Dreammaker Fantasy Hot Tub Spa, pros and cons

[Brentr]

I am thinking of purchasing this spa used condition, about 1.5 yrs old, $1700 asking price, and was wanting to hear thoughts. It is a 2 seater and seems perfect for the wife and I, the wife is 5ft and I am 5ft 5ins. I like the fact that it is small and weighs 235lbs empty so it could be moved very easily. Not sure how hot it can get and how fast it will heat because it is 120volts. I would appreciate all thoughts in regards to construction, reliability of equipment and costs to operate.

 

[JasonLion]

A stand alone spa is normally covered and left on all the time. The warm up time will be long, especially with a 120 volt supply. Leaving the spa on allows you to not have to worry about the warm up time.

With an insulated cover on the spa should be able to get up to whatever temperature you want eventually. As soon as you take the cover off and get in it will start to cool down. Normally that happens slowly enough that it isn't a problem, but if several people want to use the tub sequentially it could get to be a problem.

I would never call moving 235lbs "very easy" A tub is large and not so easy to get a grip on. With several people it isn't a big deal, just not "very easy". :-D

 

[Brentr]

It has a dual hot stick patented heating system. There is no heating element. They say that the water is heated using the heat generated by the pump, so therefore it is more efficient. How is this possible? Is this a scam?
On another note they say that the running amps is 11.5 amps, my pool pump is a 1.5hp and pulls only 9.1 amps. Does this sound correct?

 

[Bama Rambler]

The term "hot stick" says electric resistance heater to me. I can't believe that any pump would generate enough heat to heat that much water to 104ºF.

 

[JasonLion]

In their FAQ, they say:

The hot stick is a friction heater. The hot stick is an apparatus that basically forces the water molecules to collide with each other to create friction, which in turn creates kinetic energy and heat. The hot stick is a PVC pipe divided into 12 small sections. All of the water that goes through your spa is forced through these small sections. By forcing fast moving water into a tight space, the water molecules collide with each other to create friction and heat.

That doesn't sound very promising. While it is possible to get heat out of friction, I don't know of any way to make it efficient enough to be used as a spa heater. Also they boast about using less electricity than a normal spa, but traditional heaters are very very close to 100% efficient. Even if their friction heater was somehow 100% efficient it would still heat up more slowly than a regular spa heater. And 115 volt spa heaters are slow to begin with.

Brentr, Your pool pump is probably wired for 230 volts, while the spa is at 115 volts. To compare amp numbers you need to double the number of amps used the 230 volt device to get what the amp rating would be if it was running on 115 volts and then compare that to the 115 volt amp number.

 

[chem geek]

In this link it says that "the water heats at 1.9 degrees per hour using practically zero electricity to do so" and this link says "we heat the water at 1.9 degrees per hour". That's pretty slow heating for a spa if you are in a hurry since it's over 10 hours for a 20 degree rise.

Also, there is no free lunch here. The heating is most likely from running the pump at high speed and since the pump is not 100% efficient the heating isn't either. The extra friction results in higher head so requiring a larger pump with higher energy costs to get the same flow rate. Now if the heating was from recovery of waste pump heat, that would be something else entirely, but it's not. Dreammaker also offers a greenspa option that is a 2-speed pump with an additional (electric) heating system that is more efficient. Resistance heating is nearly 100% efficient (though in many areas electricity is more expensive than gas for the same amount of energy) while pumps are not at roughly 50% or less overall efficiency and really most of the high pump speed is wasted since one doesn't need such high flow rates when one is not in the spa and most of that high flow rate isn't resulting in heating.

 

[Brentr]

I have asked the owner if his tub has a 2 speed pump and how it all works. I am also wondering if $1700 is a good value. For those of you who have 230v systems, how long does it take for your tub to heat up and about how much increase do you see in your electric bill? I can only imagine that the wife and I would use the spa on the weekends.

 

[JoshU]

The DreamMaker "heaterless" design has been being used for 10-15 years and since the spa is full foam and assuming that you keep the cover on the spa it will do a fairly good job at maintaining heat once you get it to level that you desire. It will heat to a full 104 degrees just like any other spa on the market.

With that said it can and will take longer than traditional spa heaters.