Complete Rebuild Started

[MasterTinkerer]

Well... I finally decided to follow thru on what I’ve been thinking about doing for a long time.

My hot tub is recessed into the screened portion of my deck. I’ve pulled it up out of the recess... then pulled the tub up out of the frame.

Now I’m going to replace all jets and plumbing. I’ll document the progress as I go. Any advice is welcomed.

 

[MasterTinkerer]

1st question - there are a lot of jet options... any that are more highly recommended?

 

[MasterTinkerer]

The pump was already replaced (last year)

 

[MasterTinkerer]

And the heater elements

 

[MasterTinkerer]

2nd question... my current filter says it is a 25 sq ft. How big do I need? It is pressure side.

One thing I don’t like is that the filter is 1.5”. The pump and heater have 2” fittings, so the filter will be the main choke point. Is that a problem?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Nothing to add on the questions you’ve posed but this will be an interesting thread to follow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone tackle a hot tub rebuild on TFP before.

Any room for adding in additional equipment? If you do, and in-line UV sterilizer would be a nice feature to have?

Do you chlorinate, brominate or .... other? If this is a chlorine tub, could you add in a tee to the plumbing for a Stenner chlorine pump? Or, possibly, an SWG?

 

[MasterTinkerer]

Good thinking! I do have room, so I’ll have to look into your recommendations. I used Bromine in the past, but think I want to switch to Chlorine

 

[JoyfulNoise]

With chlorine I’d definitely want a UV sterilizer. Not so much for sanitation purposes (but it is ok at that) but for supplemental oxidation. Chlorine is a great sanitizer and oxidizer but hot tubs tend to have very high bather waste loads (sweat, urine, skin, etc). Chlorine reacts with bather waste and destroys a lot of it but, in the process, can form persistent organic CCs that are more difficult to oxidize and take longer to get rid of. UV can help to destroy those organics before they get a chance to become CCs thus keeping the tub water a little bit cleaner and healthier.

If salt is a possibility (not all hot tub components are rated for salt use), then having a drape-over SWG or one built in-line, makes chlorinating the tub super-easy.

 

[MasterTinkerer]

Thanks! Any specific brands or models recommended for the UV or SWG units?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I believe Saltron makes various types of SWGs for hot tubs (drape-over and in-line styles). I don’t know of any UV light manufacturers specifically for hot tubs but, if you were to pump the water outside of the shell to an external unit, you could look at a Paramount UltraUV tank. I would search around the web in the world of spa and hot tub parts and see what’s available.

 

[MasterTinkerer]

so... I've been searching the interwebs looking for reviews on a component level (almost impossible to find)

I came across a website that seemed like it might have good info for me... but then I watched more of his videos. Check this one out (especially all of you water chemistry geeks out there - and I mean that in the most endearing way)

https://youtu.be/vxrbD7P7umA

 

[MasterTinkerer]

Well, it’s going a lot slower than I expected. Was in Germany last week for work.

Anyway, placed an order for all new components yesterday... all plumbing except the pump and heater will be replaced (including the filter).

Going with all WaterWay components. $327 in total for everything except PVC pipes/elbows and tubing for the jets.

In typical engineer fashion, I way over analyzed it and spent too much time price shopping, but ended up having a great experience with Get Pool Parts Online Fast and Easy from GetPoolParts.com. Excellent up front customer service and low prices. They even price matched the few components where they weren’t the lowest I could find

 

[MasterTinkerer]

Question...

Here is the old plumbing setup from the top of the pump into the heater element. It seems awfully inefficient to me. Suggestions?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Are those different diameter fittings??

Main suggestion - NO flexible PVC! It’s ugly and lame looking. Straight pipe, measured properly

Can you move the location of the pump/filter for better room/placement?

Pump discharge should go right into the filter, not the heater. You only want filtered water going into your heater...

 

[MasterTinkerer]

Yeah... there’s a lot of jacked up stuff inside. I was wondering about the logic of heater then filter.

Check out this one... a 2” output necked down to 1” feeding half of the tub. No wonder my flow sucked.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Oh wait! This is a hot tub rebuild, right??

 

[MasterTinkerer]

Yes

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Ah, ok. Forget my comment about the heater/pump sequence. Hot tubs will be different than pools. Likely the heater is first so that the pressure switch used to interlock the heater with a positive flow condition gets closed. After the filter could cause the heater to not come on.

 

[MasterTinkerer]

Ah, ok. Forget my comment about the heater/pump sequence. Hot tubs will be different than pools. Likely the heater is first so that the pressure switch used to interlock the heater with a positive flow condition gets closed. After the filter could cause the heater to not come on.

And that makes sense... now what about my goofed up fitting?

 

[MasterTinkerer]

Question - I need to buy the vinyl tubing to go from the PVC manifolds to the jet bodies... Is there a certain type or rating of tubing that I need to be looking for? Waterway sells the tubing also... 3/4" ID by 1" OD... but I can't quite figure out why I should spend the extra $$ for the WW brand. Can anyone help?