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My wife has wanted a hot tub for a long time. We've got a vacation home that we will be retiring to in a few years, and I was thinking about surprising her with a hot tub on her next birthday.The house is in northeast GA, which means hot summers and relatively mild winters. I have two potential locations for the tub: Existing concrete pad behind the house (walkout basement), or build a deck extension off the side of the house. Neither presents any real logistical problems; plenty of room in both places, no zoning or privacy issues. 110v power is already in both locations. 220v would have to be run to either location, but is doable without having to do any majory surgery to the home.During the summer, we are at the home an average of three days a week. In the winter, perhaps four or five days a month.My concerns:1) Energy use. Since we won't be there much of the time, can I operate the tub effectively without wasting electricity? Absolutely, I'll give an example: I'm monitoring power on a Hot Spring model "Envoy" (5 person, 450gal. spa) right now and with just the circulation pump operating it is currently costing 0.6 cents per hour to filter the water and maintain temperature @ 8 cents per kwh which is what we pay here...with that said the spa is in a showroom (cover open) with an ambient air temp of 70-72 degrees so we're not exactly replicating an "outdoor" spa but the moral of the story is it's not expensive in the grand scheme of things2) Along the same lines: Sizing the tub. Most of the time, the tub would be used by 2 to 3 people. Occassionally, when family visits, we could have 5 or 6 wanting to use the tub. I would like it to be roomy enough for that peak use but, again, don't want to waste a lot of energy heating and filtering a lot of water when the tub is not in use. I always believe in buying whats best for you situation, don't worry about neighbors, friends, etc so much because at the end of the day you and your family will be using the spa 90% of the time3) Do I take advantage of 110v power and just deal with the slower heat up times, or does our mode of use (arriving after not being there for a few days or a couple of weeks) suggest it would be better to have the tub be able to heat up quickly. Even in a warmer climate such as Georgia I still recommend 220v power, "cleaner" power, faster heat up times, and you can run your heater and jet pump at the same time on those chilly nights4) Buying new vs. used. Better to spend on a higher end used model, rather than a low or mid-tier model? If your willing to look at used I would recommend something that is high end...your not taking the "retail hit" and sometimes people will sell them dirt cheap just because they want it out of there yard, a divorce, bought a new house and don't want the spa that came with it, etc....but use the advice posted above: make sure it is up to temperature and that everything works before you buy it.I'm sure I'll think of other issues, but that's it for now. Thanks in advance for any advice. Glad to have a resource like this.