Wet test weekend and Bullfrog Spas

[Kyle]

On Bullfrog:  They make a quality product.  Jet packs will not be messed with 95% of the time, so make sure you just like the seats.  Seats seem to be same depth and shape anyway to fit variety of jet packs.  

On circ pump:  All you need to know is how much water is filtered 100% in a day for a decent turnover ratio, and what area of the water is filtered.  Meaning does the circ pump skim the surface and how is the floor area cleaned?  Oils float and dirt sinks, the top and bottom of the spa is what needs cleaning the most.  Make sure the filtering system cleans these areas adequately.  Circ pumps work well if quality pump is used, but they have been a replacement issue for over 15 years and used to cause heater failures frequently due to low flow through heaters until heaters were made to withstand low flow rates.  Many companies have started going to 35 gpm pumps for filtering vs 8 gpm (most traditional circ pump flow rates)  Circ pump will really have no bearing on quality of performance.  By the way, the only reason circi pumps run 24hrs is to gain a sufficient turnover rate, and pump cycling for heating.  (Might add silent operation as well)  But most motors have start ratings of over 100,000 any way.  Average spa usually 7 or 8 per day if used once a day.

[Spatech_tuo]

Either way works but I'll take the circ pump's whisper quietness, energy efficiency and 24-hr ozone capability as enough of a plus (of course that goes with the fact they filter the water just fine) for me to prefer a circ pump.

To each his own.

[greenhut]

I think having both is best.

The circ pump is great for 24 hour ozone injection, quietness, and possibly efficiency.

I still think it is a good idea to run the main pump at least for 15-60 minutes a day in order to stir up debris that the circ pump might otherwise not effect, and to keep water in the lines fresh.

My old Sundance, and new Caldera did/do both, and I feel it is part of my success in keeping the water clean with minimal chemicals.

One thing I don't like about Calderas implementation is that ozone injection is 100%. The Sundance would stop the ozone when the pumps were on (thinking someone was in the tub). The Caldera is better than the Sundance in that it has I think 13ft of tubing for the Ozone to do it's job. When the ozone was on in the Sundance, you could easily smell it. In the Caldera, the smell is much more subtle, but it is there. I wish Caldera disabeld the ozone when pumps were running...

jeff