American Standard vs. Jacuzzi (?)

I know there were some related posts several months back, but I'm curious about both the professional's viewpoint and homeowners viewpoint. I'm looking at purchasing an "off the shelf" whirlpool bath that will fit into a standard 32"x60" space. Home Depot carries the American Standard "Lifetime Series". Lowes Carries the Jacuzzi brand. Both are comparably priced.

I was planning on buying the A.S. Lifetime unit, until I saw the Jacuzzi at Lowes this past weekend. Now I'm not so sure.

The A.S. Lifetime seems nice and simple. Minimal creases and recesses to clean. And only one pushbutton control to break. The exposed part of the jets are just a mesh cover with no moving parts to break. (But are they effective?) The exposed plastic overflow seems flimsy and the pop-up drain in general sounds problematic. Also, the acrylic finish seems dull. Maybe ot just the poor H.D. display with bad lighting. The shape and finish make me think of a plasic laundry tub. The "Lifetime warranty" sounds like a big plus, but I may need it!

Over at Lowes, the dispay was much nicer - at floor level, with good lighting. The Jacuzzi acrylic seemed shinier, the hourglass shape looks "sexier" and the countoured back with recessed jets just looks more comfortable. The three botton controler allow more flexibility of the jets. But of coarse those recesses will probably be harder to clean and the addition controls and ajustable jets may meen more stuff to break (?)

Anyone with any experience with either of these? Please chime in! Or is there another better tub in the same price range that I should consider?

I'll only speak for jacuzzi. In my years in this profession I have been the one called to work on a vast number of different brand name jetted tubs and the ones I've had the best success with in regards to getting parts for repairs has been jacuzzi.

I've been the bearer of bad news to customers in many situations where there no-name jetted tub is either out of business or they stopped making parts for them years ago. I worked on one that I lucked out on getting a $400 motor for but it took a great deal of effort, time on the phone and cross-referencing numbers.

There are other reliable products out there but remember the ones that have been in the business for a long time. A lot of companies jumped on the same hayride when the jetted tubs gained popularity in the last 15 years due to prices slowly dropping.

The 3 button panel > center is air switch back to the pump, the left and right controls are for strength of jet action.
There will be times where you'll want that adjustment when using the unit....so the more range the better.

How many jets does the units you are looking at have? Mine has 7 and I wish it had more.

At one time if you had a jetted tub in your home you were the elite. Now it is second nature to see one in all values of homes.

We recently installed the A.S. Lifetime tub that you speak of. My wife likes it. We also got the add-on in-line heater to keep the water at the intial temperature. The lifetime warranty got me. The jets are not are forceful as some other whirlpools (I've only had experience with this and a 'jason' branded whirlpool).
My wife likes it. Her only complaint was that she wanted something longer than the 60", but that was all that would fit into our recess.

The install was easy, and the tub seems very sound. The finish is shiny, and we do like the overflow on the A.S. as it allows you to fill it very full of water. I'm not sure if the Jacuzzi can do the same.


Good luck!

Thanks Guys!

The Jacuzzi Tub has 10 jets total. I can't recall right off hand how many the A.S. had (8, I think) It sure would be nice if there were actual working displays of these things! When we bought our outdoor hot tub many years ago, the dealer actually had about a half dozen different models set up and operating so that customers could try them out. Hell the home depot display is 12 feet in the air! I guess you get what you pay for and thats what you get for a $600 wearhouse store discount price!

Right now I'm leaning toward the Jacuzzi. I'll let you know if I learn any more.

Exact opposite for us here. The HD display was on the floor so we could see it. At Lowes it was up about 8 feet off the ground. That's why we went with the AS. I'm guessing at this price point there probably isn't too much of a difference. I believe ours has 10 jets as well. Three on each side, and two in front and back.

The wife likes the in-line heater as usually she takes long baths and the water gets cool before she's ready to get out. The heater prevents that. It won't heat the water up, but it'll maintain the temp as long as you have the jets going. Of course though, it's a $200 add-on for the AS.

Dino said:

It sure would be nice if there were actual working displays of these things!

Click to expand...

I'll tell you why you won't see that anymore at the big box stores.

Lowe's had a situation where people would buy their hot tubs/spas and 6 to 8 months later return them. It was policy at Lowe's to accept any returns back then and sure enough people would do it.

Even a building full of employees couldn't think to clean that tub upon return if they had any intention of using it as an operational display.

Well, it wasn't cleaned and it ran for a considerable time until patrons of the store started getting sick.

Legionnaires disease was contracted as a result. http://www.hcinfo.com/ldfaq.htm

Dumb and naive as I was back then I was working in the plumbing department when we were told to immediately disable all working units because of the incident. Didn't happen at the store I worked at.....happened out west but it was demanded that all stores shut their working displays down.

Try to get revolving shifts over a course of a day to check those while operating, it won't happen. Even myself I didn't consider it an issue. Plug it in, shut it off at night.

That place you went to knows the seriousness of keeping the water in those units safe. They specialize that through product knowledge. You don't get that from hiring heartbeats and a pulse off the street because they need help in the aisles.

Not trying to hijack the thread here, just got a question about this, but, with the small room sized air conditioners. I have wondered this. I use those in the bedrooms, and I take them out at the end of the season. Should I be doing something with those things, some way of cleaning the inside or something? Or should those be replaced every so often.

Ps. Just a quick answer would be fine. Thank you.

Clean all of the dust, etc. off of the coils and the rest of the insides, and maybe flush out the drain line. If any of the fins are bent, you can buy an a/c evaporator comb to straighten them out.