Spring 2006 - Cottage Cedar Hot Tub Systems

Exciting new addition to Tub Talk!!! Northern Lights Acquires Research And development Professional Dieter Jung to it's team. Dieter is a P. Engineer and former VP, Atomic Energy of Canada., where he headed the design team for CANDO nuclear reactors. Dieter also happens to be a true tub enthusiast. We feature Dieter's expertise in the SPRING 2006 Tub Talk - "Alternative heating options for cottage hot tubs" Be sure to read on - Dieter Sheds some much needed light on optimizing your cottage hot tub environment! Northern Lights Cedar Tubs manufactures the broadest selection of hot tubs, specifically targeted at the cottage market. We visualize the cottage environment as one that is a retreat from normal residential living and maybe in a wooded area or near a lake or river or mountains. Cottages may or may not have a normal supply of electricity and heating with wood or with propane is often a big consideration. Or the cottage may have access to electricity but the cottage owner wishes to take advantage of the free wood fuel and minimize the use of electricity. For the cottage market we thus equip our cedar hot tubs with heaters that use only wood fuel or only propane and require no source of electricity. Or we provide wood-electric or propane-electric combinations where the requirement for electricity is minimized. Or we can provide full wood-electric or full propane-electric systems that require a normal electric service and can provide all the features of a modern spa (jets, freeze protection, digital control, electronic sanitization, etc). Very popular for the cottage market are the non-jetted wood fired hot tubs. These are illustrated in Figure 1. System #1 is a hot tub that only uses a Chofu wood fired heater. It requires no source of electricity and uses the principle of thermo-siphoning to circulate water through the heater. Temperature control is manual by controlling the fire. You do need to mix the water yourself with a paddle otherwise water will be hot at the top and cold at the bottom. System #2 adds a low power but rugged circulation pump (1/16 HP, 120 Volts, 1.5 Amps) and a filter to the Chofu wood heater. When the pump is plugged in it circulates and mixes the water in the tub, so that the temperature is uniform from top to bottom and by circulating the water through a filter the water is automatically kept clean. System # 3 adds a small 1.5 kW 120 Volt heater to augment the wood heat. Now you can use the wood heater to bring the hot tub up to temperature and then, if you get a little lazy and dont wish to always attend to the fire, you can plug in the heater and it will regulate the water at 102F (39C). This system is capable of withstanding freezing outdoor temperatures, as long as you keep the heater plugged in and dont loose power. The first three systems are all soaker tubs and the circulation of water is gentle and quiet. If however you have the need for jets, then we offer jetted hot tubs that still utilize a wood Chofu heater. The jets are activated by switching a 1-HP 2-speed pump into high speed. Of course such a pump requires more electric power (120 volts 15 amp service). System # 4, illustrated in Figure 2, is the basic wood-Chofu jetted hot tub system with the

2-speed pump. System # 5 adds the auxiliary 1.5 kW electric heater to allow you to keep the tub temperature regulated at 102F (39C) without needing to keep an eye on the fire and to keep the pipes from freezing during frosty conditions even with the fire out. System # 6 substitutes a full digital electric spa pak for the 1.5kW heater. Now you can actually set the temperature to what you desire from 60-104F (15-41C), have automatic freeze protection and control everything form a top side digital panel. You have the choice to hook the spa pak to 120 volts or to 230 Volts. In the first case it then supplies 1.4 kW of heat and in the latter case 5.5 kW. If gas is your choice, then we offer the three propane-heated systems depicted in Figure 3. Be aware that all spa gas heaters (no matter who makes them) come with a do not operate in freezing conditions warning. System # 6 utilizes a propane fired Chofu heater (pilot light type) and requires no electricity. Temperature control is manual by turning off the gas when the desired temperature is reached. You do need to mix the water yourself with a paddle. While we do sell this heater, to persons that simply have no source of electricity, we must point out that while it is made in Japan and used extensively over there, the manufacturer has not submitted it for North American safety certification (CSA, UL, etc). System # 8 utilizes a fully certified Raypak spa gas heater with millivolt pilot light type controls as well as a low power circulation pump (1/16 HP, 120 Volts 1.5 Amp). The propane heater is rated at 55,000BTU (input) which is equivalent to having a 13 KW electric heater. The temperature of the hot tub can now be automatically regulated by adjusting the thermostat built into the gas heater. For a modest additional price a 100,000BTU heater is available. These heaters can be obtained to operate at altitudes to 7000ft (2100 m) and come standard flueless or, at a slight additional cost, can be equipped with either an outdoor or indoor type flue adapter. System # 9 is our ultimate gas/electric jetted system utilizing the same gas heater as in system 8, however equipped with an electronic ignition system (instead of a pilot light millivolt system). It also is provided with a full digital spa pak that can produce either 1.4 kW or 5.5 kW of electric heat. It is possible to adjust this system so that the gas and electric heaters operate simultaneously for fastest heat up time, or you can disconnect the electric heater and use only propane for heat or you can turn off the propane and use only electric heat. By providing a full digital spa pak you control everything from the the top side panel and you get all the modern features such as automatic freeze protection. With this system we can even provide you with advanced electronic sanitizing systems, such as an electrolysis-type bromine generator or an ozone generator Happy Tubing Dieter Jung Northern Lights Cedar Tubs Team