Artesian Switchless Motors: Issues?

[The Wizard of Spas]

I've carried Artesian Spas for a while but not a real long time.  A sales point that we tout is they have switchless motors.  The angle is: 10-12 less moving parts that encourage a longer life span and the motors are slightly quieter. 

The noise part is something I never bring up as it seems flimsy but the less moving parts thing is a definite sales tool. 

My question:  As I dont have enough units out there beyond a few years I haven't actually seen any tubs long-term.  Some of my competition claim that the switchless motors have issues.  I have never encountered this issue but I also dont have any tubs that are really old. 

My other high-end line, Catalina, has Waterway 4.0HP/7.0BHP 55k Executive motors and they've preformed very well for me for the 20+ years I've carried them. 

I've spoken to other Artesian Dealers and they say they haven't had any issues with the switchless motors either.  But I just wanted to cast a wider net and see if indeed this is just the competition trying to knock my product or if there is something to it.

Thoughts?  Thanks in advance. 

[BullFrogSpasMN]

"Some of my competition claim that the switchless motors have issues."

My statement/question to the consumer at that point would be, "are they trying to sell you motors over there? or a hot tub?" because here I can offer you some great hot tub options, if you have 20 minutes I'd love to show you what we offer, let me ask, what are looking to get out of a spa, what hurts? what type of jets do you like?, ohh you've never owned one? whats changed?

change the approach....nobody cares about motors, they want a good deal on a nice spa from a reputable dealer that will fit their needs/budget and they also want to buy from someone they like..getting into an argument with the guy across the street about motors helps NONE of this process along...give it a try :-)

[The Wizard of Spas]

Yeah thats a pretty excellent approach.  Well done. 

I do hope that the switchless motors don't have any additional issues moreso than standard motors.

And I messed up the question:  Do the switchless motors have more issues than normal?

[BullFrogSpasMN]

Yeah thats a pretty excellent approach.  Well done. 

I do hope that the switchless motors don't have any additional issues moreso than standard motors.

And I messed up the question:  Do the switchless motors have more issues than normal?

I know Bullfrog uses Aqua Flo XP2 Extreme E pumps, I took a peak and it never said whether it was switchless or not...Hot Spring also utilizes the same pump(s) and I can say that warranty claims for motors/pumps overall has gone way down in the past 10 years from what I've experienced, same goes for circ pumps, although the smaller ones that use a 3/4" line can still get finnicky especially if you aren't good at keeping your filters clean (ie FLO Errors). it seems the ones that do fail will fail right away within the first month or so otherwise I would say overall quality has improved regarding motors/pumps...same goes for heater elements now that I'm thinking about it...spas seem to have come A LONG way in 10-15 years as far as quality/reliability overall :-)

[Vinny]

Here is a sampling of 1 ... my Artesian Grand Cayman with 3 therapy pumps and a circulation pump. For about 10 years I had almost zero problems and I believe they all are switchless motors; the circ pump runs 24/7/365. I had to rebuild the seal on pump 1 that was leaking about 2-4 years ago and it is making a squealing noise now when turned on - I have to take a look to see if it's the pump or the motor ... maybe squirt some Superlube on the bearing end to see if the noise goes away. Pump 2 is maybe a little louder these days than it used to be and I very rarely use pump 3.

How noisy is my pumps when turned on vs another tub - they are loud but not as loud as my pool pump but I don't have anything to reference to it as other brands may be as loud as well.

I don't know if this helps or not - 4 pumps in 1 tub doesn't equal a big study! LOL!

[Tman122]

Here is a sampling of 1 ... my Artesian Grand Cayman with 3 therapy pumps and a circulation pump. For about 10 years I had almost zero problems and I believe they all are switchless motors; the circ pump runs 24/7/365. I had to rebuild the seal on pump 1 that was leaking about 2-4 years ago and it is making a squealing noise now when turned on - I have to take a look to see if it's the pump or the motor ... maybe squirt some Superlube on the bearing end to see if the noise goes away. Pump 2 is maybe a little louder these days than it used to be and I very rarely use pump 3.

How noisy is my pumps when turned on vs another tub - they are loud but not as loud as my pool pump but I don't have anything to reference to it as other brands may be as loud as well.

I don't know if this helps or not - 4 pumps in 1 tub doesn't equal a big study! LOL!

How old is your tub Vinny?

[Vinny]

Yeah, I should have said! it'll be 11 YO in May; its a 2005.