Hi all,
Thanks for this great forum! When I decided to buy a hot tub and found that consumer reports hasn't reviewed them, I had no idea where to turn. Now, after much research and reading through many posts, I have a bunch of newbie questions for you before I buy my first hot tub.
First off, here is my situation: I have a vacation house in the high desert (Joshua Tree, CA) that I visit about 2x/mo. Sometimes I'm there every weekend, and sometimes it's empty for 3-4 weeks at a time. I will be building a patio and pouring a concrete pad for my new hot tub. The tub will have at least one side against either a retaining wall or dirt since I have a little hill going down from the house and I want to create an in-ground "look".
Here is what I'm looking/hoping for:
-room for ~6 people
-a simple, easy cleaning/filtration system ... more questions on this in a moment ...
-energy efficiency (I have 220V available that I can run to the new tub).
-NO fancy lighting, molded recliner lounge seats, waterfalls, etc. i'm totally happy with simple bench seats and a few basic jets. the only "bells and whistles" feature i'm potentially interested in is bluetooth stereo
-ability to keep it cold in the summer
-ability to turn the tub on/off remotely (I have wifi in the house)
-LOW maintenance and a comprehensive warranty.
-attractive exterior
Can you recommend any hot tubs based on my desires above?
And can you help me understand some of these topics that remain mysterious to me:
1. I have read about the following cleaning/filtering systems: salt water, bromine, chlorine, minerals, and biguanide. There are also the ozone and ionizers, but those seem to always be coupled with bromine or chlorine. I am honestly leaning toward a salt water system, but can someone direct me to a comprehensive comparison of all of these methods? I'm still a little confused about the benefits of all of them and the relative amount of maintenance needed.
2. Since at least one side of my hot tub will be against a retaining wall or dirt, is there anything I should worry about in terms of mice and insects getting in? Should I keep a certain distance from my tub wall to the dirt and build a platform?
3. Are there any high-quality hot tubs (in terms of reliability, speed and efficiency of heating, R-value) that don't have a million fancy jets and lights and stuff?
4. Is there anything I should be looking out for in reviewing warranties? What is considered a "good" warranty for a new hot tub?
5. Are there certain hot tubs that are better suited for the high desert? We get very extreme temperatures (112 degrees F to 8 degrees F are the extremes I've experienced), very harsh sun, heavy winds, and almost no rain.
6. Lastly, is anyone familiar with any retailers near Joshua Tree/Palm Springs/Riverside? A recommendation would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance for any advice and help you can give! This is quite a learning process!