filled within an hour. The owner started to fill it while the boys went and installed another tub, they came back a few hours later when tub was full and made sure it was all good. My neighbor was very happy with the service, we have moved since but they still live there and we have enjoyed the tub many time, they have never had an issue at all.

[ponokareefer]

Ended up going with a used hot tub from Sun N' Fun in Red Deer. It was a really nice hot tub at a good price(compared to kijiji ad's), they delivered at a reasonable price and hooked up the electrical to the hot tub with the delivery. Gerry was great to deal with.