My wife and I recently purchased an Envoy NXT with the Ace System. We have been using it since December and it has performed exceptionally. Last night one of the local Hot Springs dealers had an event that they invited new Ace System users to. They had someone from corporate talk about the system and go over setup and operating tips. Of the 10 or so tubs represented, 3 people had their cells fail in the first year. The thing that struck my wife and me was how little everyone else knew about the system. All three of the people that had them fail had water that was far higher in hardness than 25-75 range, which is what is recommended for the system. One of them was on a well and didn't treat the water for hardness at all. Most everyone else was very surprised to learn how the system works and what it is actually doing. I think it was a great event for all that attended, I know a lot of the people said they benefited.
What is the point of this post? Well it is two-fold really. First and foremost it is to give a tip of the cap to our salesman Eric (twincitieshotsprings) for the amazing job he did explaining the system to us and the walk through he provided when we filled the tub to make sure we were setup for success and not failure. I would venture to say 95% of what the rep said we already knew from Eric. None of what we learned was imperative to proper setup or operation of the system. Second, I think it is important to note because people say these systems aren't reliable. I know the sample I'm drawing from is small, but based on what I saw last night many of the recent problems are because the owners simply didn't understand the system. I'm surprised people would spend the money on that system and not really get to know and understand it. Maybe it is the way their salesperson represented it as being "hands off", I don't know. That was certainly not the experience we had. Another thing to note is the rep did admit that when they first released to market they had some learning to do, and the early failures were a result of that.
This is further proof that the person you're buying the tub from is an incredibly important part of the decision process.
