Review of Royal Spa Hot Tubs
Royal Spa is a company based out of Indianapolis, Indiana. It was the brainchild of two engineering students, Bob Dapper and Rick Bartlett, who began making the tubs in 1981 while they were still in college. Since their start, the company has morphed into the best manufacture of high-quality hot tubs in the world.
Royal Spas are superior for many reasons. The first is build quality. Build quality is very important for a tub that is going to last the owner for a long time. Royal Spas have a strong acrylic shell that the company warranties for 40 years against structural defects. Surrounding the tub is either a wood or polymer cabinet (your choice). The wood is a solid cedar or redwood and the polymer is actually a solid polymer, so both are very strong and resistant to weather. The best part of the cabinet is that it actually has a top rail that surrounds the tub. Besides being aesthetically pleasing, the top rail seals out any flying insects from nesting underneath the shell. One of the best features of the tub is rarely seen and is located underneath the hot tub. All Royal Spa hot tubs sit on a fiberglass bottom that is actually joined to the cabinet structure and makes it more rigid. This same fiberglass piece seals the bottom of the cabinet off so that rodents may not nest underneath your hot tub and cause damage to the electrical components.
A good hot tub must also be well-insulated, especially if it is outdoors. A great deal of tubs have what is called “full foam insulation.” Full foam insulation is just blown insulation that most people put in their attics. While it is very energy efficient, if anything goes wrong with the hot tub, this type of insulation has to be chipped out, the problem fixed, and more insulation blown in to replace it. Not only is this expensive, but time consuming. Royal Spa has insulation pillows around inside perimeter of hot tub cabinet. These pillows are very energy efficient but if a repair needs done the pillows are simply lifted out of tub and put back in once the work is finished. This saves tons of time and labor cost.
Circulation and energy efficiency are probably the most important points to consider when buying your hot tub. Royal Spas use an extremely energy efficient circulation pump that runs 24-hours a day. Do not buy a tub that only circulates your water some of the time! No one wants to sit in stagnant water. Any pump that does not circulation 24-hours a day will not be up to a good standard of cleanliness. While Royal Spas are on the higher-end of the price scale, this cost is justified when you calculate all the savings on your electric bill from just a few years of operation.
Coupled with an excellent warranty and customer service, Royal Spas have a great deal of choices in design and colors to choose from. My favorite design and the hot tub I purchased is the “Empress” model that is one of the only hot tubs I’ve ever found that has two lounge seats but isn’t huge tub. The company also makes another really cool model call the King Ultra that accommodates larger people comfortably and has become one of their most popular styles. However, which ever tub you select from Royal Spa, I am positive it will be a relaxing experience. Happy hot tubbing!
