PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

tbomachines · #4 01-08-2025, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

Anybody done it?

I am inexplicably now living in one of the higher rent districts in the Bay Area. Most of my longtime clients are 10 to 50 miles away.

Our neighbor, literally a walk through the back gate away, has a 20 year old (approx) Caldera spa. Looks like it could comfortably seat 3 to 4 people, more in a pinch, of course.

The lady says that for the last few years, it will only hold water to about halfway up, and the electronics are no longer working. There are three water jet ports that are all very close to the top of the water level. One of them looks like the water is exactly at the bottom of it, I'm guessing the gaskets are bad.

The fiberglass, however, is in pristine shape, not a hint of any cracking or problems.

I'm finding some good leads on replacement spapacks - their phrase. Calderas's website give a new model price range of $8500-$26,500. Some of the photos look outrageous. My eyes glazed over trying to count the water jet ports, I think it's 50 or more. What could go wrong?

They had to get a crane to place the first one, God only knows what that would cost.

The downside, I'd have to remove most of the wood siding in order to replace the gaskets and also to clean out all the rat debris. There is a huge amount of chewed up insulation of some kind. Making this kind of stuff rat proof is a tall order.

But this model seems more sane and sober. I didn't count the water ports, but I think the number is around 10 or 12.

I entered the model number and the catalog number in search and got exactly no results. They are into their current models.

I did a lot of work to an inheirited sundance spa not too long ago. I replaced pretty much everything in it. Leaking jets are common, and indeed youd be looking for cracked housings or cracked hoses.

Be prepared to replace all the hoses. The electronics are fairly simple for mechanically/electronically minded folks. You generally have your interface, a central control board, heater, main pump, circ pump, ozonator, and various flow valves. Many of the parts (like pumps) span a wide range of makes and models. Some generic parts can be fitted if they fit the specs (I recall I put in an aftermarket circ pump in mine which was much cheaper).

Worth it? Depends how you value your time. Full replacement of all those parts is well over a grand plus quite a few hours of labor. Replacing hoses and chasing leaks can often lead to tearing your hair out. We had ours for about 5 years then disposed of it once I moved out and started renting the house -- cant count on my tenants knowing how to maintain and clean it.