Hot Tubs & Spas
Please note: this page contains reviews and opinions sent in by Berkeley Parents Net subscribers. Your
own experience may be different. Please always check references before hiring!
Berkeley Parents Network >
Reviews >
House & Garden >
Hot Tubs & Spas
July 2007
I would love to have a hot tub. My husband says he had one 15
years ago and they are expensive to install in old Berkeley
houses and expensive and ''a pain in the butt'' to keep running.
How expensive are they really? What about service and repairs?
My parents had a hot tub that after years of neglect is now a
planter. Do those of you who have hot tubs use and enjoy them?
Do you find they are worth the care and upkeep?
anon
We just recently replaced the hot tub in our old Berkeley house
so I can give you some estimates on cost. A new hot tub will
cost you between $3000 and $6000, depending on size and style.
Add more for the delivery and installation. If you don't have a
level cement pad to put it on, you'll need to budget for that,
maybe another $1200 or so. You will need electrical wiring done
for the pump, and if you want to be safe and up to code, you need
to hire an electrician for that. They will put in a shut off
switch and make sure it's the required distance from the house.
We got a wood hot tub, and had to run a new gas line to the hot
tub to heat the water. If you want something like a deck, or a
trellis or screen around it, then more. The main ongoing cost is
going to be in your PG&E bill, for heating the water and running
the pump. The pump, which circulates and filters the water, has
to run several hours a day to keep the water clean. We estimate
that the hot tub adds an additional 15% to our PG&E bill, even
with a heavy insulating cover. We've actually had to cut back
dramatically on our other electrical use in order to keep the hot
tub without going broke. Other maintenance: you need to test the
PH and put in chlorine or some other bacteria killer once a week.
And you have to change out the water periodically, every few
months, say.
It sounds like a lot of trouble and expense, but my husband uses
it every single night, rain or shine, to soak and read. It really
is important for him so that's why we have it! Personally I'm not
a fan - I'd rather have the garden space - but it is a big thing
for him. If you think you would use it at least 3-4 days a week
then it is probably worth it.
I hate getting wet
We installed a hot tub on the side of our hill in Montclair 3
years ago. The tub was expensive and we had to put an
electrical box up there just for the tub. We also had to have
a concrete pad installed to make sure it didn't slide down the
hill. Those 3 added up. However, the maintenance was
inexpensive.
We had it serviced twice a year and I think that was at most
$200 to clean it that often (I'm talking deep clean, drain and
scrub the tub). My husband maintained the chemicals, he did
that once a week, but it wasn't a big deal at all.
I think it's completely worth the expense, but I love hot tubs!
Jen
Feb 2007
We have a modest area of dirt in our back yard where we'd like to
build a wood deck and install an outdoor hot tub. We already have a
hookup on the side of the house where the hot tub would attach.
Problem is, we don't have any idea what the sequence of events should
be in proceeding with our project. I know we need to put in a
concrete slab, a deck, and a hot tub, but based on our past experience
working with separate contractors for a multi-step project, one
contractor will do his part of the job but not necessarily take into
consideration what needs to be in place before the next contractor
does his job--in their opinion, that's the other contractor's
problem. (In other words, the concrete contractor might put in the
slab without thinking about the wood deck that needs to be built above
it. And since neither my husband nor I are experienced general
contractors, we don't know enough details to communicate all necessary
information to the contractors.) Should we just hire one contractor
for the whole project? And if so, can anyone recommend a good
contractor who has experience with this type of project?
Hoping for a deck and outdoor tub before winter
We extended our deck to have a hot tub. It ended up taking a
year longer than we had expected. You have to have a permit,
which has to be signed off by ALL your neighbors, which means
detailed drawings, which means an engineering design for the
deck. We'd chosen and half-paid for our hot tub for months
before we got it, which created some confusion but did allow us
to know exactly how much space to design for it. We set the hot
tub into the deck because I liked that look and thought it would
be easier to get into. Actually it isn't, and if there's a
problem with it we'd have to rip the deck apart to get it out.
The hot tub people were in charge of delivery and setting it up
on the platform and using the wiring that the builders had made,
then the builders came back and completed the rest of the deck.
We had to creep over planks for two weeks to use it, but overall
that went very smoothly.
We chose an expensive portable electric system which has worked
well and has very low utility bills. Gas- powered wooden hot
tubs are less comfortable to use and require a separate place
for the gas heater and its concrete foundation.
You want to think about: screening from neighbors; lighting,
allowing lots of room for splashing and overflow. Also, a tap
installed close by for refilling and cleaning the filters is
convenient. Consider where you're going to drain it, such as:
away from your foundations.
My husband uses it every night and loves it. Generally a really
great investment, worth the trouble. Fiona
Feb 2007
Does anyone have any advice about:
- where to purchase a hot tub in the Bay Area?
- what are the best hot tubs?
S.
We recently had to replace our gigantic old fiberglass spa, which
came with our house, and now had a broken pump. We visited the
hot tub place on Ashby near the freeway and also a place in
Fremont: Crystal Springs Spas in Fremont,
657-4584. They have a good selection to look at, and the
saleswoman was very helpful and not pushy.
We also did a lot of research online.
We ended up buying a
wood hot tub from Robert's Hot Tub in Richmond.
http://www.rhtubs.com/ He ships them all over the world and is
famous for his hot tubs. We are very happy with our wood hot
tub. It has a smaller footprint than the big old spa we had
before, it smells really nice (it's cedar), it looks beautiful,
and when it wears out after 15 or 20 years, we only have wood
planks to recycle, not a big chunk of plastic (it was a pain
finding someone to take our old one but that is another story).
We were also interested in energy costs - the plastic spas do
have insulation where the wood ones are just wood. We think that
because the wood one has a smaller surface area, it loses less
heat, so they work out to about the same. In terms of cost, the
price of the wood tub was about the same as the small-ish plastic
spas we looked at, but there were additional costs for the wood
one - running a gas line for the heater, paying someone to put it
together, and building a little deck and steps into it. Roberts
recommended a contractor to do this and we were very happy with
the results. We felt the additional cost was worth it considering
the aesthetics and ease of recycling at the end of its life. Go
look at the website -- I think you can see examples of Robert's
hot tubs at the place on Ashby but it's not that much farther to
Richmond (you need to make an appt first though because it is not
a showroom - it's a workshop).
Ginger
The most important thing that I would recommend is that you open
up the yellow pages, find several hot tub distributors, and then
go to the showroom to actually TRY OUT the hot tubs they sell.
When we were shopping around I thought that I knew what kind of
tub that I wanted, but after actually sitting in several I
discovered that I was wrong. Yes, it can seem kind of silly to
sit in your bathing suit in a hot tub in the middle of a
showroom. But it's a big investment and you don't want to regret
it. That said, we've owned a Hot Springs spa for 6 years. It's
had some problems, but they were all covered under the warranty.
anon
July 2003
Our extended family is researching buying a hot tub, we're hoping
to find a round, attractive tub that has jets good for arthritis.
Any suggestions on dealers or tubs you love?
Thanks
Vicki
Sundance Spas are the best. The only two to even look at are
Sundance Spas or Hot Springs. (The ones at Costco and Home Depot
are poorly constructed.) The jets on Sundance Spas are the
superior. Sundance is on Jacuzzi Street in Richmond (close to
Costco). The closet Hot Springs retailer is in Marin.
What ever you do, wet test them. Bring you bathing suit and a
towel to the store and GET IN! This is the only way to really
try them. Don't be shy. This is an investment that will be with
you for a long time and will improve the quality of your life.
Considering buying a house with a hot tub
May 2002
Hi -- we are considering buying a house that has a hot tub-
- a luxury item that we have no idea what it involves...
Is there a lot of maintenance that needs doing? Chemicals
that need adding? Cleaning? Do you have to heat it all the
time or do you turn it on a day before you want to use it?
Do they take a lot of energy to run (it does have a
cover). OK, I have exposed my ignorance, now someone
please take pity ...
Shahana
We bought a house last year with an existing hot tub. Our
agent insisted on having it added, at the seller's expense,
to the one year home maintenance policy they gave us.
Otherwise it would have cost us about six hundred dollars
to get working properly - the previous owners had not
maintained the water quality properly so it was leaking,
heater switch was burned out, needed new filters and so
forth. Gary from Spa Repair Plus was absolutely great and
gave us lots of advice on how to maintain it properly.
Other spa repair people didn't even return phone calls, and
those who did refused to have anything to do with a
Jacuzzi - they're hard to work on, apparently, and the
parts are expensive. In the long run, actually, we'd be
better off with a smaller tub with an ionizer instead of
chlorine, and a gas heater I believe is cheaper to run, so
sometime when we're rich and famous we'll probably exchange
it. We love it, though, and its been great to have.
Fiona
Feb 2002
I am looking for a cover for our Hot Tub. Does anyone have a suggestion as
to where to find a used? I would appreciate any information about non
chemical water treatment for hot tub use as well.
Thank you
I think you may have trouble finding a used one because the shape and
size of the tops can vary so much. Also I think by the time people
decide to get rid of their covers, they are pretty mildewed and
watersogged and beat up. We recently needed a new one, and we just
went on the web and found a place in So. California that made it to
our specifications and delivered it. We are very happy with it. Just
go to http://google.com and type in ''hot tub cover''. One thing I
wanted to recommend was getting a ''spa cover lifter''. It's hard to
explain, it's basically a metal bar that attaches to the side of the
tub that the cover hangs on when you've using the hot tub. You raise
or lower it to move the cover off and on, and it keeps it off the
ground and out of the way. Here's a picture of the one we got here:
http://www.specialtyspacovers.com/coverupspacover.html I think this is
also the place we ordered the cover from but I'm not sure. For us, the
cover lifter was a big improvement over lifting the heavy
waterlogged cover off and on. Good luck.
Ginger
Sept 2006
Does anyone have a spa repair person they trust? All the
recommendations on the website quite dated. Has anyone had
experience with Greg Taylor from Spa Repair Plus?
Thanks
Adele
John from Satori hot tub has been repairing and maintaining our hot tub for over 20
years-- 7 years for us and 15 years for the previous owners. He is knowledgeable and
pleasant to work with. He is good at presenting options for repairs. His number is
510-339-1566.
judy
Oct 2004
Any recommendations out there for someone to repair
(problems with the heater) and help us maintain a 15 year
old Sundance hot tub/spa? Has anyone had Rick Dykstra
work on their spa?
Thanks
We have used Hercules Pool Care for the last 10 years, and
have been very pleased with the work. Tracy is honest,
punctual, reasonable, and does a great job maintaining both
pool and spa. He has done a better job than any of the
previous companies we used. He can be reached at 510-410-
7273.
kelly
Oct 2002
Anyone out there with a hot tub repair person they have
been happy with? Thank you.
kelly
We use Jim at Jim's Spa Service. He helped us get our
wooden hot tub into good shape when we first bought our
house, and continues to help us when we need something.
Very nice, down-to-earth guy, extremely knowledgeable. His
number is 547-2301.
Happy hot tubbing, Heidi
Home |
Reviews |
Advice |
Members |
Post a Message
Join BPN |
Help |
What's New |
Search |
Contact Us
Last updated: Dec 9, 2007
Copyright © 1996-2008 Berkeley Parents Network
The opinions and statements expressed on this website
are those of parents who subscribe to the
Berkeley Parents Network. Please see
Disclaimer & Usage for
information about using content on this website.