Ask 'Dr. Spa' Q & A Message Board

: Some of our differences may be due to different countries, some may be
: due to different business philosophies and laws in the United States,
: and some may be due to differences in the product itself. The first,
: and most obvious, difference to me is that I have no problem
: discussing this in the full light of day. I do not get into private
: email exchanges. The purpose of this board is to edify those folks
: who are capable of working on their equipment. Not all are capable,
: so we don't always respond, especially if the person sounds downright
: dangerous working with electricity/electronics.

: I stand by my comment that Softub motors, with the integral heat
: exchangers, are very expensive. I believe that the price they charge
: for P-26 pumps/motors in this country is
: unconscionable. Here in the USA, they
: are nothing more than standard 48 frame Aquaflo FMCP pump/motors to
: which the manufacturer has applied mastic and some coiled tubing.
: After applying this mastic and tubing, Softub then more than DOUBLES
: the price that I can obtain said Aquaflo pump/motor for without that
: heat exchanger. The problem is that many of my customers, out of
: warranty, cannot AFFORD the highly inflated price. So, I tried to
: remove the heat exchanger so as to apply it to an Aquaflo FMCP
: pump/motor from a reasonably priced source. There is nothing
: nefarious in this. Legally, in this country, Softub can only make me
: use parts purchased from them for warranty repairs. Out of warranty,
: I can source parts elsewhere, provided that those parts are certified
: (UL/ETL) for hot tub use. In this country, Softub could easily run
: afoul of the law if they try to force me to use only their parts
: (unless under warranty) or try to set my pricing.

: I have no problem with loyalty. Loyalty is a two-way proposition though,
: and I also have my loyalty to my customers to consider. It's not like
: I am trying to slap some Chinese made junk into their Softub and pull
: the wool over their eyes. I was experimenting with trying to remove
: the heat exchanger and move it onto the SAME pump/motor from the SAME
: motor manufacturer, just sourced from a different distributor (a
: reputable distributor BTW).

: You are correct when you say that the motor in the P-26 pack is
: generally reliable. However, it is nothing more than an Aquaflo FMCP
: 48 frame unit. Older packs, such as the P-5, had the 48 frame Vico
: Ultima's. I see nothing wrong with trying to remove the Softub's
: existing Aquaflo or Vico motor and replace it with the SAME motor,
: just not from Softub. In the end, though, my experiment failed. I was
: unable to remove the heat exchanger tubing from the existing motor
: without damaging it. However, if another servicer finds a way to do
: this successfully, I will revisit this for the sake of my customers.

: As far as a built-in timer, the North American Softub's do not have that
: to the best of my knowledge. The digital boards (P-25, P-26, P-27)
: have never had a timer/time clock chip on North American boards.
: Furthermore, we know that some differences must exist between our
: domestic Softub's and yours. Your electrical voltage and frequency is
: different. Even if we had a timing circuit, it would have to be
: different due to the 10 Hz frequency difference. There may be other
: differences between us that I am not aware of. For instance, our
: domestic tubs must conform to UL Standard 1563. Do Australian tubs
: conform to this standard? A European standard? Your own standard? I
: don't know.

: John

Hi John,

Yep... okay... I get what you are saying..... now.... :-) as far as I am aware, all Softubs from at least P26 onwards has the feature... many... even distributors may not know of the feature. Try this.... hold down the "light" button, and the "plus" button at the same time. I think from memory it is something like 8 seconds..... on the display you should see "24" flash up on the display. Then, your in this mode. If you could try this now and let me know how you go..... I am sure you will see it come up with "24". This will have no baring on the Hz for each country.

The standards we conform to ... funny you mention this actually, as we are just going through it ,was the European standard. Even though our standards in Australia are based soley on the European standard... our givernment wont simply let us conform to the standard and be done with... they want us to go through the whole standards process that Australia has... which is the European standard... but... we need to justify this government departments excistance... so we have to go through the process and pay annual fees. :-)

Let me know how you go on the timer feature... I would be genuinally interested to know if you have them in .... I would be surprised if you didnt. It wouldn't make sense that Softub would make a special feature just for us that we didnt even ask for.