looking at getting a hot tub

[fangular]

hi i'm new here and would like some advise. i am looking at a hydropool 625 self-cleaning and a beachcomber 380 any feedback would be great. thanks

[sorebikr]

Do you have any specific questions?  People here are great but there's been a lot of spam recently hitting the boards and I didn't want you to get discouraged if you don't get a response right away.  Do you have questions about reliability?  Good prices?  Comfort?

Have you wet-tested either of them?  What features are most important to you?

[fangular]

i was thinking more on the hrydropool because it is self cleaning therefore less draing of hot tub. it is more expensive than the beachcomber  but it has more jets and 2 pumps. both dealers seem to be good but that is just from being on the sales floor. as i don't have any experience with hot tubs i was wondering if either is the better tub. thanks.

[fangular]

Ok I'm not getting any feedback so I think we are going for the Hyrdopool. We sat in both today and the Hydropool was much better, hopefully we are making the right decision.

[Jet Sitter]

fangular - I have taken a close look at Beachcomber tubs and believe them to be well made quality tubs.  I am not familiar with Hydropool and it is not a name that is mentioned very often in this forum, for what its worth.  Self cleaning sure sounds like a nice feature - could you explain what it does and how it is different from other tubs?

[fangular]

The self cleaning tubs clean 100% of the water every 15 minutes, it cleans across the surface using a high flow skimmer and pre filter before going through pressurized micro filtration, it also has a hydroclean floor vacuum which removes heavy debris. This is some info from the brochure.

[fangular]

 this is from their website    http://www.hydropoolhottubs.com/Hot-Tubs/Self-Cleaning/6-Person/625

[ejf The Spa Guy]

i am not as familiar with the Hydropools, but have seen and read the brochures. In any industry you deal with .. say appliances , vacuums , etc,,, say your range has a self cleaning button. Is it really self cleaning? Don't you have to wipe it out still.... I know i mine you still have to wipe it out, so how is that self cleaning? there are other spas that claim they are self cleaning. Wouldn't that mean you have to do nothing on the cleaning...what about foaming, the junk sticks to the walls at the water line, those will not clean of themselves,,, some of the self cleaning claim they have a cleanup cycle, i do not believe that constitutes self cleaning.. BUt if it pulling the water thru the base then goes thru the pump and heater before the filter what happens to the pump and heater over time..yes it skims of the bottom, it probably does a great job on the floor? but what is going to be pulled in on the base,,Sand. i think your better form of skimming is on the waterline, body oils , soaps, scum, and the just will be on the surface....Just something to think about..

[fangular]

I don't know if the bottom vacuum pulls the water through the heater and pump before the filter but I will have to check that out, thanks for bringing that to my attention, but I do know that it cleans at the surface too. Thanks for your input.

[ejf The Spa Guy]

If you check out the owners manuals on their site, page 20 and page 34 they show a very good diagram of the system. First the self cleaning basepulls water in throught the heater and pump, also the skimming of the top it has a small box with basket, to catch the large debris not the fine particles. It also shows when you fill the tub you have to pull the basket out and connect to a rubber hose bib!!!!! check out the pictures on their site about the water weight yet they have a manifold supported from top under shell not on the base... And on the self cleaning timer... again if you check out the filter schedule on the self cleaning it shows the spa is designed to run every 12 hours for 2 hours,,, and they can be set for length of time during the cycle, 1 hour 2 hours 3 hours etc... the self cleaning system will turn on 15 minutes after the pumps shut off, meaning when you use the tub ,, the jets shut off , the theory is the junk will drop to the floor and then the pumps will turn on...there are several hot tubs on the market that do that,,, they just pull the the rounh suction fittings in the bottom of the spa. But again all the junk is going thru the heater and the pumps first,,,to me that does not make sense....just a few more things to think about....