Are
you in the market for a new hot tub? I live in what we call hot tub row,
in reference to the many hot tub dealers all located in the same area..
These include Cal, Hotspring,
Sundance, and others. I have explored them all, every dealer I could
find. The first thing I can say is that some of the things you may think
are important, really aren’t.
Take, for example, accessories, like the lounger seat you can put in the
hot tub. When purchasing my first spa, I just had to have a lounger.
After two months of trying to stay in the seat with the jets pushing me
up, I never sat in it again. Loungers are nice, but they aren’t for me.
Trying to stay seated was stressful, just what you don’t want in a hot
tub. One dealer said that women have an even harder time staying on them
because they don’t weight as much as men. Also women have a higher ratio
of body fat to muscle, which makes them tend to float easier than men.
Next, should you purchase an ozanator? A salesman might encourage you to
buy one, saying it will save you a lot of money because you won’t have
to use as many chemicals. However, I know someone who bought the same
spa with the ozanator that I bought without one, and though we use our
tubs about the same, we both use the same amount of chemicals. Who knows
if an ozanator really helps or not?
But jets are another story. Jets are wonderful. Before buying, I sat in
several empty hot tubs at different dealers just to get an idea of where
the jets would hit my body when I was in for a soak. My favorite spot in
my spa has two rows of jets that massage either side of my spine, which
really relaxes me.
Filtration is important for removing large debris that fall into the
pool. You can buy tubs with one large filter or several smaller filters,
but they all do the job. My current model has one large filter, but as
far as I know, a bank of smaller ones works just as well.
One thing to have installed for sure is a cover lifter. They cost about
two hundred dollars, but they’re worth every penny of it. Covers are
heavy and cumbersome.
Last is considering whether you should buy a 220-volt spa or a 110-volt
spa. The heater in the 110-volt version will need to run longer to keep
the water hot. This will make you energy bill skyrocket. The 220-volt
version is more common. Your energy bill will only go up $30 to $50 a
month.