Tried to buy one last month as the Mrs was desperate for one for her birthday, no joy as they’ve all been sold out since last year. Found a local company who hired them though so we had one for a few days… having not been keen on the idea before I’m now a total convert, they’re bloody brilliant, so we’re definitely getting one!! 🤣

There’s some places now you can pre-order them now, has anyone got or used one of the more expensive tubs with Hydrojets? They’re considerably more costly, just trying to work out if they’re actually worth it? Any effectiveness as a kind of massage for tired muscles etc? Have googled but can’t find a single online review or article actually discussing them!

I love ours despite being a total snob at the outset. Yet to do the ‘cost of ownership’ calcs on the electricity usage but that aside, my experiences

– Clean the filter often. It does a good job but a rinse every 3 days is very helpful
– Buy lots of filters cheap on ebay so you’re able to readily replace them when the pump starts to struggle
– If you want ‘seats’ get some cheap washing up bowls from The Range or another cheapy shop
– Get a PVC sealing kit – the main body has been brilliant at keeping air in but the inflatable insert in the lid is rubbish at remaining air tight. I’ve added about 5 patches in as many months
– We rarely use the air / bubbles and prefer to turn the pump completely off and sit in the silence and dark. Very zen. So I wouldn’t bother with any of the Hydrojet stuff as it’s probably just more to go wrong
– We used ours right through winter. It will turn off after 72 hrs no button presses but someone from the family is in it most days / nights so not a problem for us.
– I bought the Lay-Z-Spa light that screws onto the out-flow. About £20 and the kids get the funky coloured lights
– Depending on where you’re putting it get some of those interlocking rubber / foam pads to put it on to increase insulation and reduce wear

Ta, yeah I much preferred it with the jets off (heater doesn’t with jets on anyway!) as it’s quieter/more relaxing. Just wondering if the Hydro jets had any real benefit e.g. after a long day on the bike!

Do you buy official filters or compatibles? Ta for the other tips… yeah the one we hired had the light!

Seen other people talk about insulating the bottom, even going as far as to build a platform with kingspan. Do you actually get much additional heat retention just from mats? Will be going on our patio.

I buy official filters but the last lot I got was a 12 pack for £18 from an UK ebay supplier. I am wondering about building a raised platform with better insulation and it’s obvious that it would help – someone will have done the maths somewhere.

Only problem with the official screw on light is it take the same spot as the included chlorine dispenser but I’m happy to swap over as needed. I saw another one that replaces the plastic retaining screw on the filter housing.

4 posts in and no mention of fetid sex ponds? Is disappoint.

Why else do you think I buy filters in bulk 🤪

TBH that’s only if you don’t clean out the S-filter

then its just a a sex pond and what’s not love about that 🙂

4 posts in and no mention of fetid sex ponds? Is disappoint.

And why, for the love of all that’s holy, would you rent one?

*shudders*

I want one but not sure about inflatable as I reckon my dog will want to put his paws on it.

We bought a really cheap one from a local fb group in January. Paid £200. Think rrp was £400. It was my birthday pressie to myself. Absolute bargain and love it. Never use the bubbles. Have rinsed the filters every week or so and have about 4 that we’ve rotated. Seem to trigger the blocked filter code more regularly now so I think we will buy some more. You can buy filters in branches of the range. Along with chemicals and test strips. And the most important clip on drinks holder thing.
We’ve used it a lot. Prob 3 nights a week. Energy bills around £40 a month more than this time last year. Eek!
We’ve got ours on camping mats on the patio as the lady we bought it off (sold because upgrading) said the bottom feels cold. It never feels cold to me. Also had to replace the light as it would stay on overnight and batteries died. New one £22 off Amazon

Ours is sat on foam matting, no idea if it makes a difference, I got our sex pond 2nd hand with it included + seats, cup holder, cleaning stuff etc for £50

It is quite nice to jump into after a ride, as above buy a batch of filters and just rotate and clean them, we don’t use the bubbles much as it’s quite noisy.

For those that prefer jets off why not go with a proper Scandi wood burning tub for peak STWness?

Got a layz spa in the first lockdown, I love it, especially after a long ride. I am only heating mine when I have solar production from the panels as last year the electricity bill was a bit of a shock.

I think the layz spa is about 90% of the experience of a proper hot tub, but more expensive to run because poorly insulated.

On Jeremy Vine today, discussion about high number of thefts. Thieves fly a drone around your neighbourhood, spot them and come back later…

I want one but not sure about inflatable as I reckon my dog will want to put his paws on it.

Maybe use it as a toilet too.

I think the layz spa is about 90% of the experience of a proper hot tub, but more expensive to run because poorly insulated.

guessing a rigid foam cover would be a lot better insulated than the stock inflatable one, can’t see anyone selling them though?

On Jeremy Vine today, discussion about high number of thefts. Thieves fly a drone around your neighbourhood, spot them and come back later…

maybe I’ll order a camo net too 🤔

Got a layz spa in the first lockdown, I love it, especially after a long ride

Fnarr fnarr.

guessing a rigid foam cover would be a lot better insulated than the stock inflatable one, can’t see anyone selling them though?

We have a square tub (Hawaii) and couldn’t find one but keep thinking about making one from a suitable material.

Put the filters in a pillow case on a low temperature wash and they come out brand new.

Picked up a Fiji last week in Tesco (only popped in for milk). We’ve yet to set it up or even buy the chemicals. Picking up some good tips above re. filters but what are they actually like to use and keep the water clean? Do you ever need to ‘shock’ treat them?

I have a Hawaii, I built a base for £50 from 50mm 1.2mtr X .45mtr insulation blocks from B&Q and wrapped the whole lot in damp proofing black plastic sheet. Taped it all up with insulation tape and then plonked the tub on top.
I currently have my camper vans Khyam drive away awning parked over the top of it, keeps it private and a little bit more protection from weather.

Bloody great things.

Nowt like it after a day on the bike. Easy way to make sure you get a sleep after nightshift as well. 20 mins in it and you are zonked.

I love ours. But Jeez its expensive to run. £30 per month roughly, but in winter… jumped up an extra £100. We tend to keep it at 32 degrees and then set to 40 when want to use. Seems when its sub zero it takes some electricity

what are they actually like to use and keep the water clean? Do you ever need to ‘shock’ treat them?

Ours needs extra chlorine regularly and ph plus granules. Algecide has been helpful to get rid of the ping when the water is due a change…

Great tip above re washing the filters. Gonna give that a go

but in winter… jumped up an extra £100.

:-O

I Got the inflatable M-Spa Tekapo 6 person between xmas and new year – lockdown present to me n the missus.

didnt really think too much about the most efficient way to run it, we kept it hot all the time so we could use it whenever we wanted. planning for it to be hot when we are now likley to use it isnt that hard though.

January – ran it at 40degrees constantly, was grand but bloody expensive. about £200 in electric. would easily drop 15degrees overnight.
February – moved it onto a rubber mat and bought an inflatable ‘cover’ that sits on the water – still expensive but only about £150 extra. would still drop more than 10 degrees overnight.
March. insulated it – 100mm kingsapn underneath, 50mm kingspan around the side tight against the tub itself., clad in T&G, with a nice (though i say it myself) decking shelf all round it. 50mm Kingspan ‘lid’ over everything to make a reasonalby airtight seal around the tub. Now drops ~4 degrees overnight. cost about £30 for the month.
april – so far ive been able to only heat the hot tub during daylight for free from the solar we have.

Filters get washed (soaked) in that oxi-clean stuff (cheap brand from ALDI) that gets the grease out of the filter but still needs a rinse under taps for the small amount of debris.

Get the right PH and monitor the bromine levels and it pretty much takes care of itself. water gets shocked once a week, changed once a month and thus far has been reasonably straightforward to manage.

January – ran it at 40degrees constantly, was grand but bloody expensive. about £200 in electric. would easily drop 15degrees overnight.
February – moved it onto a rubber mat and bought an inflatable ‘cover’ that sits on the water – still expensive but only about £150 extra. would still drop more than 10 degrees overnight.

WTF 😳 how cold was it? When we hired the LZS it was cold but not freezing, 4-5 overnight maybe, it didn’t drop at all from 40′. Are you saying in January that you didn’t have any kind of lid at all, though?

quite like your idea of building an insulated box for it to sit in though! Got any pics? How did you go about building it? Should be reasonably easy for the one I’ve just ordered as it’s square not round, may help protect it too… How did you do the base? Did it need some reinforcement, they’ll be about a ton of weight maybe on ours with the water & 2x adults!

april – so far ive been able to only heat the hot tub during daylight for free from the solar we have.

@Smudger666
Are you doing this in some clever automated way….. or just switching the heat on when it’s sunny?

Are you doing this in some clever automated way….. or just switching the heat on when it’s sunny?

don’t have solar myself but I know this is a doddle to do if you’re running a Home Assistant server as it’s mentioned often on the forums!

@sharkbait I work from home so its easy to do manually – the spa actually has a manual reset button that need pressed everytime the power is switched off so i leave it ‘on’ but with the temp turned down overnight. max draw is 1.5kW/h so the solar kicks that out by about 10am at the moment and I can switch on manually.

@zilog6128 it’s on the decking so i put the 100mm kingspan down directly on to the deck boards and cut to size when the spa was inflated on it. built a frame of 4 x 2 with the 50mm kingspan in it then clad the outside. the lid is two bits of 1200 x 2400 kingspan taped together and cut to size. I do have pics but havent posted/hosted in a while.

temps in Fife during Jan and feb got to -7 or so quite often, but hovered around the -1, -2 overnight for much of jan/feb.

there was always the lid that came with it – a sort of strap down foil lined rain cover with all the insulation properties of a shopping bag.

@Smudger666 bit colder than here then 🤣 So the tub just sits directly on the 100mm kingspan, no problems with the weight at all? (Never used it before so no idea how strong it is!)

from the top –
spa on kingspan that was levelled to horizontal, not the decking which has a fall for rainwater removal.
frame in progress
finished item with rain cover.
kingspan ‘lid’
raincover that came with the spa
inflatable insulating floaty lid thing.

ignore the office behind – its a mess, just glad you all cant see the grass!

@Smudger666 ta, that looks brilliant!! 👍

Hi all
Im a newbie but an old un.
Just got my new spa all good but…No water is coming out of the pump outlet.If I unscrew the outlet where the chemical ring fits inside the spa wall I come across a plate of some sort just behind the outlet screw threads. Why would this be blanked? Maybe it’s a diffuse system now, I just can’t get my head around it. A faulty pump would show defect codes?
it heats up all blowers work but no filtering going on.
Lay Z Spa have a 14 day turn round at the moment for problems.
no answer on phones.
hope you guys can help?
thanks

You should be able to see right through both in the inlet and outlet pipes (torch / daylight will help) even if they’re slightly compressed from the pressure of the lining. The top (outlet) grey meshed fitment that the chemical dispenser fits onto unscrews but the bottom one (filter fitment) doesn’t as its glued on. With the exception of the grey fitments for chemical dispenser and filter there should be no more obstructions in there.

Note however that if you deliberately block the inlet / outlet using the black rubber covers that you put in place when detaching the pump, you will get a pump flow error (usually E02), so it’s odd that you’re not getting pump noises followed by pump errors.

It’s clogged up with spunk?

Brand spanking new!

Brand spanking spunking new!

ftfy

So I found this 2nd leak in my tub. Looks to be a flexible type hose was glued in a pvc fitting, it’s leaking now.

So I’m wondering if I could use JB Wld to fix it. But I would like to clean off the left over foam insulation before applying the weld. What can I use to clean it first and will JB weld be good to use?

Also once the foam I pulled out dries, can I just stuff it back in.

Thanks

Also once the foam I pulled out dries, can I just stuff it back in.

Fnarr fnarr seems an appropriate response for the subject matter.