23 Crucial Things to Know Before Buying a Hot Tub

I bought a 5x5 plug & play Life Smart Hot Tub on sale at HD for $2.5K with lights and waterfall feature (reg. price $4.5K), free shipping. I just set to lowest temp after I use it and increase it up one day before I use it, which is about 4 days interval. Winterize it if I don't intend to use it on winter.

I went to your website, “ which is great by the way” I was wanting a 110v plug & play hot tub, But on your website you say they need a GFCI outlet. We have one in our house, but not outside. I wish I could ask questions on your website.

Wrong, salt water hot tubs sanitize using sodium bromide (now illegal) or a chlorine generator which simply (just like a pool) produces chlorine on demand from the salt. The concentrations SHOULD be maintained all the same.

There is absolutely no science that proves it’s better for your skin and this is a gimmick used to sell those systems. They need to be tested, calibrated and adjusted regularly, and you still have a tub with the same chemicals in it except now with salt one EXTRA chem to manage. You do not add FEWER chemicals. You ARE ADDING sanitizer by generating from sodium, and most homeowners over or under-sanitize with sodium because they do not understand it.

As for brand:
Hackuzzi now also sundance and hydropool - are proprietary and conglomerated. And will be more costly for the end user to repair. And some of those also use gecko components 🗑️

Beachcombers suck too, flip to repair isnt fun or cheap.

What about an ozone system? Is it worth adding that onto your purchase?

Why not just use an old bath tub? 👍

My neighbor did just that with his huge old bathtub. Mad a few modifications and works great! 😊

Is the salt in a salt water hottubs system harder on any of the components?

Thanks for the information, trying to buy my first hot tub

Get to the point.

Hot tub? Spa? What's the difference....hmmm.....the first hot tubs were exactly that....a tub (round) made of redwood slats (usually) very much resembling a beer barrel. Heat the water on the stove, Mabel. Later hot tubs were made of fiber glass and then acrylic and circulation pumps were added along with heating mechanisms. The change from "hot tub" to "spa" occurred when air jets were added to make the water bubbly (You know, the relaxing massage of the bubbles...blah blah blah). All the other hocus pocus like aroma therapy, sound systems, light shows, ice makers, etc were just marketing crap items to make spas more expensive (and profitable).

Very engaging video. You covered the important questions for all new hot tub buyers like me.

I bought a Jacuzzi J-370 in 2003 that retailed for around $9,500 at that time. Paid $6,500 for it as I was considering becoming a Jacuzzi dealer so I was able to pick one up for essentially wholesale price + $800. It's worked VERY well for 20 years now but we are selling our home and will be buying another within the next month or 2 once we are in our new home as we are leaving this one behind for this homes next residents. The same tub today retails for about $17K but they can be bought for around $13,500. Most others of lower quality are between $7K and $11K so unless your are buying a used one, not going to be in this price range listed in the notes above. I figure the 20 year old J-370 we are leaving behind is probably worth about $5K today

Thank you so much for sharing this amazing

Couldn't stand his blabbling on.

I wish the hot tub made me dinner. For the price I paid.

crucial to have at least a gazebo to put it in

Thank you, thank you thank you! I watched mostly all your hot tub videos and I finally am taking good care of my spa. I have supplies to last me a lifetime and that’s a good thing. I Purchased everything you recommended including the lift. Did I say thank you? Thank you!

Can you please update your Amazon plug n play hot tub the link says it's no longer available.
Thank you for the great info.

How to get rid of the 23 questions I need to have answered don’t get one😂
I have an oversize tub in my master bath I think I’ll just buy one of those external jet gizmos and soak in that cost benefit analysis just save me a lot of money and time
Next😂🎉

I've been a hot tub service tech for 13 years and my advice is don't buy a tub from a place with the name of the tub in the name of the store i.e. Arctic Spas, Jacuzzi hot tubs, Sundance spa's etc... What you'll end up with is a tub that's proprietary, meaning you can only get parts from them. So something that should cost $200 will probably cost $700 because you don't have a choice. You're welcome!

I’m looking into buying a hot tube . What tube do u recommend

In my opinion, if you are buying a used hot tub, one that needs to be moved, get a hot spring. I have worked in the pool and spa Industry my whole life. I deliver and remove hot tubs all the time. And I have never removed an old tub that still worked. From 6-20 years old. There was always issues or always falling apart. But hot spring makes a great product. Every hot spring that I have removed. Still worked, and wasn't falling apart.
This summer a customer purchased a new hot spring spa. There's was 25+ years old. It still worked! Didn't fall apart when we moved it. Incredible. Never have I seen this in another brand.

okay, that seems like total BS! your plugged into 240 and to simply get to temp takes 8hrs....if you can't do the math find someone and then have him cut in...js fu my math has a HT able to rock $1500 per month.

Here is a guy giving us tips about hot tubs that doesn't know the basic laws of physics. Telling us that keeping water hotter than ambient air temp doesn't cost you money??? Any time you use energy to do something esp electrical it costs you money. The bigger the difference between air temp and water temp the more money it costs. If you turn down the temp on the tub the less money it costs no question unless you want to argue with every physicist on earth. And, why would the tub cycle more if you turn down the tub? Makes no sense at all.

Very helpful for this first-time hot tub shopper, age 75. Thank you.!

When you mentioned brands of hot tubs, I posted on a local area group on Facebook and told them I was looking and asked who they recommended. I made a tic mark for every brand mentioned and checked out the ones with the most marks. In my area it was Aspen Spas by a landslide. Glad I went there. Their top of the line tub was less expensive than the others' lower end tubs. With the pandemic it took 7 months to get it, which they told me so I wasn't upset. It came in June though so didn't get too much of a chance to check it out because we quickly went into 90 degree days. Looking forward to cooler temps so I can hopefully enjoy it more.

I watched this video because I was interested in buying one. Although it was a great video you
Might of talked me out of buying a hot tub. Seems like ALOT of work.

Very informative! Thank you for doing this.

Great video, thanks. We just bought our first hot tub. We are getting a pad poured and had to move some fencing. It will be here in about a week!

120v vs 240v should not matter. Turning electricity into heat is the ONE place where something can be 100% energy efficient, and always is. In anything else you do with power heat is the inefficiency that you are trying to avoid (or other things that eventually become heat via friction, such as vibration and sound), but when you WANT the heat then there are no losses worth mentioning. The difference between a 120v and 240v system would be things like how fast it can heat the water or how powerful the pump can be (how many jets and how powerful they are).

I am currently looking at Artesian Elite series for my next house. I currently have a Sundance Marin Spa for over 20 years with minor repairs over the years. A few pumps and probably 4 or 5 covers. It was a great investment and worth the extra money

FYI 120 vs 240 volt does not change the energy cost. Utilities charge by Kilowatt hours. volts x amps x hours.

With 240 volts you use less amps but the same amount of watts.

Portable hot tub won’t add to your tax assessment I’d imagine.

Thank you for such useful information🇿🇦

Thank you. Very informative.

Is it just me or is the cover not fitting perfectly bothersome? lol

Great video and alot of useful info. Thanks for posting

Awesome, thank you!

I don't know if prices have increased like crazy since this video or I got ripped off, or maybe my hottub is nicer than I thought?

I got a twilight 7.2 from master spa for $12k. This was Dec 30 2021, the sales guy said I'd be paying upwards of $20k if not for the sale. I think this included delivery fees and such as well.

Edit:typo

This was a fantastic tutorial for me as I embark on buying my first hot tub. The only thing I would have liked to see was a section on delivery and installation. Do you have a separate video on that process and things to ask for or avoid?

Why do you have to act so dramatic in your thumbnail?

Thank you, Jeff. We are wanting to buy, and this was very helpful.

thanks for all this info. very helpful

i assume the opposite with when the best time to buy...most hottubs are probably being used during winter time, so wouldn't this be the worst time to buy...rather buy during summer months...my quess, is the best time to buy...great info btw...

Thank you for the great information and your great personality!

Great information, thank you for sharing

I love the in ground "hot tub" thet comes on at the change of every topic....

any tips on how to stop my chlorine level from going so high easily? I literally only put 1 chlorine tablet in my dispenser and put it on the lowest setting possible, every time I check just a day after my chlorine levels are high. The only thing that lowers the level is keeping no tablets inside my dispenser for about 2 days

If I noticed correctly--Bullfrog sells their hot tubs at Costco! I cannot believe Bullfrog sells their hot tubs at Costco, Bullfrog is also sold in brick-and-mortar hot tub sale stores=WTH!!!
You are also correct when running your hot tub on 220v you are saving a little bit of money over 110v, the person who stated that 110v is more efficient on your channel in the comment section is incorrect.
Last but not least, if I purchased a home that already had a hot tub there I would definitely not remove it, I'd fire that thing on & get it running again! What the heck is wrong with people!