Oh and by the way. I can't remember, did I leave that hose running?

Well enough for chasing skus and what not - The link to recreational factory warehouse that I provided previously is authoritative - While we're currently in negotiations with the manufacturers (thermcore/rmf) of this assembly to get better pricing, I can tell you one thing - if you can re-engineer this thing yourself, you're going to be in a much better place later on when your heater craps out a few years later.

I have a real distaste for composite single source component assemblies for big bucks that in the aftermath, make no sense. Whiich means - buy a new heater assembly that is destined to fail in 3 years- and then you can buy another one for $300++ (who knows in 3 years what these heaters will cost).

Which is why I always default to normal human behavior I think - fix it better so I only have to buy a normal element instead.

And fwiw, the bolts/washers you see in those photos were used simply to flatten out the surface of the heater cannister so a normal heater element could fit in there and actually have a flat sealing surface to work with.

You'll notice a gasket too - which - unfortunately - these were photos of my first attempt at this. I ended up having to use some big fat ugly flat gaskets on the heater element - because my original drill holes were about 1/8" off - and about 1/16" too dang big.

So what you're seeing is definitely worst case - and worst case still performs today, 2 years later.

If it died tomorrow, homeowner could replace for 30 bucks easily.

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Thanks for the info. I agree that the price of this heater is excessive considering what it is. Thanks for the very excellent alternative. It probably does the job more efficiently. I understand the washer thing. I'm not clear on what you've done to hold the temp probe in its groove. Is this a piece of spring steel from something? Looks like a piece of a money clip. How attached?

Yeah that's the high limit sensor - it still goes into the same place it was in before. Edit - After looking at those photos again, I have no earthly idea how I reattached that sensor... haha... maybe I left it hanging some place Lol. Not. I'll dig through another one and see where I stuck it.

To do this modification - you do have to rotate the assembly 180 degrees so the old elements are up at the top.

In the course of doing that, the pressure switch on the left side rotates to the back, which interferes with the box mount. What I do is cut out a small section of the box mount so the pressure switch will fit easily in the new spot. (Image 2181, fourth from the last you can see the cut out to accommodate the pressure switch).

One could do this leaving the assembly in the present position but you'd end up with exposed electrical terminals outside of the box which I'd never recommend.

And the last thing about this mod - one basically has nothing to lose to at least attempt it. The most difficult part is drilling through that stainless steel! It's a real pain, especially without a drill press. I started with small holes (titanium coated bits) and got bigger from there. Putting a slight dent into the spot with a nail or something does help keep the drill on target. Once I moved to the stepper bit - whew... It does a decent job of cutting through that stainless steel, however when you're finished, the stepper bit will pretty much be smoked... Probably would have been most effectively performed with an oil cooled drill bit.

Am I losing my mind? I thought that when I first looked at those photos there were pictures of the sensor setup. Now they're gone. I thought I remembered something that looked like the roll edge of a money clip.

A question about the Universal Heater Element in the link that Swine gave me. There is a option to "Choose 2 inch heater end gaskets". Are these gaskets for the end of the heater tube, or something I need for the element? Don't want to purchase something that I don't need.

The 2" union O-rings are useless for your application (Yes, they're for the end of the heater tube- which in 2.5" on your tub)

You're not losing your mind - there WERE a couple of photos where I had an extra 2" balboa heater I was using to just do a look-see if I could make a substitute work- but it was quickly obvious the concept was way off base, simply because of the 2" diameter.

I did remove about 10 photos from that line up to get rid of unneeded clutter.

On some versions of this heater it won't have straps, but studs that attach it to the box, along with a removable flange for the high limit sensor...