Delivered: 2007 Hot Spring Grandee

[SpaMorph]

Arrived yesterday afternoon.  Pleasantly surprised to find that it is a 2007 model.  Ordered it in early-November.

Espresso and Sterling Marble.

[Richs100]

Congrats on the new tub!

Let's see the inside of that bad boy.

[drewstar]

Nice. The dak cabinet is nice.


The 07's are out?  

Hmmmm those folks looking for a deal....might soon find some decent prices on left over 06's ??

[SpaMorph]

Was anxious to have the delivery team put me through "Spa School" and show me the ins-and-outs of the tub and, most importantly, teach me the chemicals.  Unfortuantely, the guys were running late and had another delivery to make, so I didn't get much in the way of "Spa School."  

My salesman recommended that I use chlorine in the tub since I'm a rookie tub owner.  He seemed to be under the impression that it is easier to manage than bromine.

Delivery guy filled up the tub and tested the untreated water.  Perfect, according to the test strip.  He put some chlorine in and a dash of Stain and Scale Defense and then was on his way.  

Tub started heating around 5pm and wasn't ready at midnight, so I went on to bed.  It took longer than I expected to heat up, but it was ready this morning when I woke.  

Opened the cover for the first soak and noticed a yellow scum line around the shell.  Soaked for about 30 minutes and tried to figure out how to work all the different knobs, jets, etc.  I wiped the scum line off the shell and got out.

Salesman told me to purchase an ion purifier thing, which is not in stock at the moment, but I should be able to get it next week.  This is supposed to allow me to use much less chlorine.  I was told not to worry about testing the water too much; just add a teaspoon of chlorine after each soak, hit the "Clean" button, and the water should stay in pretty good shape.

After the first soak, something concerns me.  I plan to use the tub on an almost daily basis, sometimes twice per day.  After the first soak, I noticed that my skin is dry and itchy, and a bit sticky.  Will my skin adjust or is this a sign of a bigger problem with more use?

[drewstar]

Dry, itcvhy and a bit sticky? I bet the tub was't cleaned well. I never heard of that. A yellow scum line? WTF?

I'd be tempted to wash the filters, and dumpt the water.  This aint right.  
  
Dont' buy the silver ion pack because you'll use less dichlor. YOU WONT.
Some folks think it improves thier water, but that's another story.


 I thought all New Hotpsrings had the new self dispensing chemical doo hickey?

[SpaMorph]

Dry, itcvhy and a bit sticky? I bet the tub was't cleaned well. I never heard of that. A yellow scum line? WTF?

Yes, my skin feels like it does when I get out of a heavily chlorinated pool.  

And yes, there was a heavy yellow scum line before the first soak.

[SpaMorph]

Here's the inside.  Notice the BellaFontana water feature on the left.  New for the Grandee in 2007.

[East_TX_Spa]

The AutoFresh doohickey system is an option.

Scumline is typical on first fills, at least in our area.  It's just the natural contaminants in the water collecting at the surface.  Wipe it of a couple of times and it should not return until next fill up.

Itching and dry skin could be either pH imbalance or excess chlorine.

The spa looks great!

Congratulations!

Terminator

[drewstar]

Excess chlorine? This is new fill up. Did you or they add dichlor,  do you have test strips? I'd do a quick check.

Term, is this one of your tubs?

I guess yellow scum could be a local water issue....but what about sticky? what the hell do you guys do in your water supply?  

[Richs100]

uuuuummmmmmm! Bellaaaa Fontanaaaa!
(Homer Simpson)

SpaMorph:  I just took delivery of an Envoy and silly as it may seem, I chose the Envoy because I really wanted the Bella Fontana.  Your tub looks great with it.  And your the first kid on the block to have a Grandee with one.  Just like a brand new Nike style!  Enjoy.

I got a simlar ring around my tub, but it took about three or four days.  It was brown and kinda greasy.  Baking soda made it easier to remove.  My dealer said it was sediment from my well water. (Are you on Well or City?) It's been almost two weeks and the ring hasn't come back at all.  So I say No Worries.

[LtDan]

Excess chlorine? This is new fill up. Did you or they add dichlor,  do you have test strips? I'd do a quick check.

Term, is this one of your tubs?

I guess yellow scum could be a local water issue....but what about sticky? what the hell do you guys do in your water supply?  

All that "recycled" Shiner Boc gotta to somewhere...

[SpaMorph]

Excess chlorine? This is new fill up. Did you or they add dichlor,  do you have test strips? I'd do a quick check.

Term, is this one of your tubs?

The delivery guy added the chlorine.  

The tub isn't from Term's shop, although he had a hand in selling me on it.

[SpaMorph]

I got a simlar ring around my tub, but it took about three or four days.  It was brown and kinda greasy.  Baking soda made it easier to remove.  My dealer said it was sediment from my well water. (Are you on Well or City?) It's been almost two weeks and the ring hasn't come back at all.  So I say No Worries.

The yellow scum ring started appearing almost immediately.  I'm on city water.  As I said, I wiped it off this morning after first soak.  I'll see if it returns.

[bosco0633]

tub looks great!! Just curious why you dint hide the cable?   I think that dark cabinet looks amazing.

[Spiderman]

First off, congrats on the new tub!!  Sterling marble is a great finish.  I use Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to clean my tub and it works like, well.........MAGIC!!  

As far as your water goes, I would recommend checking it daily just to figure out how much chlorine, etc, you need to add.  I followed my dealers instructions as well and had to dump the water a month after we got the tub because it turned into a pond overnight.  Our tub is only 225 gallons and we use 2 tsp of dichlor after each use.  The idea of using a "standard" amount of chlorine may not work, you really have to know yourself how much you really need to add to keep the tub's water up to snuff.  After a week or two you should know exactly what you need to do.  

I would agree that the itching, etc, that you've described most likely has something to do with your water.  Test it and find out where you're at.