Cal Spas, opinions on quality vs. price?

[SpaMan]

OH hahahaha!! You thaught... HAHAHAHA! OH thats a good one you got me good!hahahaha!

[Gomboman]

Are you spaman.com?  Just curious what happened to him.  I'm assuming you changed your handle?

[SpaMan]

SpaMan is my boss he will be off of the board "til October 5th. He asked me to pop in and to keep him informed sorry that was not clear before. Hes workin on some project. But by the looks of the pics he keeps sendin' me it looks a bit different.

[dino]

And that statement does no justice to the Plague.

Two years into ownership and $2,000 repairs on a $6,400 tub.  The company works like crazy to void the warrantee (ridiculous wiring requirements and so forth) lies to you when their dealers go belly-up (not infrequent for this brand that will apparantly deal with anyone to move tubs) and then screws you a second time to avoid bad press.

Read the reviews and run run run !

[Chris_H]

Dino,

Did you see how Pelican filed for bankruptcy?  You can Google "Pelican Pool & Ski Center Bankruptcy Case 05-22983 (DHS)" to see the largest creditors or go to the PACER network and put in the case number for all the details.

Chris

[drewstar]

And that statement does no justice to the Plague.

Two years into ownership and $2,000 repairs on a $6,400 tub.  The company works like crazy to void the warrantee (ridiculous wiring requirements and so forth) lies to you when their dealers go belly-up (not infrequent for this brand that will apparantly deal with anyone to move tubs) and then screws you a second time to avoid bad press.

Read the reviews and run run run !

What are the wirring requirements for the tub? Are they significantly different than other tubs?  Why?

[SpaMan]

And that statement does no justice to the Plague.

Two years into ownership and $2,000 repairs on a $6,400 tub. šThe company works like crazy to void the warrantee (ridiculous wiring requirements and so forth) lies to you when their dealers go belly-up (not infrequent for this brand that will apparantly deal with anyone to move tubs) and then screws you a second time to avoid bad press.

Read the reviews and run run run !

Of course there are those who will not take the help they need and would rather complain about it! SpaMan offered to help with anthing Dino needed and Dino  declined. You cant satisfy everyone I guess!

[drewstar]

What are the wirring requirements for the tub? Are they significantly different than other tubs?  Why?

Trying to answer my own question, and from Dino's previous post, it seems the Cal spa specified a #6awg  wire for ground.   I belive my Tiger River  states a #10 awg for netural.

My electrician  made the "cable" from individual wires encased in sealtite.  As was also done for my previous wireing job for my Nordic.  

Are you upset because you couldn't buy an off the shelf  sheathed cable?  

All 240v tubs require a custom made whip, no?

Or is A #6awg significanlty more exspeive than the #8 or #10 that other tubs state? If so, how much more expsensive?

?

[Mendocino101]

Trying to answer my own question, and from Dino's previous post, it seems the Cal spa specified a #6awg  wire for ground.   I belive my Tiger River  states a #10 awg for netural.

My electrician  made the "cable" from individual wires encased in sealtite.  As was also done for my previous wireing job for my Nordic.  

Are you upset because you couldn't buy an off the shelf  sheathed cable?  

All 240v tubs require a custom made whip, no?

Or is A #6awg significanlty more exspeive than the #8 or #10 that other tubs state? If so, how much more expsensive?

?

#6 does cost more than #8 and #8 costs more than 10 etc ......I think the majority of spas run off of 4 wire pull ( excluding some Watkins products)and in most cases you will be perfectly fine going with as example 3 pulls of #6 and using a # 10 for the ground. You can use # 8 for the pull sometimes if your run does not exceed a certain number of feet, and still be within electrical codes. I think manufactures will state what has has the least amount of room for error or interpretation. I question if your wiring is all up to code that some odd requirement a maker places would be legal grounds to void a warranty.

[drewstar]

Is the price diference significant? I'm trying to understand why Dino is so upset with the fact his tub requried a #6awg ground.  

[Mendocino101]

as a per roll price (500 ft) I think it is about 20.00 per roll. Number 6 is the safe and common answer but if your run is short enough than number 8 is fine and again within electrical code.

[drewstar]

Ok. Thanks for the info. Good stuff.

Sounds like the #6 AGW moaning is a non issue then.

[Wisoki]

Well, I'm not really aware of all the ins and outs of Cal's warranty, but the need for a number 6 ground wire is rediculous. If your hots and neutral a #6 then #10 is sufficient for ground. The difference is you CAN buy 6/3 wire w/#10 ground all in one, you CANNOT buy 6/3 wire w/#6 ground all in one. Froom the consumers stand point, the extra money spent on installation pulling 4 seperate wires is about a hundred bucks, parts and labor. Oh I guess when you are spending 5,6,7 or 8K a hundred more bucks aint nuthin, in my house that's groceries for a week!

Ok. Thanks for the info. Good stuff.

Sounds like the #6 AGW moaning is a non issue then.

[SpaMan]

Well, I'm not really aware of all the ins and outs of Cal's warranty, but the need for a number 6 ground wire is rediculous. If your hots and neutral a #6 then #10 is sufficient for ground. The difference is you CAN buy 6/3 wire w/#10 ground all in one, you CANNOT buy 6/3 wire w/#6 ground all in one. Froom the consumers stand point, the extra money spent on installation pulling 4 seperate wires is about a hundred bucks, parts and labor. Oh I guess when you are spending 5,6,7 or 8K a hundred more bucks aint nuthin, in my house that's groceries for a week!

Check the local codes to see if a #10 is o.k you may be surprised!

[Brewman]

When I ran a 100 amp sub panel to our basement, I used (2) 4 awg copper THWN wires for the hot leads, a#6 neutral, and would have been allowed a #8 ground.  I opted to use a #6 ground, as the cost per foot wasn't much even for the length of the run, probably less than $10 extra.

I fed the spa from this sub panel.  My spa doesn't need a neutral, so I ran (2) 6 awg THWN hots, and a #8 ground.  I could have ran a #10, it was allowed per code, but I opted for the #8.  The cost difference was only a few bucks in this case.  Had I needed a neutral, I would have been allowed to run a #8.  

But in both instances I was allowed to go one size smaller for the neutral, and two sizes smaller for the ground.  

This job was inspected and approved by our state board of electricity.

In my area we're not allowed to feed a spa with romex, becase the ground isn't insulated.  Sizewise it'd be okay.

NEC allows downsizing neutrals and grounds in some instances, but local rules can override.