Hi there. This is my first post so if I not on par with any etiquette, please email and let me know. I have many questions so bear with me.

My husband just called and told me, "Merry Christmas-we have a new hot tub!" He got a nice discounted deal for the Leisure Bay Mediterranean from Rec Warehouse.

Problem is: I have no clue what to do now?!

He will be bringing it down with him (he is currently working in another state) when he visits and has already let me know that it has to be "hardwired" into our electrical system. We are planning a major overhaul of our home's old electrical in the future and I am worried that we won't be able to install it and go right away (which means it is going to have to sit for a few weeks until we are able to save up for that). Do I need to do anything special to make sure it is gonig to be safe and sound while it sits outside?

We are getting a hard cover and steps to go with it. We haven't even chosen a place it will go although hubby wants it on our brick patio (not sure about this since it is a big spa and I am worried it will but up against the back sliding doors). Our patio was professionally installed many many moons ago and it is very slightly graded to drain-will that be a problem if the spa is not on a completely level surface?

Chemicals?? I am pretty sure I can utilize our neighborhood pool company for honest advice on our water's chemistry but RW offers a choice of some kind of baqua something or bromine. Is one better than the other or should we just buy and get something else?

I am just trying to be prepared. Any other advice you can give would be deeply appreciated.

Thanks,
Jen

Jen,

Welcome to the forum and to the wonderful world of spas!

Questions are what all of us are here for.

Regarding the electrical, the spa will most likely need a dedicated 50A circuit from the home's main panel. Wether that can be utilized with your existing panel or not would have to be left to the electrician.

Leaving the spa unused for a period of time won't harm it any. The important thing is to be sure you keep the cover on and locked down (should have locks or at least clips for this purpose) and perhaps once a week open and vac out any condensation that might occur during temperature changes.

The patio will be a good solid foundation as long as the patio is firmly on solid ground. Regarding the slope of the patio, as long as it's an inch or less over the distance of the tub, you will be ok. Keep in mind that the tub should have a drain fitting on it, and you will want to locate this down slope, if possible.

Regarding the sanitizer, it is largly a personal choice. However, as far as sanitizers go, chlorine is the best, bromine is ok, everything else I wouldn't even look at. Most people won't have a problem with the chlorine based sanitizers, but some people do react to them. Only way to really know is to try it. It's also the cheapest, but don't let that fool ya, it's still the best. Some people also report a strong chlorine odor from the spa as being irritating. Generally this odor is caused by "used" chlorine being left in the water (called chloromines) and these are effectivly reduced and eliminated by adding what is known as "shock" (larger than normal dose of chlorine) to "burn" off the chloromines. This results in a cleaner, safer spa, with little, if any, odor.

Feel free to ask if you have any other questions!

I'll second Chargers advice on Chlorine. I can't tell you how awful Bromine and Baqua Spa have been in the field.

Chlorine has an awful rep- but that's simply brainwashing- used properly, you can't even tell it's in the water.

However, it's very important that you realize not all "Chlorine" is created equal. You only want to use SODIUM DICHLOR tye granulated chlorine. Tri-Chlor, Hypochlorite, and others are not suitable for use in Spas.

ENJOY!!

~Swine

Agreed... thanks for the added info!

Charger and swine--- Can i use Dichlor Granular made by ortex??? It says active Ingredient is Sodium dichlor-s- trazinetrione dihydrate---100%

Provides 56% avalible Chlorine.

Thank you johnnyspa

brand name doesn't matter-

97-99% Soidium dichor..... with a "free" or "available" chlorine between 55-65%

Yours is perfect

Great news!!! My water is so sparkling clean. it seems to work very well. cem-geek is saying Bleach will work better?? im not sure and i am hesitent to try something like that


Thanks swine Charger---anything?

Bleach is a terrible sanitizer for spas- avoid it.

PH of around 13, and only 10-15% available chlorine.

I hear you.
thanks again

Glad to see another Liesure Bay owner...

Liesure Bay gets a bad review from many here, probably due to REC Warehouse's poor business practices.

I found a beautiful SPA for a giveaway price selling in the local area, and it was a Liesure Bay SPA. I knew absolutely nothing about SPAs when I found this one and bought it soley on the basis of it's beauty and condition. The owner's said it was a 2003 model and worked fine when taken offline and placed into storage.

I bought if and moved it to my yard where it sat for many months, waiting on installation. I then found this site and began to research how to install it. I was very disappointed to see all the negative comments about this brand of SPA here on this web site. But I can tell you that my SPA works great and if it keeps running like it is now, I will be one happy SPA owner.

As far as the electrical goes, I bought #6 wire and ran a 50amp circuit to the SPA on my back patio. I have about 90 feet of this wire that ties into a Square D GFCI about 6 feet from the SPA. I re-wired the SPA to 220 as it was wired with 110 and my SPA allowed for 220. The only issue I had was finding the manual online to guide me though the reconfiguration of the motherboard's electric. It was so very easy. Once done, it all looked so nice that I couldn't turn it on for a week. I just held my breath when I powered it up because with my luck, I just knew that all my efforts would be neutered if the thing didn't work. But it did and it worked better than my expectations. Much better!!!

I love it and so don't believe the negative comments here about Liesure Bay SPAs. I have a 2003 SE model and it's wonderful!!!

Billy