Opinions on a CalSpa pitch

[wmccall]

.  I also am personally insulted by some of the blanket accusations of ALL Cal Spa dealers being dishonest.

I have yet to hear that anywhere especially here on this forum.  My own personal experience with Cal Spas came from one dealer that at the time I bought sold Hot Springs, Cal, and Viking Spas.  They are fairly well regarded here.  Later I learned that the D1 dealer in town is carrying Cal spas now.  (Glad I didn't buy the D1 for that reason only)

[wetone]

Wetone, funky holes for ozone gas off? Please enlighten me on this one.

Cal Spas "Pure water system" with the red ozone off gas intakes in the shell above the water line.

[salesdvl]

Cal Spa has a system to retrieve the ozone gas that has reached the surface of the water and recycle it back into the contact chamber.  The idea is to not allow ozone gas to linger above the surface and cause damage to the cover etc...

[HotTubMan]

I do beleive Arctic makes a similair claim

[Lori]

Ok, so here is a question from a definite non-expert.

If they have intakes to recycle the ozone gas, wouldn't this also recycle the chlorine/bromine gas?  How can the system distinguish from ozone gas and other forms of gas?

Maybe a stupid question, but just something I thought of as I was reading the latest posts.

[Chris_H]

Will I get in trouble if I say, “Cal Spas are a piece of junk and have one of the worst reputations in the industry.”

[wmccall]

Will I get in trouble if I say, “Cal Spas are a piece of junk and have one of the worst reputations in the industry.”

Even without the IMO, I think that would clearly be your opinion and you didn't say all Cal Dealers are crooks.

[stuart]

 

As a Cal Spa (and D-1) dealer, I can tell you that there is no separate G.F.C.I. that runs only with the ozonator.  The "Quest" Ozonator pitch is simply that if the unit gets wet for any reason, the ozone generator itself will shut down, without tripping the G.F.C.I.  The spa will continue to run, even if the ozonator itself shuts down.  That's it.  And yes, this would only happen if the check valve failed in the first place.  

As far as (3) 7.0 hp pumps--absolutely not true.  There is no such spa, and Cal Spas does not sell, promote, or market any such spa.  Whoever supposedly heard all this was either mislead or very confused.  It just simply isn't true.  You can't believe everything you hear.  Is Cal Spas perfect?  Of course not.  But in this case, you are wrong.

I'm telling you what I'm hearing from a dealership in my area. I can get spec's off of the website and do see any of the things the dealer here talks about. I have no doubt that the salesman at this dealership is not being honest, I've caught him many times in a lie!

I do have some questions though on the "Quest Ozone Pitch". Are you saying that this system does not have it's own GFI? If that's true then what cause's the unit to shut down with moisture? It almost has to be a ground fault system of some kind and it's always been my experience that if you put 2 GFI's inline you will get tripping.

Cal Spa has a system to retrieve the ozone gas that has reached the surface of the water and recycle it back into the contact chamber.  The idea is to not allow ozone gas to linger above the surface and cause damage to the cover etc...

Does this work?

I also am personally insulted by some of the blanket accusations of ALL Cal Spa dealers being dishonest.  Our dealership is the leader in our market.  We have been in business since 1971 (selling spas since 1985).  We have a lot riding on our reputation.  If Cal Spas was truly as bad as most of you make them out to be, we would certainly not be a dealer of theirs.  Take it from someone who actually deals with them on a daily basis, and not from someone who THINKS they heard this or that from a salesperson.

I relayed the fact that I heard this from a customer and did not say "I THINK I heard this or that". I know that there are reputable dealerships that sell Cal and they are part of what keeps Cal in the market however, when you say that "If Cal Spas was truly as bad as most of you make them out to be" it says that many people on both sides of the fence have a problem with how the factory does business! I'm sure that you yourself have gone onto some of the sites that have complaints about the customer service at the factory. BTW, I too have been in the industry for many years and have researched the product inside and out. I have heard more complaints about cal than any other brand out there. Part of this could be sales volume but then again, there are other companies that sell as much without as many complaints. It could also have a lot to do with the dealerships in my area....

I have said time after time, a great Dealer can make even a less than great spa wonderful by how they handle the customer service. You obviously are a good dealer to be able to carry the 2 brands you do side by side and maintain a balance.

I started this topic for no other reason than to get more info on the questionable pitch that I'm hearing come back from customers.

[Spa_Tech]

I do have some questions though on the "Quest Ozone Pitch". Are you saying that this system does not have it's own GFI? If that's true then what cause's the unit to shut down with moisture? It almost has to be a ground fault system of some kind and it's always been my experience that if you put 2 GFI's inline you will get tripping.
Does this work?

Having two (or for that matter, having ten thousand) GFCI's inline will not make them trip.  The fact that they have installed a GFCI to protect just the Ozone generator because of moisture tells me that they've run into a problem that they are over-engineering-- This is something that can be prevented with a simple Hartford loop and a check-valve. But I wouldnt put it past Cal Spas to ad some weird hermaphrodite appliance or circuit just to make things 'different' from what  most spa manufacturers do--- ALA the dual end jet pump.&HP pumps, or redundant redundancies like the safety suction cutoffs which are supposed to shut the pump motors down if the safety suctions should both miraculously be blocked the same time as the filter. While their intentions are good, its my opinion that they should focus on doing things that improve quality and not just being 'different'.

I started this topic for no other reason than to get more info on the questionable pitch that I'm hearing come back from customers.

Well- having been in the industry for nearly ten years, Ive heard customers relay stories of competitors telling them bald faced lies, half truths, intelligence landfill and lil white ones...

A few of my favorites...


"When you buy a HotSpring, youre really just buying a brand name.. You know, like Nike-  Here at XYZ spas you arent paying for Michael Jordan's endorsements.. youre just paying for our pair of shoes..."

"Ozone is really important in keeping your spa clean. You dont need any chemicals because it electrically charges the water and kills off the bacteria..."

"We only sell this one size/model of spa because 90% of the time its just one or two people using the spa...And at this price, its all the spa you'll ever need..."

"Sure you can run this spa on an extension cord..."

"Yes you can put our spa on bare ground (gravel, pavers, a deck made out of elmer's glue and popcicle sticks...)"

"Our synthetic cabinet is no maintenance at all, Ive never seen it warp or fade..."

"You dont want to buy their spa... Do you know how unsafe they are?....Our spas are the only ones that-(Insert diatribe of meaningless garbage here....)..."

Bottom line is that sales people tell prospects a lot of things.. not all of them are true... and sometimes prospects digest the information that they recieve in a number of different ways.

[poolboy34]

My personal fave is "My Buddy" the jacuzzi Premium dealer right next door to me telling customers that their ABS pan will keep critters such as bees and rodents out, and that they are the only spa that can prevent this from happening.  Most intelligent people and most industry professionals will tell you that the most common point of entry for bees and wasps is at the lip of the spa shell, NOT at the base.  

[Wisoki]

WHAT!?! Someone associated with the Jacuzzi Premium® that tells "stories?" WELL, I NEVER......

My personal fave is "My Buddy" the jacuzzi Premium dealer right next door to me telling customers that their ABS pan will keep critters such as bees and rodents out, and that they are the only spa that can prevent this from happening.  Most intelligent people and most industry professionals will tell you that the most common point of entry for bees and wasps is at the lip of the spa shell, NOT at the base.  

[Shut_Down_Stranger]

Lost in all this banter is the fact that ozone is introduced into the spa through a inductor, which pulls a vaccum to draw the ozonated air into the line.

so, the only way for the ozone to fail is for the circulation pump to fail.  

[stuart]

Lost in all this banter is the fact that ozone is introduced into the spa through a inductor, which pulls a vaccum to draw the ozonated air into the line.

so, the only way for the ozone to fail is for the circulation pump to fail.  

Aww man... did you have to go and get logical on us....!

[salesdvl]

Yea, theres one in every crowd.  

[stuart]

I started this post to understand how the ozone system works in the Cal Spa as far as being GFI protected independent of the main GFCI and we've gotten a bit off track.

This post was not meant to be a bashing session for Cal but an information post. I apologize for letting my personal views cloud the issue. Charger Fan (with a name like that I'm going to have issues anyway! ) you have given the best info yet but I still don't understand what causes the trip if it is not a GFI.

In addition to this I have questioned the customer again on the pumps and he is telling me that he verified it with the Cal salesman who is telling him three 6 hp pumps instead of three 7.

This has also brought up the question of the ozone "off gassing" that I would love to hear more about.

Anyone that has info on the Ozone protection and/or the off gassing in a Cal please enlighten us....!

Thanks in advance for your input.