$3,500 repair bill - is it worth it?!

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R

Rifmanfamily

0
Jul 26, 2016
4
Palmer, AK
Hi there- I am VERY new to spas/hot tubs. We moved into a new house last year in Alaska that has a 2007 J335 Jacuzzi hot tub on the deck. We decided to finally have a local spa repair company come take a look at the hot tub today. Before our appointment, the service manager suggested I come in and get new chemicals, a jet line cleaner solution, and a lesson on start up.
Which I did; and last night as we got the hot tub ready, filled it up, got the power on, then we fired up the jets and water started pouring out of the bottom [emoji30]

Fast forward to today's appointment- the techs found the heater needs to be replaced along with another part AND there is a crack in the bottom of the shell. The grand total for fixing this hot tub will be $3,500.00.

We're at a loss on what to do. I could buy a portable hot tub for $400 and then roll it up and store it for the winter. I'm not even sure what the electricity will cost per month to keep this thing from freezing would cost us?! Is a 10 year old hot tub worth saving?!

Any input from other cold weather area folks on this? Help!


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Rossterman said:
With a dracked shell id pass. You can find a good fully functioning one used for that much. Time to break out the chainsaw!
Click to expand...

With the unknowns on this one, I could not see spending money on another used one just to find issues with that one. That doesn't make sense to me. A new J335 is around $12K out here... Maybe I need a second repair quote. Although there aren't tons of spa repair people here... Sigh


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It sounds like someone let it freeze, so a total write off, Hot tubs have lots of pipes, it is nearly impossible to get all the water out of them, so in colder climates you must employ active freeze protection in the colder months. Hot tubs also depreciate insanely fast partly because the initial warranties are non-transferable, therefore even a 2-3 year old $10,000 hot tub will likely only have a market value of $3,500 -$4,000, and once you get up over about 5 years old it is all about condition. If buying a used tub, stick with the major brands (Hot Spring, Dimension One, Jacuzzi, Bull Frog, etc.) as most of the fly by night brands were junk when they were built, also stick with models that are less than about 15 years old as there were a number of major improvements to hot tub design and equipment that showed up on the market around the year 2000 depending on the brand, since then improvements have mostly been bells and whistles (color changing lights, stereos, waterfalls, internet enabled controls, more shell and cabinet color and material choices, etc.).

Ike

p.s. I am not a cold weather person, but if I lived there and were shopping for a hot tub, I would likely buy from Arctic Spa's as they are designed with extra levels of insulation for cold climates (built in Canada). If they don't have a local dealer they will also sell to you factory direct, I priced a small - medium tub from them factory direct a couple of years ago, and it was around $6,500 so about 2/3 of retail. I don't know what your winter electric rates are, but assume about $1 per day to keep it warm in the winter.
 
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