?? New ACE water system by Hot Springs

[jb4265]

As some of you know, I have been looking for tubs and am waiting for the dealer to get his 2010 shipment in.  All he has in stock is an 09 Vanguard which I am not interested in.  He has told me about the ACE water system for $950.00.  He states that you need no addtional chemicals.  Does anyone have an insight to this and is it worth the money???

[Bonibelle]

Maybe Dan or Chris can give us an idea of what this system does. Is it similar to the system that HS introduced a little while back? 

You may want to consider that there have been MANY
"foolproof" systems for water maintence. Most that I am familiar, with did not really pan out.
Lets see what the HS guys say and you can compare the new system to what others are doing.

[Spatech_tuo]

As some of you know, I have been looking for tubs and am waiting for the dealer to get his 2010 shipment in.  All he has in stock is an 09 Vanguard which I am not interested in.  He has told me about the ACE water system for $950.00.  He states that you need no addtional chemicals.  Does anyone have an insight to this and is it worth the money???

The water care system creates the sanitizer (produces chlorine, Cl, from salt, NaCl) but you would still need to check ph/alk and adjust as needed and you may need to shock periodically.

[Bonibelle]

So Spatech would you say it is worth the cost?

[Jacuzzi Jim]

950 bucks would buy a lot of nat 2 and chlorine/shock/chems over say 5 plus years.  The way the HS boys  spout about the no by-pass filtration system and how great it keeps the water I am not sure why a system like that would be needed?   Just another way for the dealer to make a buck.  Not knocking it and if Jacuzzi had it I would try to sell it as well, someone will always be willing to buy.   

  But then I am the guy that wouldn't pay extra for the under coat on my new car.

[Spatech_tuo]

950 bucks would buy a lot of nat 2 and chlorine/shock/chems over say 5 plus years.  The way the HS boys  spout about the no by-pass filtration system and how great it keeps the water I am not sure why a system like that would be needed?   Just another way for the dealer to make a buck.  Not knocking it and if Jacuzzi had it I would try to sell it as well, someone will always be willing to buy.   

  But then I am the guy that wouldn't pay extra for the under coat on my new car.

Obviously filtration and sanitizing are two different things.

Personally I'll stick to N2 and chlorine simply because I don't have an extra grand burning a hole in my pocket (and I'm a coupon-clipping cheapskate) but we all know there are a lot of people out there that will like the idea of an auto-sanitizer (after all, we are a plug-n-play society).

[East_TX_Spa]

Here is some information on it for those interested:



Term

[Summitman]

Here is some information on it for those interested:



Term

thats a sweet red X !!!!!!!!!!

[East_TX_Spa]

thats a sweet red X !!!!!!!!!!

Really?  I've checked it on 3 of my computers here at the store and it shows up on all of them.

Hmmmmm....anyone else seeing a red X? 

Term

[Bonibelle]

I have only the red X too, Term...che cos' e?

[East_TX_Spa]

Dang, I don't think I've ever done that before....I'll get it figured out...hopefully.

Sorry

Term

[East_TX_Spa]

Hell with it...I gotta go, try again tomorrow.

I now use Firefox as my browser and the picture worked fine.  When I switched to Internet Explorer, I got da red x, too.

Anybody know?

Bye!

[Water Boy]

Hell with it...I gotta go, try again tomorrow.

I now use Firefox as my browser and the picture worked fine.  When I switched to Internet Explorer, I got da red x, too.

Anybody know?

Bye!

I can see it but I am using firefox as well. Then I looked at it on explorer, and got the red x. That is strange.

[Bonibelle]

Yep, it's Explorer...I am on Google Chrome and I see the add, Term. So something in explorer is blocking it..Bill will probably know.

[Vanguard]

Here's my two cents.  Salt systems are incredibly popular for swimming pools these days.  They are in demand by the consumer.  As we all know, Arctic has had a system out for awhile.  I would assume they've done fairly well with it.

One of the primary reasons salt systems on pools have been so popular is the way the water feels.  You get a much softer feel with the salt than you do with the traditional chlorine sanitization.  People also say their eyes don't burn as much or at all.  That makes sense since your tears are saline.

I personally thought the AutoFresh system they came out with a few years ago was a big loser.  Way too much money up front and too much money to keep the chemicals going all year.  $300-$400/year for spa chemicals was way too much.  They still have the system, but I'd bet most of the dealers have only sold a handful.  To JJ's point, Hot Spring always sold how easy the spas were to take care of.  Why then, spend $1,000 up front and $300-$400/year.

I think the cost of this new system is high as well.  If you figure $1,000 for a $10,000 hot tub, that's 10%.  That is a pretty expensive accessory.  If the cost were around $500, then I think it would fly off the shelves.  Systems for pools retail anywhere from $500 - $1,000, so the Hot Spring cost is not out of the normal range, it is just at the high end.  However, if you compare $30,000 for a pool and pay $1,000 for the system, that is a much lower percentage of the overall cost. 

As far as the chem costs go, I don't know if Hot Spring is using a specific salt that you must use, or if you'll be able to use any salt for spas/pools.  The ongoing costs shouldn't be too high for a salt system.  Maybe the Arctic guys could fill us in on the ongoing costs since they've had Onzen for awhile.

Overall, I think salt could do well if the upfront cost was around the $500 mark.  Just my two cents worth.