Good Day, My wife and I are shopping for a spa and are sorting out our confusions about motors, jets, options, etc. One issue i have not been able to decide on is full foam or not full foam. Full foam seems to be a good idea for energy effiency, which is important. But what happens when a leak developes in time, which probably will happen. No matter how well made, how much QC is put into a spa, there are bound to be an occasional leak in years to come.
Has anyone had experience with leaks in full foam models and were they a real pain to get at? And expensive? Is this a do it yourself fix?
We like the Marquis line and our local dealer of Marquis and they have full foam and a sturdy skirting, but I'm afraid this would make repairs difficult and expensive in years to come. Any experience??
Thanks in advance,
Allan

There are many reasons for and for not full foam.

I've yet to see any real evidence of truly 'better' energy efficiency in the long term, and yes, full foam can be a technician's nightmare if freeze-ups or other types of accidents or plumbing malfunctions occur... but they're quite rare.

Most of the leading brands use full foam. In the 8 years I've been in this business (as well as hundreds of spas repaired of almost every brand), I've only seen ONE major brand (which will remain nameless) have a problem with this due to massive blower injector failures. This was the jet mfgr problem, not the spa mfgr. Otherwise, you should probably never have a problem plumbing wise with a full foam tub.

So, take that as an endorsement itself. But on the "dark" tech side, you'll always here that we prefer to be able to 'get at the guts' when we want to, not when we have to!

All that said, like I've said a million times before, ignore the horsepower and tech specs. Pay more attention to the seating positions, comfort, number of jets, whether or not you can get a dealer to throw in full professional electrical installation on the cheap, an ozone generator, and always.. always try to get an upgraded cover (not a cheapie - as some of them are - [not all though]) with your new spa. All of these things are usually negotiable!

And Marquis makes a really nice spa. I wouldn't worry too much about longevity with this kind of issue. Unless of course you're likely to leave it full of water and turn the power off in the winter. In which case I wouldn't buy a spa at all!

Full foamed is better in my opinion. You have supported plumbing, it reduces noise and it IS less to operate than non-foamed spas. You will not find ratings for spas without foam on energy costs.

I would definitely suggest a fully foamed spa. I have had several customers in IL that do not have a fully foamed spa and their electric cost was about $40 per month. I sell Bullfrog Spas (which are fully foamed and have 90% of the plumbing in the water with you) and most of my Bullfrog customers say electric went up $15.