Who to call, electrician or hot tub repair

[pool mum]

Hello everyone. Some background and a quick question or two.

We moved into our current house 2 years ago. It came with a Sundance Optima spa which was in great condition physically/cosmetically but not working. It's clean, no leaks, etc. We had a repairman out to look at it and he said the circuit board was shot, but since it was an older hot tub, it wasn't worth repairing. We left it at that and haven't done anything with it since.

My thinking is that since it's in really good condition otherwise (even though it's older), it would be a huge waste and expense to haul it off and buy a new one. What are your thoughts? If we proceed with a new circuit board, do I call an electrician or a hot tub repairman, or do they do both? Thanks!

 

[tim5055]

Are you handy with tools? You may just repair it yourself.

Google Sundace Spa Parts, there are several out there. Here is one I found, but have no idea about them - Google only

http://www.spaandpoolsource.com

I have found that a good Independant pars supplier can give great advice. I had an old Vita spa that I repaired multiple times with help form a company in Satellite Beach FL.

 

[Isaac-1]

You don't state the age of your spa, however a quick online search suggest that the Sundance Optima was introduced around 1997?, and that the main circuit board has went through several revisions since then, all seem to have a mail order price between about $500-$575. (some may be found as used take outs on ebay for about half that) This sort of repair should be within the realm of any competent repair person (assuming the circuit board is really the problem), and the job should take less than an hour to perform, it is not rocket science, and changing a motor control circuit board out on a spa is not much different than changing one out of a washing machine, or any other appliance. If the repair person is quoting more than $750-$800 for changing out the control board I would consider shopping around, maybe try independent hot tub repair people, that don't have a vested interest in selling you a new $8,000 tub.

 

[pool mum]

Thank you!

It's a 2003 hot tub, according to the label. Our repairman told us it would run us around $2000 for a new circuit board and it wasn't worth it on a 10+ yr old spa. He tried to fiddle with it, rewiring some stuff, then told us it needed a new circuit board. Yeah, we're going to find another repair guy. That was a top of the line $10k spa at the time. We got busy with other much needed repairs on this fixer upper and haven't had time to look into it until now.

I'll call on Monday to get someone out to look at it. Replacing a circuit board is beyond my capability.