First off my answer is a very firm NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!

I started this thread to see if anyone else has had any issues with a Sundance.

When my wife and I purchased our home in 2004, we were delighted to find out that the home came with a hot tub. In fact, we were amazed to find out that the spa was less than a year old, and the tub had cost 10K !

It is a Sundance Maxxus, and is very large, and has many ammenities, lights, stereo, very nice indeed.

Unfortunately from the very start, we have had nothing but problems with this tub. In fact, our repair people have seen the tub more times than we have.

We are on our third circulation pump, and about to install a fourth one. The motherboard for the electronics has been replaced twice, and appears to be having problems AGAIN as we speak.

A good deal of the time, there are other minor but nagging issues. Much of the time, we will go out to use the tub, and the "Flo" indicator is on, which much of the time puts the tub into what is called the "watch dog" mode, where the tub shuts down, and has to be reset. At least, half the time the tub has not been available when we have wanted to use it.

As I have many times told my wife, and our dealer, that had we been the ones that had paid 10 grand out of pocket, we would be the customers from hell. I have joked that if it were not for the size of the tub, I would haul it in my pickup to the dealer and dump it at their front door.

Bottom line for us, while obviously we must be the exception to the rule, we wouldn't touch another Sundance with a ten foot pole !

Just got through paying $280.00 for another circulation pump. This is now the tubs FOURTH one.

I would think that if you have the complete service record and it shows consistant repair for the same problems, you are dealing with a lemon. I have a pre-owned 2002 Optima and I have been told by my dealer (who sold it originally) that it is all still OEM with the exception of my added Ozone because the original owners mined it from the tub to save a few bucks on their new Sundance. There is one exception and it's the blower which has been changed twice (new for me) -- and on any tub, those are known to have a very limited lifespan.

Otherwise, it is now six seasons old and still going strong -- even through 102" of snow and average temps all winter below 22 F.

AGE

Sounds like the FLO problems with your spa tend to come from lack of maintenance. The FLO indicator is typically associated with not cleaning the filter. If your tub has the 2 stage filter consider changing to just the paper cartridge type filter and eliminating the small micro clean filter. Remember a spa needs to be chemically balanced weekly.

Hi,
In response to the firsat entry, I was wondering if you ever discovered the problem with the FLO switch? I have a 2003 Altamar and am having the same problem. We were going to replace the motherboard, and I noticed that you did and it did not fix the problem. Did you ever figure out what needed to be replaced?
Kelly

Was the Flow Sensor ever replaced? And were there any tests done to see if the FLO problem was coming from the Flow Sensor, or another issue such as a clogged filter? If the original filter was a two-stage (whether it be the two pieces MicroClean + Paper Cartdridge, or the single Paper Cartridge with the divider in it), and the new filter doesn't have the "barrier" between the two stages (like the newer MicroClean + filters), then a FLO problem can occur as the main pumps come on and take away the "flow" from the circ pump side.

Hope that made sense, and helps a little.

Tom

Re Sundance circ pumps. I have a sundance cameo purchased in 2002. It is on its 5th circ pump. Spa repair shops tell me this is one of the most popular repair items for sundance and they only last approx 1yr. This failure caused the GFI breaker to blow and I was wondering if this was just a starter capacitor going bad. Has anyone look into this?

One thing to check (that is very difficult) is that the supply line from the output of the pump is not kinked (INSIDE THE SPRAY FOAM) This caused excess back pressure on the pump resulting in pre mature wear.

When we purchased the spa we installed the ozone venturi and it didnt work. Now these are not rocket science and either the venturi is bad or you don't have enough flow. There was flow however it was not enough to make the venturi operate. After a long and difficult battle with the store and Sundance themselves, it was determined that sundance had a mfgr defect and the hose was kinked inside the spray foam. Unfortunatly my shop only dug all the insullation out and bent the line. They did not respray the insullation in and only repacked what they had torn out. This causes the line to become kinked again.

Circulation pumps are a huge issue with Sundance and Jacuzzi (Sundance and Jacuzzi are built side by side). Another issue is the lack of shut off valves on the larger pumps. You really need to drain the tub in order to service or replace one of the larger pumps.

Another issue is the suction intakes at the bottom of spa came with a Cloth type filter which become loose and get sucked into the pumps creating a flow issue.Have dealt with many of these.Put a shop vac over filter intakes and turn on vac to see if the socks come out.