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. COMMERCIAL SPAS / SWIMSPAS

Residential | Commercial | Swimspas | Accessories | General Info

. Main Page | All Models | 600EC | 600C | H-1000 | H-1100 | H-1200 | Designer's Guide | Spa Photos
. Commercial Swimspas | Swimspa Photos | Installation Notes

Hydropool Commercial Hot Tub
Designer's Guide

Contents
. The Difference Between a Spa, Hot tub & a Whirlpool
. Concrete vs. Acrylic
. The Difference Between Institutional and Light Commercial Models
. Available Colors
. How Hot tubs Work
. Choosing Size and Shape
. Choosing the Number of Jets, Heater Type and Voltage
. In-ground or Above-ground
. Sizing the Pad/Pit
. Washroom/Shower Facilities
. Deck Drains/Water Proofing/Fresh Water Rinsing
. Where to Locate the Equipment
. Options
. Chemical Controllers
. Railings
. Covers
. Safety Covers
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Originally, spas were called whirlpools. These units were made of concrete, and either painted or tiled. The first installations were in the 60's in health clubs, hotels and in a few select homes.

Unfortunately, these early concrete versions were very expensive due to the custom labour and bulky materials, so mass popularity was limited.

In the mid 70's, some entrepreneurial "hippies" in California started converting old discarded wooden wine barrels into above ground, almost portable whirlpools, and the term "hot hubs" was born. While these wooden "hot tubs" were more affordable, they quite often leaked for the first couple of days after installation while the tub "swelled". This initial leaking, combined with the necessity of "at-the-site" plumbing made these initial versions expensive. Furthermore, the porous wood made proper water sanitation and chemical balancing difficult, and the dark wooden roud or oval shapes limited marketablity.

These negatives led to the introduction of gel coated, fiberglass reinforced models promoted as "spas" by the pool industry to eliminate any association with the wooden hot tubs.

Unfortunately, within a few short years, Gel Coat fiberglass spas proved to be unable to stand up to being subjected to hot, chlorinated water 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The cobalt promoter in the fiberglass "leached" to the surface resulting in black spots, or as it is referred to within the industry, "black plague".

In the early 80's, the introduction of spas made from vacuum formed, continuous cast acrylic sheet, reinforced with fiberglass, proved to be the answer to providing an inexpensive yet durable and aesthetic pleasing way to manufacture spas, hot tubs and whirlpools (whichever you would like to call them).

The acrylic sheet prevented water from penetrating to the fiberglass layer and provided a surface that was durable and available in a wide assortment of colours.

Suddenly spa manufacturers were able to supply their dealers with factory plumbed and equipped spas that were designed to meet Provincial or State regulations such as riser heights on the stairs, dual suction parts, colour coding of drop offs and stair edges, filter turnover ratios, etc.

Vibrant colours and a wide range of sizes, shapes and jet options quickly made the hot tub a necessity in most North American Apartment Complexes, Health Clubs, Hotels, and better homes.

This increased the popularity led to lower prices and product improveness so that today, in the late 90's, there is seldom a facility built that does not include at least one hot tub.

The addition of a hot tub increases the sales appeal of condos, hotels and fitness facilities. In corporate facilities hot tubs help increase employee morale, reduce stress and increase productivity.

And finally, to add some further confusion, many acrylic spa manufacturers have recently come to the realization that the public most commonly calls them "hot tubs". Regardless of whether the spars are made from concrete, wood or acrylic, the industry might as well call them "hot tubs". The name spa has quickly become a name of the past and once again the name "hot tub" prevails.

Compared to conventional concrete whirlpools or spas, acrylic/fiberglass reinforced hot tubs are lighter and therefore able to be installed on roof tops and other areas not able to support a conventional contrete whirlpool. They have more sculptured interiors, resulting in both more comfortable seating, and in most instances, the ablity to accomodate more people in a smaller area.

Other advantages include:
* Acrylic spas offer far greater access to piping, fittings and jets often allowing for complete replumbing without removal of the shell.
* Acrylic spas have better waterproofing properties that concrete spas.
* Acrylic/Fiberglass reinforced hot tubs are not affected by changing temperatures as concrete whirlpools. Many concrete whirlpools have cracked when drained for cleaning and immediately refilled with cold water.
* Yearly or bi-yearly maintenance such as tile grouting or replacement is no longer necessary with acrylic hot tubs.
* Most importantly, an acrylic hot tub is almost half the cost of a similar equipped concrete spa or whirlpool.

Hydropool manufactures commercial spas/hot tubs for both institutional and light commercial applications.

Institutional models are designed for larger Health Clubs, Hotels, Apartments/Condominiums or City Recreation Centres where usage will exceed more than twenty users per day.

A Light Commercial model is for smaller clubs, motels or apartments/condominiums where usage will be less than twenty users per day.

You should check with your local building and health departments to confirm what type of hot tub is acceptable for your proposed facility.

It is important to understand that conventional residential hot tubs that are sold for home or backyard use are not equipped with the right equipment to meet either Institutional or Light Commercial codes in most Provinces or States. Furthermore, the shell designs of residential hot tubs do not generally meet the required codes for Institutional or Commercial installations and often do not have proper access steps or are equipped with lay-down loungers which can impede safe movement within the spa.

Hydropool's Commercial Hot tubs are also available with equipment that operates at the voltages commonly found in institutional and commercial buildings.

Hydropool's Institutional and Light Commercial Hot tubs are made with .187 cm acrylic sheet, which is fifty percent thicker than the material used on residential models. An extra layer of fiberglass reinforcement is also added to ensure that the spa shell will stand up to the rigors of commercial use.

They have a separate pump to circulate the water through the filter and the heater and a separate pump or pumps to drive the jets. These spas are most commonly wired 3 phase in 208 volt power.

The Economy Light Commercial Model is a "scaled down" version of the Institutional Model H-600C with less expensive pumps, heaters and controls to reduce costs. These economy models will only operate on single phase 230 voltage.

All Hydropool Institutional and Commercial Hot tubs are available as factory plumbed units where the contractor is responsible for building the surrounding deck, or as pre-plumbed units with factory built, but site assembled, cedar cabinets and steps.

Each unit is shipped complete with a factory installed support structure, so that the decking required is cosmetic only, and not required, to support the weight of the spa.

Hydropool Institutional and Light Commercial Hot Tubs are available in the following colours:
• Solitude White Quarite
• Caribbean Blue
• Twilight Quarite

You should check with your applicable Provincial or State Authorities to determine what colours are allowed in your area.

With Institutional and Regular Light Institutional models, the circulating single speed pump draws water from the surface skimmer as well as the built-in bottom floor drain/suction. This water is directed through the filter (generally sand but some times cartridge) through the heater (usually electric) and back to the spa through two deep heat return fittings. The fittings are usually located in the lower footwell suction of the spa.

This circulation pump generally operates twenty four hours a day.

The jets are driven by a seperate jet pump, which draws the water through three suction fittings on the lower footwell sidewall and return the water through the hydrotherapy jets.

The jets are connected via venturi topside air control nozzles which allow the user or operator to control the mixture of air/water ratio in the jets.

The jet pump is (in most Provinces and States), required to be connected to a fifteen minute timer mounted at least ten feet from the spa water. It is believed that if the user has to continually exit the spa to reactivate the jets that they will not stay in the spa too long whch could lead to drowsiness or fainting.

All pumbing is in flexible or rigid P.V.C. pipe and the equipment is designed to be installed up to 15' of pipe length away.

Optional water level controllers maintain proper water height to ensure proper circulation, filtration, heating and jet action. A special fitting is installed on the spa that allows water to flow to the leveler. The leveler is connected to a 1/2" fresh water feed and allows fresh water to flow into the spa should the float on the leveler determine that the water level is low.

Handrails aid in safe entry and exit from the spa. These handrails are avialable with a bolt-down mounting flange or with anchors that requires cementing into the deck.

Institutional or Light Commercial Hot Tubs should be drained and refilled as per the following schedule:

1/3 of the total gallons in the unit divided by the average daily number of users equals the number of days allowed between draining.

Hot Tubs with sand filters require backwashing several times per week. Backwashing is a process where the direction of water flow is changed so that it comes up through the sand and carries away dirt. this will obviously result in a significant amount of the spa water being displaced and requiring replacement. This will increase the number of days allowed between draining.

A negative of sand filters is that they do not filter out the very fine particles as well as cartridge filters. Also, the water loss associated with the backwashing must be timed properly to minimize downtime for refilling and heating.

Sand filters are also bulker in size than cartridge filters therefore requiring more mechanical room space.

This is why more and more commercial hot tubs are being equipped with cartridge filters. Hydropool Commercial Spas are standard with cartridge filters but can be optionally equipped with sand filters.

With hot tubs with cartrige filters, when flow rates slow, or the filter shows signs of being dirty, the cartridge is simply removed from it's canister, sprayed clean with a high pressure hose and re-installed. Once every two or three cleanings, the filter should be soaked overnight in a filter cleaner and once a year replace entirely.

When planning your mechanical room, remember to include an area where the cartridge can be sprayed conveniently.

Many residential hot tubs have bucket seats and lay-down loungers, which are not recommended for Institutional or Light Commercial hot tubs as they restrict seating and could cause users to stumble and fall in the hot tub. As a result, bench style seating is most popular with Institutional and Light Commercial Hot Tubs. Models with varied depths of seating better accommodate children or smaller adults. To ensure that the spa/hot tub will be comfortable for an who is adult over 6' (183cm) in height, it is not the depth of the model, but rather the riser height from the seat to the water level which must be at a minimum of 18"(46cm). Very important is that the model has wide built-in access steps that are designed to minimize slipping. Don't necessarily oversize the model, smaller models are not only less expensive, they are easier to maintain and more intimate.

Unless the hot tub is installed for therapeutic reasons, (such as in a clinic or sports therapy centre), one or two jets per seat is sufficient. More jets not only increase the cost, but increases the maintenance as well as jets do get plugged and more jets require more pumps, or larger capacity pumps.

Pump size should be based on the gallon per minute flow, as there is some misleading marketing within the hot tub industry in regards to the size of the pumps. Most residential hot tub pump motors are 48 frame high performance pumps with 2 horsepower motors. Due to the fact that these pumps will often pump more gallons per minute than conventional 3, 4 and even 5 horsepower pool pumps, many hot tub pump manufacturers, as well as most hot tub manufactures, are now labeling their pumps 4HP, 4.5HP, and even 5HP with the HP referring to high performance or hydrotherapy power, not conventional horsepower.

The fact is that these pumps will all perform as required, the problem is that consumers are understandably confused.

Unfortunately, these 48 Frame high performance motors, at the the time of this writing are only available in 230 volt, single phase versions. Since most modern Commercial buildings are supplied with 3 phase 208 or 575 voltages, conventional residential hot tub equipment will not suffice.

Hydropool has successfully supplied installations with 48 Frame high performance motors that have been rewired to 208 single phase (available in most buildings supplies with three phases). Unfortunately, this is not possible with dual speed motors, another reason why conventional residential hot tubs are not suited for commercial installations. It should be noted that we have seen premature equipment failure in situations where an electrician has connected 208 single phase hot tub equipment to 230 volt single phase.

In 1998 one pump manufacturer introduced a high performance pump/motor combination that they are marketing as a 56 Frame. While the motor's frame is larger than a 48 Frame, it is not s large as a conventional 56 Frame. Hydropool now equips our residential swim spas with this pump and can also provide a converted 208 single phase version for some commercial installations. Unfortunately, this pump/motor combination is not available in 3 phase versions so where 3 phase is required more expensive pumps are required.

Conventional residential hot tubs use electric heaters that also operate on 230 volt single phase. They are available in 2, 3, 4 and 5.5 kW sizes. These heaters can be connected to 208 single phase lines without any wiring, they simply lose some of their efficiency. Where a larger 3 phase heater is required, considerable upgrade charges apply.

Gas heaters and hot water heat exchangers are possible alternatives but it is the opinion of Hydropool, that the relatively low intitial cost of electric heaters, combined with the way they can be easily integrated into the hot tub control system makes electric heaters the only practical choice.

When specifying remember to include magnetic starters, contractors, times and GFCI's where necessary.

Your Hydropool Hot Tub can be installed in the ground, above the ground or half and half. Installations where the top lip of the hot tub is located 6"-8" (15cm-20cm) off the ground is recommended as the minor step up required will often slow the user down enough to ensure proper footage on the interior steps and prevent falling into the hot tub.

Ensure that the proposed ceiling height will accommodate proper entry/exit from the hot tub. In situations where the hot tub is an add-on, ensure tha the hot tub will fit through your existing door and halls.

In new construction it is important that the hot tub is ordered with sufficient notice to ensure tha the unit can be manufactured and delivered to site before interfering walls or doors are erected.

If you are pre-pouring a concrete pad or pit, you should oversize them by at least 3" in each dimension to leave sufficient room for the foam insulation which often expands past the outer rim of the hot tub if a factory cabinet is not installed. Allowance must be made for access to the underside of the spa shell for pipe connections and future service access.

In most regions the building department will require that users pass by washroom and shower facilities before entering the hot tub so that they can take a shower using warm soap is mandatory in most regions.

It is recommended that sufficient deck drains be installed to accommodate spillovers, deck cleaning, etc. The close proximity of a garden hose hookup for cleaning purpose is recommended. The installation of a waterproof membrane on the floor ad lower walls under the tile and walls is strongly recommended.

Whereas residential hot tubs generally have their equipment installed under the hot tub shell itself, the equipment for Institutional and Light Commercial models is usually shipped from the factory on a separate skid platform, allowing installation in a separtate mechanical room with floor dimensions of a least 6' x 8' (1.82m x 2.44m). The mechanical room should not be located further than 15' (4.57m) of pipe length away from the hot tub. Where mechanical room instalation is required to be further away, equipment upgrading may be necessary.

Mechanical rooms should also be equipped with floor drains as well as fresh water lines to connect direct to the hot tub plumbing.

Brominators and Chlorinators allow the operator to adjust the amount of water flow over the proven disinfecting chemical of choice, Bromine or Chlorine, thus slowing or increasing the disbursement to the desired amount. They also accommodate up to a week's amount of chlorine or bromine, thus minimizing staff involvement. On the economy light commercial models, the brominator can be located in the mechanical room, plumbed in after the pump. The choice between brominator and chlorinator is up to the operator, however, in our opinion, bromine tends to be regarded as a more effective sanitizer in hot water than chlorine.

In recent years ozonators and ionizers have also become popular. Ozonators produce ozone as a highly effective oxidizer, which kills bacteria on contact. The ozone is drawn into the hot tub via a special factory installed venturi action.

The benefit of ozonators is that they pay for themselves within a year via the savings in chemical purchases. They also leave less chemical byproduct in the water resulting in potentially clearer and nicer feeling water with extended times between drain/refills.

The drawback of using ozone is that it has no "shelf life" as it is ineffective within minutes of mixing in the water. As a result there is never a residual in the water available to eliminate new germs and bacteria as it enters the water. This is why it is critical that hot tubs with ozonators still maintain a level of chlorine or bromine in the water.

Overall, Hydropool recommends ozone, but only if used in conjunctions with chlorine or bromine. Where used, it is important the air circulation be designed to clear the potentially harmful ozone "off-gas" that will linger at the waters edge.

Ionizers are devices, which also improve water clarity and reduce chemical consumption. While many residential pool and spa owners are emphatic over the positive impact that these units have had on their pools and spas, Hydropool is not aggressively promoting ionizers at the time of writing this manual as they are relatively new to the industry. Our concern is that they have no disinfectng ability yet many of the pool and spa owners that have these units believe that it is an adequete substitute. In simple terms, ionizers give the same results as regularly using an algeacide as a supplement to chlorine or bromine.

These devices have sensing probes that determine the ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential) of the water as well as the pH. When the probes sense the need for chemical the controller allows either the chlorinator to start of the solenoid valve on the brominator to open allowing water to flow into the brominator to dissolve bromine which will flow to the hot tub. When the proper readings are achieved the controller turns off the chlorinator or brominator.
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Every time a user leaves the hot tub, they take some of the hot tub's water with them. Furthermore, when several people sit in the hot tub at once, the water can rise over the edge. In both these instances this results in the water being too low.

Automatic water level controllers are units that are mounted on the wall of the mechanical room or in the deck at the desired height of the hot tub water. A fresh water line is connected to the contoller. When the water level drops, a leveling valve in the controller activates the fresh water until it reaches the set level.

To minimize the chance of someone slipping when they enter or exit the hot tub the installation of these stainless steel rails is advised.

These light covers are placed on the hot tub at night or whenever the hot tub is not in use, to reduce heating costs and minimize evaporation.

These covers achieve the same insulation and heat retention benefits of floating covers but also prevent chidren from obtaining access to the spa/hot tub.
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Each commercial hot tub installation should include a rules and safety procedure sign, an emergency sign, an emergency power and pump disconnect, first aid box and emergency phone in close proximity. Please consult with your local authorities for specifics in your area. Operators should appoint staff to regularly check the hot tub while in operation to ensure that it is being used safely and that the chemical balances are correct.

The information included in the preceding guide was presented for the purpose of assisting you better design and select equipment for your commercial hot tub. In the event that you believe any of the information to be misleading or "out of date" we would appreciate you notifing us immediately.