I am in the middle of my own CL hot tub experiment. This is a summary, I can't recall all the ups and downs, but it generally works for 3 months, I work on it for 3 months, repeat.
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Bought the tub for $400 or so. The PO had it installed and working, he was just upgrading to a larger unit. He removed it and had it in the driveway for me to pick up. I have a 4x8 trailer, so we stood it on end and strapped it to that. I had a concrete slab on the back of the house with a roof over it, so that was a perfect spot. It fit with just inches to spare on the front and back, but plenty of access on the sides. So far, so good.
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The tub is a 220v unit, and I had a 220v sub-panel on the other side of the wall from the tub from a clothes dryer. We switched to a gas dryer, so this was going to be a plug-and-swim situation! Wrong. Dryers are 3-wire, 30amp 220v, the tub is a 4-wire, 60amp 220v. That meant all-new wiring from the main breaker box to the tub. My older panel required a special breaker that was not been manufactured in a few years that had to be scrounged from e-bay.
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Local code says that you need a 200v breaker and a 120v plug (on a separate circuit) within 10 feet but no closer than 3 feet from the tub. This was more cost and parts and labor, but I did most of it myself and left the final connections to an electrician. Who did it wrong because he did not understand 220v connections. So I Googled it and did it myself. Ugh.
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The tub is GREAT. We hit it in the evenings before the kids go to bed, we turn down the heat and let the 3yr old swim in it. We have long conversations because we have no TV or other things to distract us. We love it. We then drop $400 on a new cover because the old one was crap. And some $$$ on chemicals, filters, cleaning supplies, etc.
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PA hits -10 for 10 days in a row and (wait for it) I am out of town and the heater kicks off. The tub cannot easily be drained by my wife, and freezes SOLID. Turns out that the main fuse on the control panel blew. We now have to wait for warmer weather for it to thaw. 50% of the PVC pipes underneath have burst. I re-plumb 75% of the thing to be safe, and add a drain line that can just be opened to speed the drain process.
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The heater issue is still popping up. I replace the heater unit. No good. I replace all of the sensors. No good. I replace the control board, and that seems to fix it. Until the recirculation pump stops working.
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The recirc pump has actually cracked in half. Odd. The replacement is a direct drop-in, so we are up and running pretty quickly.
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While all of this is going on, we are using it sporadically, whenever it is functioning. But my wife develops a BAD rash that is diagnosed as folliculitis, caused by a bacteria in hot tubs. OK, we are told to switch from Bromine to Chlorine. I do this, and go through a big sanitizing routine, but it comes back. I research and do everything that can possibly be done to eliminate and keep the bacteria away, but it keeps coming back.
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The hot tub has sprung a leak from somewhere that I cannot see, and it only leaks sometimes. WTF?
So it is currently down, again, and without being able to get rid of the bacteria, I don't know if I have any interest in getting it back up and running. I like it when it works, and we do use it, but it has been A LOT of work. Even when it is running, I have to keep the pH and Chlorine levels perfect, checking it twice a day. That keeps the bacteria away for a little while, but it eventually comes back. I have test strips for the bacteria, and we don't go in if it test positive, but you have to run a 20 minute test before using the dang thing.
My advice, buy the BEST tub you can afford, a cheap one will just be more headaches than it is worth. And be sure to get every sanitizing option there is, Ozone, UV, Chlorine, Death Ray...whatever.
