Author Topic: HotSpring Prodigy 20 year progress report (Read 3354 times)

Chas · « **on:** February 15, 2006, 09:56:03 pm »

Yesterday, we took out 12 old spas and replaced them with 12 new Tiger River Sumatrans at a resort on the beach. In the mix of old spas we had 8 off-brands - JEM, coleman, old Caldera and even a Grecian - and 5 HotSpring 'Home Spas,' the predecessor to the Prodigy.

The oldest spas were the HotSpring tubs. All five were still running, though one of them needs a new thermostat. They don't look new, and four jets is not exactly the current state of the art, but these things are going to find homes as soon as I can get them scrubbed up and new covers ordered.

There was some rotted wood on the bottom of two of the tubs, which I will replace. There are three cracked union fittings at the suction side of the motors, because the maint. guy lets that union go to quickly drain the tubs at water change, which was about once a week.

But aside from that, these tubs still have a lot of life in them - and they are twenty years old! Anybody out there looking for a testimonial to longevity?

The 'other' tubs we took out fell apart as we tried to lift them, the sides caved in as the straps began to bear the weight of the tub. We had to set some of them on wooden beams just to get them to stay on the trailer. And many had been shut down for months waiting for this change-out. Several had termites, many had blisters. All the non-HotSpring tubs went to the landfill today except for one I am going to use for training with my service guy.

The resort bought 11 tubs from us last year, and 12 from us this year. That puts Wakins products in all 24 of their units: two Jetsetters and the rest Sumatrans. Why did they choose HotSpring? Because of what I wrote above: the plain-jane tubs proved to be the very best out of all the tubs they owned. And they have put in several tubs over the years which only had to be replaced after a couple of years. So they considered the saying, 'don't mess with success' and ordered two dozen tubs, please.

And why did they choose us to get those tubs from? Well, who do you think sold them the first 24 tubs 20 years ago - and then kept them running all these years?

In fact, they would have had ALL HotSpring tubs, but over the years the management would change. The first thing a new manager wanted to do was dump the plane old HotSpring tubs, and they would always shop by price. But as I said, the cheapy tubs just couldn't outlast the HotSpring. Finally, the current manager said 'enough! Let's get a whole new batch of HotSpring tubs.'

Also - just one last point: the 11 spas we put into service this time last year have not had ONE single warranty or other repair call.

Hot Tub Forum · « **on:** February 15, 2006, 09:56:03 pm »

Gomboman · « **Reply #1 on:** February 15, 2006, 10:41:12 pm »

Very nice Chas. Can you tell us what resort it was? Do you have any pictures? I would love to see what the old beaters look like with only four jets.

Chas · « **Reply #2 on:** February 15, 2006, 11:05:06 pm »

http://www.resortime.com/resorts/profile.asp?resortid=119&format=

I'll see if I can get some shots of the old tubs. They are all off- white Rovel interiors, with off white rovel corners and real redwood siding. The resort had put a heavy stain on them to match the paint scheme of the buildings. Not my favorite color, but it did a beautiful job of preserving the wood.

Last year we stacked three of the old tubs outside and somebody stole one of them.

st18901 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 16, 2006, 12:41:32 am »

Here's my 1986 HS Sovereign (also known as the Model I indoor/outdoor)

This is the tub I restored (though I only had to fix one jet leak, rebuild the pump and reseal the skirt)

The only area that shows its age is the front panel, which is going to be restored soon.

We use it almost every night and LOVE LOVE LOVE IT.

As most of you may know, I got this as a freebie from Craigslist.
The total amount of money that I've had to put into it for parts was under fifty bucks.

4 MIGHTY jets and a moto massage. ahhhhh...

That's long lasting!

Gomboman · « **Reply #4 on:** February 16, 2006, 01:20:48 am »

Very nice st18901. I think you scored for $50. What a great deal.

st18901 · « **Reply #5 on:** February 16, 2006, 03:45:19 pm »

Yeah, since there was no way I was going to be able to spend 4000 + dollars on a spa (we just moved) this was a great way to be able to keep the spa fix going. Our last place had an in ground Spa from the seventies, so seeing as this is an '86 spa, I'm time-machinin my way to the future, spa wise.

drewstar · « **Reply #6 on:** February 16, 2006, 04:06:06 pm »

St18901

Didja ever figure out the thermo cycling thing from last month?

Your tub is great. $50. phhhht. Tax alone on my was $360

I wish I had your handyman skills.

st18901 · « **Reply #7 on:** February 16, 2006, 05:57:50 pm »

Thanks, Drewster.

Well, I put the best minds in the business on it - - cough,cough -- Chas... and the general thinking is that the t-stat is not actually broken, but the 'hystersis' is too narrow. (the temp difference between on and off)

Chas presented two good solutions, though neither is a 'cinch'.

One involves a little rewiring, and the other involves moving the t-stat. In terms of elegance, I'd prefer to move the t-stat, but It means drilling into the shell... which I don't think I'm gonna do.

So the rewiring is what I may do.

Chas · « **Reply #8 on:** February 16, 2006, 07:05:04 pm »

We could just get a new T stat and see if it's any better.

st18901 · « **Reply #9 on:** February 16, 2006, 08:40:32 pm »

Yes, I am thinking about replacing the t-stat.
Actually, I had the question out to HS, and actually also to you

to find out what t-stat that was and if the temp variance was normal.

Never heard back though...

Hot Tub Forum · « **Reply #9 on:** February 16, 2006, 08:40:32 pm »

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