Opinions on a CalSpa pitch

[stuart]

Just heard a new pitch from my local Cal Spa dealer. He states that Calspa is the only company that has a separate GFCI for the ozone system and the ozone is the most common component to cause a ground fault.

Here's how the pitch went;

"If you leave town and water gets into your Ozone unit, which commonly happens, your GFCI will trip and shut the entire spa down. This can cause your spa to freeze! Cal spa is the only ones to address this in addition to having three 7 HP pumps to give you the most power"(mind you, that's on a 50 amp breaker)

Anyone have any thoughts on this? (you know me, always starting trouble)

[zzaphod42]

Oh my god! I wish I had known that before. That's it, from now on goodbye Beachcomber, hello Calspa!



I still haven't been sold on the benefits of ozone in hot tubs, but out of the limited tubs we do have in the field with ozonators, none have caused a GFCI to trip.

I can't imagine this could be a common occurance.

Just heard a new pitch from my local Cal Spa dealer. He states that Calspa is the only company that has a separate GFCI for the ozone system and the ozone is the most common component to cause a ground fault.

Here's how the pitch went;

"If you leave town and water gets into your Ozone unit, which commonly happens, your GFCI will trip and shut the entire spa down. This can cause your spa to freeze! Cal spa is the only ones to address this in addition to having three 7 HP pumps to give you the most power"(mind you, that's on a 50 amp breaker)

Anyone have any thoughts on this? (you know me, always starting trouble)

[Mendocino101]

Yes I have a thought...I think it is pure and simple Bull****.....7hp pumps and a 50 amp breaker.....yes and a boom box puts out 300 of watts of power.....uhhhhh well maybe at about 10 THD......un listenable.....

[spahappy]

The only way water can get into an ozone is if the check valve fails right? How often does that happen? I question if that would trip the breaker. How long does it take to freeze a Cal Spa, two hours.LOL

Spahappy

[stuart]

Ozone systems are one of the more common components to cause a gfi to trip however, putting 2 GFCI's in series with each other will cause a fault also. Three 7 HP pumps would equate to around 60 amps before anything else in the system turned on including the heater.

[HotTubMan]

Yes I have a thought...I think it is pure and simple Bull****.....7hp pumps and a 50 amp breaker.....yes and a boom box puts out 300 of watts of power.....uhhhhh well maybe at about 10 THD......un listenable.....

Now Mendocino / Stuart, did he say 7 horsepower or 7HP. We all know that HP could stand for anything:

High Priest
High Performance
Holy Potatoes

Since a 5bHP draws around 16 amps at start up, I guess all three of these 7HP ( at least 16*3 equals 48) pumps starting up at the same time as the heater would mean you would trip the breaker anyway. Good thing that the ozone wont do it.

Or you could run it ona magical 70Amp breaker (assuming a 5.5kW heater)

[stuart]

Now Stuart, did he say 7 horsepower or 7HP. We all know that HP could stand for anything:

High Priest
High Performance
Holy Potatoes

Since a 5bHP draws around 16 amps at start up, I guess all three of these 7HP ( at least 16*3=48) pumps starting up at the same time as the heater would mean you would trip the breaker anyway. Good thing that the ozone wont do it.

Or you could run it ona magical 70Amp breaker (assuming a 5.5kW heater)

Really they couldn't even use a 70 amp breaker and run that system correct. The heater is going to draw up to 21 amps and then their is the factor of the breaker needing a 20 to 25% overrating.

(hey cool, I just went over 700 post's! That's since June! I need a life.....)

[spahappy]

You know I've spent the last week going up against some traveling Phoenix spa sales guys that temporarely rented a space in the mall here. They have the same kind of sales pitch that Cal spa dealers do. The one I liked the best was...It's just acrylic. plastic, plumbing, and electronics, how hard can it be to fix yourself. He was trying to justify not being around after the sale for service issues.

I would hope most people out there see through those kind of dealers, but they claim they sold nine tubs the first weekend they were here. Very high pressure sales tactics, every spa must go at or below dealer cost. Yeah right...


Spahappy

[wetone]

Just heard a new pitch from my local Cal Spa dealer. He states that Calspa is the only company that has a separate GFCI for the ozone system and the ozone is the most common component to cause a ground fault.

Here's how the pitch went;

"If you leave town and water gets into your Ozone unit, which commonly happens, your GFCI will trip and shut the entire spa down. This can cause your spa to freeze! Cal spa is the only ones to address this in addition to having three 7 HP pumps to give you the most power"(mind you, that's on a 50 amp breaker)

Anyone have any thoughts on this? (you know me, always starting trouble)

hhmmmmm, Cal Spas have those funky holes in the shell above the water line to suck out the ozone off gases when the cover is closed,  

could they have had issues with water getting into the ozonater that way and now install a gfi to turn a past issue into a sales PITCH

just a thought  

[stuart]

hhmmmmm, Cal Spas have those funky holes in the shell above the water line to suck out the ozone off gases when the cover is closed,  

could they have had issues with water getting into the ozonater that way and now install a gfi to turn a past issue into a sales PITCH

just a thought  

Really, expound a bit, I haven't seen these? Surely you have a famous "Chas Picture" somewhere....

[UnderTheStars]

Ok, maybe I'm out in the weeds but I thought the whole point of the hartford loop is that water can't get into the unit if the check valve fails?

[wmccall]

Anyone have any thoughts on this? (you know me, always starting trouble)

My thoughts it that the marketing person who thought of that (most likely not an engineer) use to work for Dreamworks.

[stuart]

You guys DO need to get a life.

Mine seems to be available....  

Chas buddy, what's your thoughts? You've gone up against these guys head to head for years and they are pretty aggressive in your area.....

[empolgation]

He states that Calspa is the only company that has a separate GFCI for the ozone system

he obviously meant:   Guy For Curating Ignorantism.

The "Guy" is rather clumsy and carries a leaky tank of liquid nitogen on his back.

[Chas]

They are amazing. Don't get me started.