artesian plumbing changed

[dave0525]

hi all we have ordered a artesian Nevis should be arriving in may but have just found out they have changed their plumbing method from glueing and clamping all joints
to using shut- grip and no clamps.
we went for this brand because of the great reviews of the build quality this sounds like a short cut to produce tubs faster.
does anyone think we should be concerned don't want to waste 10 grand on a lemon
many thanks

[cranbiz]

I'll let you know shortly. My Nevis will be here either the end of this week or early next week.

I also had the same concerns when I heard about the change. Artesian does make a fine tub and a reputation for quality. With the shortages of parts and the backlog of orders, I'm not surprised.

Artesian PR says this is a positive change. I'm not so sure but we will see.

[Sam]

They say that they've tested this system and find it to be 100% effective.  It's not a standard fitting system that would require both.  Having dealt with them for over a decade, I am confident that they wouldn't make this change if they weren't confident.  We'll see what happens, but I'm not super worried. 

[BullFrogSpasMN]

Was the sales guy selling you a hot tub or a bunch of plumbing fittings? I'm confused

[cranbiz]

Was the sales guy selling you a hot tub or a bunch of plumbing fittings? I'm confused

Well, changing the plumbing connections could be a substantial change in construction and quality. The tubs I looked at in the showroom, which I based my decision on, had both glued and clamped plumbing lines.

Artesian still makes a well constructed tub, how well these new sure grip glued only connections will work for leak prevention down the road is my concern. We know from time tested experience that glued and clamped joints are superior in almost all cases than strictly glued connections. I'm assuming that the sure grip system has some sort of mechanical fit in addition of also being glued.

Time will tell

[d00nut]

I may be wrong, but isn't that shuregrip the same thing as the Vector21 plumping?  Because Vector21 has a lot of those "braided" vinyl tubing that only uses glue.

If so, I don't think I would be that worried about it.  Vector 21 has been around awhile

[CanadianSpaTech]

They might not have a choice. Flex hose here in Canada is in REALLY short supply. A couple of pool stores I have talked with recently are really having a hard time finding it in any kind of quantity for pool builds. My local parts wholesaler is out and the one place I did find some 1 1/2 they would only sell 20' per customer at full retail $$.

[dave0525]

I spoke to artisian yesterday and they have said its un upgrade costing more to produce. Apparently the hose has a special helex center that grips the fitting so the more strain put on the more it grips.so he says

[MarKee]

Marquis also uses this on most models. Better quality plumbing, stronger, and it’s a torsion hose that seals around every jet fitting.

[cranbiz]

That's great to hear. Thank you @MarKee

[BullFrogSpasMN]

Was the sales guy selling you a hot tub or a bunch of plumbing fittings? I'm confused

Well, changing the plumbing connections could be a substantial change in construction and quality. The tubs I looked at in the showroom, which I based my decision on, had both glued and clamped plumbing lines.

Artesian still makes a well constructed tub, how well these new sure grip glued only connections will work for leak prevention down the road is my concern. We know from time tested experience that glued and clamped joints are superior in almost all cases than strictly glued connections. I'm assuming that the sure grip system has some sort of mechanical fit in addition of also being glued.

Time will tell

look at the warranty, if they've changed it with the new plumbing design than it's a red flag, if not than you can assume it's been vetted and will work as well as regular fittings.  As far as clamped and glued being 'better' I'd have to see some data to back this up, I remodeled and built swimming pools and inground spas for years, nobody uses clamps + glue joints in any part of the construction and those lines get buried underground so not sure what all this glued and clamped hype comes from...if a glue joint fails it will fail, a clamp isn't going to prevent a leak since the clamp in theory would be 'behind the glue joint' so to speak. It sounds like someones marketing idea to make people feel warm and fuzzy

[cranbiz]

No, the warranty hasn't changed. Which is a good thing.

As far as glued and clamped joints, this is soft lines to hard points. I absolutely can see where a clamp on a soft line to a barb would help contain a solid mechanical connection if the glue failed. In ground pools with buried lines are almost always hard plumbing and yes, clamps are useless on those.


They do state they are still clamping glue joints where they cannot use the sure grip fittings.

I do feel better with the responses made from everyone in the industry. for that, I thank you.