New Spa! Kinda...

[Kias]

Well, we were a couple weeks from dropping a whole ton of money on a Dimension One Sarena Bay spa when my wife came home and said, "My friend said we could have their spa for free if we just get it out of there. Oh, and she said it needs a new motherboard and that would cost $600."

Ok, I had visions of every free craigslist spa ever! Basically, junk. But I said lets go see it.

This was my first sight:


Well, if you know me, you know I never turn down a challenge. My hundred dollar pool is a testament to that!

I said, "Ok, lets do it..." Ugh... Sometimes I hate saving thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars.

This is the second sight I had of the tub:

Don't worry though, that'll buff right out!

It's a 2003 Vita Spa Elan 450 gallon monster tub. Paid a spa company to move it. Best thing ever!

So, everything should be here by the weekend. Got said $600 circuit board for $270, because I rock. (That was probably the cost to have their "Technician" put it in. I hope.) New filters, a tub of ahh-some, and one new jet internal. I also ordered some plast-aid, as I broke the little plastic tabs that holds the weir flap assembly in place. Been meaning to try plast-aid for some time now anyway. It was that or spend 90 bucks for a new flap.

So, hopefully I'll be putting the first batch of water in it by Saturday. We'll see!

- - - Updated - - -

Uhhh... That first sight picture must of been my third sight because I don't see the pillows. You get the idea though!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Sweet Deal! You sound like the perfect person to fix that puppy up!

I wanna know how much it ends up costing you compared to that $600 quote. Get'er Done!

 

[Kias]

Goodies are starting to arrive!

The new filters showed up today.
The Ahh-Some showed up. Put a tad in the washer, and a tad in the dishwasher as I had no where else to play with it. All I can say is, Ewwww!!! But they're clean now!

The plast-aid also showed up, so I got busy!



First on the list was the little handle to turn the freshwater mister on and off.


I just mixed some powder with the liquid, stirred until it was in a putty state, and molded a new knob with my fingers.

Done! Good as new. I could've made a mold with silly putty from the half of the existing knob, turned it around and poured in the liquid goo. I also could've put black acrylic paint in to match the color. However, this knob is located inside the filter chamber and isn't seen at all. So I wasn't going to waste my time.

Fixed the weir flap assembly. Just the little tab on each side where a screw holds the whole thing up in position. Also on the inside, so no great artwork needed.


Then I fixed one of the air valves. Seems that broke a lot, because I got 5 broken handles in the box-o-stuff that came with it. I found if you took out the guts and cleaned off all the sand and gook that was in there, the valve turns just like all the other ones! Nice and smooth.


That's it for the plastic repairs needed on this tub! I will be using this plast-aid all over the place though. I'm always breaking plastic tabs and doohickeys all the time. This is the first stuff that actually works! It is totally AHH-SOME!

I see my new circuit board was in Cleveland. So hopefully it'll be here tomorrow. Probably Friday though. He sent it USPS, so ya can't really tell when it's going to show up until the day it's going to show up.

 

[Kias]

I only wish I could make up my mind whether to go bromine or chlorine...

Looking at the magical generators for the tubs.

 

[Isaac-1]

I went with a Saltron Mini SWG for my hot tub, works great except the settings are a little course for my 215 gallon 3 person tub, would probably be fine for a larger tub like yours (only paid about $115 for it on ebay new in the box in the off season), I also replaced the old dead ozonator with a modern Del branded unit. I dump the water every 3 months or so and when I refill I just add some stabilizer and about 3 pounds of non-iodized table salt and the SWG does the rest.

 

[Kias]

Well, just ordered the inline version of the chlormaker, it'll be here Saturday. So I guess I'm going the chlorine route. Something in my brain just clicked and said, "If you're going to go inline, ya better get it in there before the water!" Ha!

 

[Kias]

Sweet Deal! You sound like the perfect person to fix that puppy up!

I wanna know how much it ends up costing you compared to that $600 quote. Get'er Done!

Ok, here's the total so far.

255.00 for the circuit board. (I know I said 270, but I'm actually looking at receipts now)
94.99 for a new remote control
32.01 for a dual pack of 6oz Plast-Aid (I'll use this stuff elsewhere)
71.74 for two new filters
49.95 for the big tub of Ahh-Some
23.99 for an active carbon prefilter. (I'm on well water)
279.95 for the SWG.

So $807.63 is the total. I'm kinda hoping the pumps actually fire up!
I've done a lot of technical research to make sure things are going to work.

It seems that so far I've saved a little over $11,000 on our original hot tub plans. (Sounds like a good start to a new pool!)

 

[JVTrain]

I've heard good things about the Technichlor brand of spa chlorinators as well. TechniChlor spa saltwater system I may get one for myself for over the winter... easier to chlorinate that way when it's below zero...

 

[YippeeSkippy]

It seems that so far I've saved a little over $11,000 on our original hot tub plans. (Sounds like a good start to a new pool!)

Now you're really talkin! :splash:

 

[Kias]

Must decon the tub.

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[YippeeSkippy]

:::: Yippee faints dead out after viewing pic.....Skippy arrives and sees spider and shouts "Cool!":::

 

[Kias]

Hahaha!

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[Kias]

Filling it up so I can run Ahh-some through it and dump it back out.

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[Kias]

Totally forgot the pic...

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[YippeeSkippy]

Remember to be careful and measure that Ahh-some out well (use a measuring tsp) cause if you use even a bit too much you get enormous amounts of foam over taking the sides of the tub... :::shuffles feet::: <cough cough> so I hear...

Oh yeah, check and see if you should be filling that from the hose placed in a particular space (mine is in the filter space so as the water goes through the intake it pushes out air in the lines) instead of just filling the tub up directly.

 

[Kias]

All filled. It didn't specifically say to fill it in a certain spot. But it did say what to do if you got air in your lines. I did not have to do that.

It lives. And it was really gross what blew out of the pipes.

Does the water need to be hot for the Ahh-some? It doesn't really say...

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[YippeeSkippy]

I let it sit overnight and the scrunge got dried and crusty. I had to scrub it off with brush and some diluted vinegar.

My foam looked like christmas snow overflowing all over....what a mess! LOL

Not sure about warm water vs cold??

 

[Kias]

Read somewhere you can mix water and Ahh-some and put it in a spray bottle if that happens

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[Kias]

Found it! Says you can use warm or cold water.

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[Kias]

That's the good stuff there!

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