It is often said that because a Hot Tub Jacuzzi style Spa has a smaller heater it must therefore be a better spa than one which has a bigger and thereby more expensive heater.

The claim that is usually made to justify a smaller heater is that the Jacuzzi with the cheaper Hot Tub heater is better insulated   but the plain simple truth is that a  smaller heater is much less efficient as it takes longer and longer to heat up. This is, in some way, very similar to  a smaller engined car on the highway it can of course get up to a good cruising speed  but a bigger engine will take it all in its stride with plenty of spare capacity in reserve. It is a fact that a bigger engined and well designed and engineered car is often more economical at a higher cruising speed than  a smaller engined one which is over revving and straining its self.  In the same way a bigger heater is able to heat up the water quicker and then only needs to gently top up the heat now and again. The only person who benefits from a smaller heater is the manufacturer who clearly saves lots of money on his manufacturing cost as a smaller heater costs considerably less.

At the same time one often finds that Hot Tubs with small heaters use the fully foamed approach some times known as the a€œfully foameda€ or a€œfoam fillinga€ system this is very much an out of date production method but is still in use by many makers as it is one of the cheapest forms of construction.

In this cheaper system, the shell or Tub of the unit is made from thinner sheets of acrylic or ABS plastic the Tub is then plumbed and piped with all the required pipes etc.

 Then the cabinet that surrounds the Shell is   pumped full of expanding foam to give the shell its support.

This is a much cheaper method of construction as it means that the manufacturer is able to use cheap foam, (instead of fiberglass), to support the shell, rather than building a shell with sufficient strength in the first place!

There are various disadvantages of this system of construction:-

1)      Polyurethane foam which is sprayed in degrades over time, with the effect that there is a real decrease in the insulating value.

 

2)      The settling and heat related expansion and contraction of the foam can actually create leaks in the plumbing.

 

3)      Lastly and very importantly you cannot access any of the internal workings or parts of the spa in the case that service is required. In real terms then the most serious downside to this cheaper method of construction is that there is an almost total inability of serviceability during the life of the Hot Tub. Not only is the plumbing buried and covered by he expanded foam but so of course are the jet fittings. Therefore leak detection is more or less impossible with out removing very substantial amounts of foam... If a fully foamed spa should leak (and of course they do) from the rear of a jet fitting or a plumbing connection then the  seepage of water will not become apparent until the foam has become extremely wet and sodden. The latest and the most modern productions methods, in my view, would be to use some foam to support the pipe work but not to indiscriminately jet blast, the spa cabinet full of polyurethane foam as there is no proven benefit to this practice and it actually does cause dealers and customers a severe service and access headache. 

One can identify the better manufacturers as they will utilize Spa controllers made by the leading Western manufacturers in the world so as to create custom spa packs and topside controls that complement their spa models. These will have built in features that make it so much easier dealing with a spa.

These user-friendly intuitive controls take the guesswork out of spa ownership and are designed for a lifetime of use in harsh climates.

Avoid spas with air controls or spas that do not display the hot tub temperature as a digital read out.

Many spas are produced cheaply by using an inferior quality spa electronic pack.

Unknown brand names or bulk imported packs may not stand the test of time and may be very hard to replace if they break down.

The best advice remains that one should buy a proven product from a well established manufacturer and not a cheap import then you have proven expertise which will have been tested over many years combined with the back up of a Major Western Corporation.