It was the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and I wanted a hot tub. But I didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg nor wait an unknown number of months for a delivery so I posted an ad on craigslist for any unwanted hot tubs. I think I sat on the ad for 3-4 weeks and finally got a reply from a couple that had a hot tub gone. Figured I would take a ride and see how it was and why they wanted it gone. Lo and behold I found just what I was looking for. What I found was a 2004 Sundance Altamar that was on a deck that they wanted to replace. The hot tub came with the house, but they did not use it much but they kept it full and powered up. I couldn’t ask for anything more. The next weekend I got my brother and friend to help move it. It was a pain as a lot of the wood was rotten. But finally got it to my house and about in its final location. It might look rough but I bet she will clean up nicely.
Re-framing a Hot Tub
While the hot tub frame is made out of pressure treated wood, the constant moisture of being outside in the elements did it in. With what was left I was able to get a rough measurement of the base and the height of the vertical studs. This allowed me to get the tub back to its normal height, not the sagged down height it was. First up is the subframe. This part I was able to copy over directly. All of the screws holding this together are deck screws installed with a Kraig jig. I do consider this and upgrade from the crown staples that the factory uses and glad I took the time.
Once the frame was built I was able to use ratchet straps and a farm jack to lift the tub up enough to slide the new frame in.
Once the subframe was slid into place I was able to work on the joists. Here again I used 2×4 material instead of 2×2 while also using screws vs crown stables. I felt it was much more substantial. Starting on the front I was able to work my way round using the jack to prop the tub up some to make up for the parts that had sunk down.
After getting all of the framing done it was time to call it a night, but not before sitting in it and imaging how nice it will be.
The next day I was able to get some of the paneling on to really make it feel more complete. At this point I was also waiting for a sub panel to come in from Home Depot so I couldn’t really go much farther.
Wiring a Hot Tub
When I got the hot tub, I got the Eaton 50 amp 240v GFCI breaker with it… but no breaker panel. Seeing as this was a CH breaker, I had to special order a panel.. In this case I got an exterior mount 125 amp load center. The purpose of the is panel was dual purpose. Seeing as there was an old outlet near the hot tub that was next to useless, way too close to the tub, and non GFCI, or even a complete ground, I wanted to add in a regular 20 amp circuit when I disable and remove this old circuit. With the hot tub drawing 50 amps, and a single utility circuit drawing 20 amps I needed to get this set up for 70 amps. Off to the store I went for some 2-2-2-4 aluminum SER cable to go from my main panel to the sub panel. This cable is rated for 75 amps at 60*C which allows me to use it as a sub panel supply. From the sub panel I have 2 6 gauge copper conductors with a ground for the hot tub power supply. Also, the sub panel is farther than 5′, but within sight as far as NEC code is needed. (NEC 680) From here it was just a matter of wiring it all up.
Hot Tub Start-Up
So I get it all wired up and filled up with water, go to flip the breaker and it instantly trips. Well crap. Try it again and the same. And yet again here we are. Well this sucks. Time to start doing some troubleshooting. So its not throwing out fireballs or letting out the magic smoke so I think I can rule out a dead short. Now its time to look for the less fun thing. A ground fault. In this case a ground fault is where current is leaking out from where it should be to somewhere it shouldn’t be. Short of poking around with a multi meter the next best thing is to start the guess and test method. First I unplugged the ozone generator to no avail. Next I unplugged the blower and she fired right up. Not thinking I really wanted a blower I took it out and decided to do a bit of an autopsy. I don’t have a picture but what ended up happening was a bit of corrosion was carrying current from a motor winding to the case. Not enough for a dead short, but more than 5 Milli-amps that would trip a GFCI. But at-last, I have a working hot tub.
Purging a Hot Tub
Turns out people do not like bathing in other peoples dead skin. Nor do they want to think about the bacteria that might be floating around. So with any new or used tub its time to purge it. Even with adequate sanitation a biofilm can still form in the pipes and harbor nasty things such as Legionnaires or staph. Hell, look at this case that happened at a state fair. So to battle the biofilm I decided to do an Ahh-Some purge. Not sure how exactly this stuff works but its amazing what it can get out of the pipes. After running this per the instructions it was time to dump, refill and balance.
And of course I had to have some sort of failure. In this case it was a little plastic anti-airlock fitting. Luckily a local dealer had one in stock and I was able to get up and moving again.
Final Thoughts
In the end I think it was well worth it. Turns out we use it 3-5 times a week. We did notice the power bill increase but I believe when it comes to hot tubs, if you use them they are cheap. If you don’t use them they are expensive. In our case its a wonderful place to go relax at.
