Artesian Dove Canyon

[suzieq]

Does anyone know anything about this spa? (The Dove Canyon by Artesian) My husband and I are considering this model in their Platinum Class of tubs.

The "local" dealer is 1 1/2 hours away so could be a problem for service etc...

Also, any idea what I should expect to pay in New England? (Southern Vermont)

Thanks.

[bulmer4nc]

We were very close to buying a Piper Glen wich is pretty much the same Spa but without the lounger.  The best price we had was $8700 and that included cover lifter, steps, and 2 years worth of chemicals.  We ended up with a Sundance mostly because it was over $1000 cheaper and a few other things.   If the price were the same between them we may have gotten the Artesian.  Functionally we really liked that each seat had it's own control and they were variable speed pumps.  Let us know what you end up deciding.  Have you looked at any other manufacturers in your area?

[suzieq]

We have looked at the Sundance models and the Dimension 1 models. They were "listing" at $8300 and $8600 respectively. That was for a Cameo (Sundance)and a Chairman or Diplomat (D-1).

All are nice tubs. We actually went and looked at the other 2 but not the Artesian yet. I guess we don't want to drive the hour and a half to find out that it is $10K which is out of our ballpark.

[salesdvl]

The Artesian Dove Canyon is a very high end hot tub.  The unique thing that their platinum class offers is that every seat has it's own jet pump which allows a great deal of personal control.  In my opinion it is an unshoppable feature.  My suggestion, as always, is to test soak.  If the cost of the Dove Canyon turns out to be too much, you can go to the Onyx which is much less $$$ and the same type of jets.  The diff being you have one jet pump for every two seats.  good luck

[stuart]

The Artesian Dove Canyon is a very high end hot tub.  The unique thing that their platinum class offers is that every seat has it's own jet pump which allows a great deal of personal control.  In my opinion it is an unshoppable feature.  My suggestion, as always, is to test soak.  If the cost of the Dove Canyon turns out to be too much, you can go to the Onyx which is much less $$$ and the same type of jets.  The diff being you have one jet pump for every two seats.  good luck

So including the circ pump it has 6 pumps? What size breaker/service would you need to run that on?

[suzieq]

Ok, Thanks. It sounds like this is a very good tub.

Any idea on what we can expect to pay? We sent an email to the dealer but haven't heard back yet.

[Vinny]

Apparently all the Artesian lines work on 50 Amp max.

The Platinum series uses 3 HP motors for each seat and a circ pump.  At least that's what my dealer told me!

[salesdvl]

They use 5 3-hp ( uprated) jet pumps and 1 circ pump.  50 amp.  It's pretty cool.  Each seat has its own control pad next to it.  Initially we thought it would be overwhelming but it is a very comfortable spa to soak in.

[salesdvl]

OK Vinny, You & Windsurf have got to start letting me have my own thoughts.    

[stuart]

They use 5 3-hp ( uprated) jet pumps and 1 circ pump.  50 amp.  It's pretty cool.  Each seat has its own control pad next to it.  Initially we thought it would be overwhelming but it is a very comfortable spa to soak in.

OK, now I'm confused!? Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the math is about 4 amps for every one HP, this would mean that you would need 60 amps before the heater, circ pump, lights, ozone or anything else. The heater will draw around 20 amps so now we're at 80 amps. Your breaker needs to be oversized by (I believe)25% more than the draw. That's well over 100 amps! Even if you "up rate" the pumps double what they really are you’d still be pushing it to use a 50 amp breaker?

More than likely they shut down the heater when the jets are on high which, with 5 pumps, would cool the water at an incredible rate. In addition to this you would have to "bypass" several of the pumps from the filter system allowing hair, debris and bacteria to gather within the pump head and impellor.

Don't take me wrong, I looked at the spa on line and am actually intrigued by it but am try to make some sense of how and why they do this. I think I would love the "marketability" of that spa but from a technical aspect would have to question the logic.

To me it would be like having a 4WD vehicle and putting a motor over every wheel, how would you justify the cost of owning and operating this?

[Vinny]

I ain't saying a word!!!

I'll leave that up to salesdvl.

[salesdvl]

I can't debate the amp/ hp formula.  I know they use the uprated hp rating system which means they are really 1.5's or so.  (each seat has about 10 jets)   They use GE motors that are "switchless" and they say they draw much less amperage than traditional motors.  So that would make them using 5 1.5 HP motors...does the math work out?    I can't type and use my abacus at the same time.    

[stuart]

If you throw the heater, the circ pump, lights and everything else into the mix, it still doesn't work. The issue of the pumps all "bypassing" would add to the cost of ownership also just for maintenance. I know that Master Spa had a similar set up when I sold them and the operational costs were astronomical!

I've been setting here thinking about this for over a hour since I first pulled up the website and honestly cannot see any reason for doing it the way they do other than marketing. You could accomplish the same thing with less pumps, more water flow and less potential for component failure but, as I said before, I’m intrigued so I have to go look at these at the show.....

[salesdvl]

Sounds like a plan

[suzieq]

What show are you talking about?