It's over; but now it's just begining.....

[Saved by Grace]

We did believe the Jacuzzi was the better of the tubs.  But I can certainly see why Hot Springs sells a bunch, it was no slouch.  I know Spiderman will sell a bunch because they have the best wet test area of all the 12 or so stores we were in.  Wet testing is key to selling IMHO.

Spantini, I have been doing the same thing with our yard.  I have orange spray paint outlining two different size decks and have been trying to figure out the best case senerio taking into account the direction of the tub, the overhang of the house, the septic drain field location (don't want to put any concrete piers in the drain field) and on and on.

Also, I have my electrical engineer budy on the alert.  I down loaded the 2007 Owners manual for the 480 (they don't have the 2008 one posted yet) and have printed a copy off.  I made a copy of all electrial info and took it over to him.  Just a heads up on the electical on the J480; the unit comes factory defaulted to be hooked up at 50 amps which then means your heater will not be heating if both pumps are running.  If you want to have your heater active when both pumps are running you need to hook your unit up for 60 amps and your electrician will have to make a simply modification to the circuit board.  

I discovered this while reading through the manual (again a 2007 manual).  The instructions for the modification are in the manual and my friend said it is really basic.  Can anybody tell me what the reason would be for this default setting?  I wondered if it shortens the life of the heater and/or was a energy cost situation.  My friend figured it was for energy conservation more than anything else.  I'll go with the 60 amp option because it can get mighty cold around here.

As far as when does this end....not until I am able to test my water and it is good.  Then it will end as I step into it for the first time.

In His Peace,
Fred

[hottubdan]

Jacuzzi Jim may have more info.  Here is my hit.  The only advantage of 60 amp vs 50 amp is you can run all pumps and heater at the same time.  With 50 amp you can run 1 pump with heater or 2 pumps with no heater, but not all three.

The default on all 220 spas from Jacuzzi is going to be 50 amp because most people don't need the 60 amp, standardization, and 60 amp gfci breakers are hard to find and pricey.

There are minimal differences in power consumption and there should be no differences in lifetime of heater etc.  Your energy consumption will be higher with the 60 amp as you will be attmpting to heat with the cover open more.

(With Hot Spring, you can run both pumps and the heater on a 50 amp circuit.  In that situation, we run less KW to the heater.  This comment only because I know you were looking at HS with Spiderman).

[Saved by Grace]

Thanks hottubdan.  That makes sense.  I wonder out loud if one could hook up the 60 amp breaker and flip the switch on the circuit board to run the heater with both pumps in the winter and switch it back in the summer so it only heats when one pump is running.  Or put in the 60 with it set at heat with one pump and if we find that isn't working then switch it to the heat with two pumps mode.

Any thoughts/input would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Fred

[hottubdan]

I think you could.  However, it is not quite as simple as filling a switch.  You have to shut off the poer, remove the panel door, remove the door to the control box, move a jumper and reverse.

Doable, but not practicle?

[Saved by Grace]

Thanks for the thoughts.  I think we'll go with the 60 amp option and if we find the cost is outrageous then we could always go through the procedure you described to switch it over.  I can certainly see what you mean about it not being practical to do on a twice a year.  But once to try to save money if needed would be doable.

Thanks again,
fred

[tony]

Thanks for the thoughts.  I think we'll go with the 60 amp option and if we find the cost is outrageous then we could always go through the procedure you described to switch it over.  I can certainly see what you mean about it not being practical to do on a twice a year.  But once to try to save money if needed would be doable.

Thanks again,
fred

I don't think you'll find any measurable cost difference going with the 60 amp setup.  The only time you'll be using more energy is when both pumps are on and it calls for heat.  Even with the 50 amps and the heater shuts off when both pumps are on, the spa still needs to heat to temp when one of the pumps shuts off.  The difference is that you can heat with both pumps on.  FWIW, my SD is set up at 50 amps and I never run into a situation that the temp has dropped more than the normal two degree variance for heat on/off, including NE winters.