Out With The Old

So several years have passed since our used tub experience. We were ready to spend the big dough and buy ourselves a new one. After much research we we found what we wanted. We bought a new Beachcomber model 620 something something which probably stood for too many jets and lights you will never use.  I finally took the time to learn water science, and prided myself on getting it right the second time around. Still, it was a pain in the a$$, every few nights the same routine, dumping in chemicals, balancing the water etc etc.  So goes the life of a spa owner, or so I thought......

P.S. That's me changing the filters and all the chemicals in the tub.

But before we go into that, a quick ha ha story. Embarrassing at the time, and it took me a year to look back and laugh at it.   We actually bought a smaller new tub at first. It was more affordable and suited us better.  The dealer told us to come down and actually sit in it, or better yet, come after hours with a bathing suit and try it out.  That seemed like a bucket load of work and we were too shy to put him through it so we just ended up buying it "untested". 5 Days later it was delivered and brought to our back yard, which in itself was no easy task.  We levelled, plumbed, wired, and filled it and looked forward to its breaking in the next day.  Well....we hated it, and everything about it. We couldn't even will ourselves to like it. I drew the short straw and made the call the next day.  The dealer was very gracious. I felt like an idiot.  To make it less painful on him we bought the next model up. Bigger, faster, more jets, more lights, and it made toast too. In the end I won. Wanted a bigger tub anyways.

That tub served us well, as did the same model we bought 5 years later when we moved. It's the one we have today and we still love it when we get the chance to go in.

I was introduced to Spa Solution at a home show. 3 Month supply in one bottle and low maintenance.....yeah right.  We kept walking and never went back to the booth.  I wasn't ready to shell out $79.95 and throw away my box of bottles with poison and toxins.  It may burn my eyes and shorts but darn it, I had the cleanest tub water in town. 

By nature I'm a lazy sod. And those words "low maintenance" kept rolling around in my head.  The weekends trudging through the snow to "test" the water. Nights when I yearned for a dip only to find the water murkier than mom's pea soup (I jest, but you get the point).

Well, we bit the bullet one day, probably after a bad dip, another pair of shorts, or the realisation our cover rotted out because of the fumes. I forget which, maybe all three. 

After carefully reading the instructions (I won't repeat them here, visit www.miragespasolution.ca) we crossed our fingers hoping this goo would do the trick. It smelled nice but looked like snot.  It looked even worse when you poured it in....Our hot tub dealer said it was "snake oil" and a hoax. The stuff doesn't work so don't bother. A few websites made the same claim. Ironically, they all sold chemicals so I took that with a grain of salt. The end result was we LOVED it. The water was clear every time, no scum line around the perimeter, no chemical smell to burn your nose hairs, and darn it I'm still wearing the same shorts I did a few years ago!!!! (Although the elastic stretches more)