On a Very Fixed Budget - Bought a E-bay Spa

[Spatech_tuo]

To my surprise and pleasure I was already contacted by the people that perform the warranty service on the hot tub ....that was a good feeling...knowing that I would have a local person for assistance.  

Thanks all.

That's a good sign. Good luck.

[johnnythunders]

Did you find out if you have a local repairman in your area that the dealer will give yea,,,And if not if something goes wrong you will have many problems..JohnnyT

[jetster]

My son has had a serenity spa for 4 or 5 years with no problems.

[arilacey]

jetster,
what happemned to your sons spa after the 5th year?
NANCY

[Lori]

Congratulations!

May you always have hot, clean, bubbly water!!!

[richny]

Finally got the tub yesterday....looks very nice, very big. I had it delivered to my local pool/spa store and they delivered to my house on their spa caddy. Placed it on my 6" concrete pad that I had poured over a month ago.

The installer/spa guy took a look at the tub closely...especially when he heard what I paid for it and based on the (brand name internal) components used thought I got a good deal. He of course mentioned about warranty, etc...which I agree could be a headache. But as luck would have it...my electrician friend that ran all my lines for me is a local spa troubleshooter/repair person and my neighbor is a plumber that told me he could help if I ever got in a jam.

So now its up to Mother Nature to cooperate. It's 20 degrees out and my outside water is turned off.  I am hoping for a January thaw to allow me to get the unit started.
Honestly I am in no rush...I am just glad it got here in one piece.
Rich

[Lablover2004]

Hi,
it seems like you did your research, you knew what you could afford and you decided to go for it.
You understood some of the negatives and seem to be able to deal with the possiblity of them. But look at it this way there are risks everyday we take. Your spa may NEVER GIVE you a lick of trouble.


Enjoy your purchase. Since a service person already called you I think you are going to be just fine.

I also was on a strict budget. I decided to purchase a tiger river spa- sumatran model. I could not afford one with all the bells and whistles. I am thouroughly enjoying  it and have not had one bit of trouble with the spa or the water. We are going on our fourth month of ownership and looking at changing the water soon.

The water is crystal clear!

Good luck on your new purchase!

[wmccall]

"Energy Consumption  Low  "

Ok, now that I have specifics, I feel better


Good luck on your purchase and I understand your reasoning. That is a lot of tub for that price, so I started paying attention to the details that you provided. That one just kind of amused me.  We all will enjoy hearing about your experiences with it.

I can envision walking into a Hummer Dealer and going to the mileage sticker on the H3 and seeing "pretty good"

[richny]

Yeah...I can see how that is a bit odd wording...but I am not too concerned.

My electrician came over late this afternoon to see the spa to get everything together for the final electrical hook-up. Finally got a chance to look inside...it uses the Balboa SUV M-7 power pack and has 2  5 HP aqua flo flomaster pumps. I had them put in a ozonator...the brand is DEL.  He fixes these things all the time and liked what he saw...it is put together very nicely. I was happy to see that it has a drain cap...I was not sure if it had a drain originally. It will be powered up tomorrow and if the weather cooperates I will finally get water into it by next weekend.

[Perk1]

Rich, if he is hooking it up today, fill that puppy and get in.  This is perfect hot tub weather on the East Coast.  We got some snow over the weekend and are supposed to get more here in the Philly area tonight.  

Do you have a 'tub' sink in a laundry room perhaps?  I have hooked up my hose to this sink in the winter to fill my spa.  I just ran the hose through the family room out the back door to the spa.  

Good luck and enjoy.

[drewstar]

Rich congrats on your new tub.

Please continue to contribute here, as many of us, are very curious with how this tub works out for you.

Enjoy.

[richny]

Well it's all powered up...but its just too cold for me to fill right now. I am really pumped to get the spa going...probably on Saturday.

I'll keep posting to let you know how good or bad it turns out.

[drewstar]

Pics too!

We love pics.

[SJK]

I check in on this site every few days, mostly just to laugh at the oddball humor, but also in the hopes of getting the odd gem of an idea.  Perk 1, you scored big time tonight.  I've been wondering for a while about how to fill the tub in the winter, and hooking the hose to the laundry tub is one I hadn't thought of.  Thanks!

[richny]

OK...back to report on the Serenity Spa.

Good news:
1)Very decent components(balboa controls, aqua-flo pumps)
2) good workmanship, easy access to most items underneath
3) kids love it
4)price allowed us to afford a hot tub

Bad news:
1)Pump #2 (Aqua Flo) failed upon start-up, took about 2 weeks to get my new one (I finally installed last night)

2)Service is pretty much all on the phone...even though the company (Sun Enterprises) is helpful...they have not been able to get anyone out to my house. I bought a labor warranty that does not exist.

3)Exterior panels are not the highest quality


So the question is....would I go this route again and the answer is yes. Even though I have had a few headaches I think with persistance and getting the right person at Sun Enterprises I will get satisfaction. Plus I saved thousands of dollars and I would have never been able to get a hot tub by going retail to a local spa store.