Haven Spas

Still The Best

and Getting Better

Our improvements for 2011-17

We have made several improvements to our already proven reliability and energy efficiency. We have upgraded our production facility to handle these new procedures.

For instance in our plumbing we use way over-sized intake manifolds on our jet pumps. We feed dual 2 inch branch lines, rated for 250-258 gallons per minute (way over-sized for 150-180 GPM pumps), into a full sized 2.5 inch manifold. This enormous manifold feeds the water with the absolute least restrictions.  Then we allow a continuous straight alignment of water flow into the front of the pump impeller (the "fan" that drives the water).  The water goes in straight and this stops almost all turbulence before the water interacts with the impeller.  

Normal spas will have utterly turbulent water coming in at off angles into the front of the impeller. In order for good impeller pressurization you need both momentum and smooth water flow directly into the impeller, not on any side angles.  And we use "Natural Head" to the maximum feed into the pumps. Our concept is to over come the plumbing and make the pumps act like they are simply sucking water directly. With two suctions and large OVER size pipes, we get this.

The standards used in all other spas is limiting designs such as having only a 1.5 to 2 inch 90 degree or even a sweep directly on the intake with no consideration about turbulence entering the impeller.
Straight line into the pumps is the best with way over-sized intakes, so that is what we do.

Using “people”comparison, entering a door as a representative example of this; it is similar to having to force people walking backwards to go into a doorway when they are heading away from the door or going across the door sideways. At the last second you force them to turn around when their momentum is in chaotic directions. Momentum is a powerful force is it based on the scientific principle of inertia. (A body in motion tends to stay in motion until affected by another force.)

In our (spa pumps entrance) "doorways" entering the pump, all the "people" (representing water molecules) are facing the door and have momentum in the direction straight into the door already to enter.  
And the doorway is huge, too large for the job, to insure absolutely the least possible restrictions.  It can’t be done any better than what we do it at the present time. Given the space we are working with. (Unlike the other spas, we make space for this in our spas.) That is scientific fact. The full foam spas do not make space for anything, but foam.  We are not concerned with placing all the pumps in the front of the spa, which actually is the main reason they don't work very well.  And we don't use "skid packs" as in many spas that slide in . The actual plumbing system is built in the spa all spread out for the best alignment to all parts. 

There is only momentum of water flow in Haven Spas in a direction that is straight into the impeller. We make is so the entire "run" from beginning to end of water flow at the jets uses the scientific laws of physics, called "engineering" to the highest degree possible within the plumbing system. The main water inlets are at the bottom of the spa with the most natural “head” or pressure of water with the least amount of encapsulated air bubbles.

This photo below is from a standard spa site, showing a bad, turbulence creating, angle on the intake of the pumps. (and the typical crammed spa equipment compartment) This is typical and seen on nearly ever brand I have examined.   As a hydraulic engineer, you never do this to the suctions on a powerful spa jet pump. This tells me they don't have any hydraulic engineers or if they do they are really limited people.  Typically, in a full foam spas they have to stuff the equipment in a small space making it impossible for clean suction plumbing, and they never seem consider that this is a bad idea to make such sharp angles going into or out the pumps.

(The competition thinks they have stolen our thermal closed design but what they don't understand they cannot copy.)

We seem to be the only company with complete understanding of hydraulic (electrical, structural, composite, water quality filtering, ergonomics, massage therapy, thermodynamics, and the laws of physics)  engineering when it comes to water plumbing and all aspects of engineering in spas and hot tubs.  Because our spas are sold direct to consumers, we are not restricted by a food chain that would keep us from competing with our amazing products.  By not having distributors, or dealers, we are able to be totally free to put the absolute best engineered designs in our spas and implement them fully.  That is fact, which cannot be overcome by others who are following the old fashioned food chain. The combination of non economic restricted construction and selling direct to consumers cannot be beaten, or so far nobody has.  Try to imagine the cost to have "wholesale"distributors, regional sales representatives, and dealers.  Each adding to the price of the product.

The results in our spas is that we get more than 30% (average 51% more) more water flow from the same exact type of equipment (but we use stainless steel pumps rated with Class F insulation) as used in the industry. Don't you really dislike the idea of wasting this energy as well.  If you purchase a 3 HP pump, why would you not want to get 3HP of water flow out of it.  If a pump we use is rated at 19 PSI (1.31 Bar) and 150 Gallons per minute (568 Liters Per Minute), then we get 147 to 148 GPM. (556 LPM) We do this by exceeding the standard rating on the pump by our intake with as close to zero restrictions and our exit or pressure side plumbing that allows only one sweep and the jets to cause the needed back pressure.

Pumps run in what is known as their “sweet spot” and it is a point where the maximum “power” is transferred by having the back pressure match the power curve of the jet pump. This means that you can have more water volume listed, but if the back pressure is less than 13 PSI there is not much power being transferred to the bathers back for therapy. (200 gallons per minute at 5 PSI is nearly worthless, but it sounds good to have 200 GPM in the brochure.)

I saw an advertisement with a "flow meter" showing 200 gallons per minute, but they have no mention of the water pressure. Without that the 200GPM rating is nearly meaningless. With 200 GPM and 5 PSI you have way less therapy at the jets than 100 GPM and 19 PSI, because the pressure to the nozzles is a necessary ingredient in determine the actual felt therapy or "power" being transferred from the pump to the person's back.  And at 200 Gallons per minute you are above the feet per second passing in a normal pipe.  The friction starts to increase and so the efficiency starts to decrease. 

The math for this is simple.   PI  r²  times the length of the tube for each gallon passing (320 Cin = one gallon), gives the feet per second.   Try to be under 20 and 15 is better for less friction.   Diameter of 2 inch pipe is 2.067 in.  So 68.84 inches of pipe is one gallon.  That equals 19.122 Feet per second.  It is at the peak of flow for a 2 inch pipe, and the dynamic head loss becomes greater at that speed. If a 45 deg fitting with the normal connection turbulence has 3Feet of loss at normal speeds at 19 FPS it can be as high as 8 feet of loss.
For this reason we list both the pressure and the GPM or LPM flow as well.  And we keep under 180 GPM  or 17 FPS. 

According to ALL the hydraulic engineers I have discussed this with, (and all of them are not in the spa industry) the "worst thing to do to a centrifugal pump is restrict the suctions."  Period!  

The best thing to do would be to put the pump directly in the bottom of the spa with the full foot well for a "suction" fitting. We do the next best thing and we also exceed the safety rules this way.

One more very important scientific fact is that sucking water from the top of the spa through a filter causes more restriction on the suctions.  According to the pump manufacturers (which do not recommend using filters on the suction of a jet pump) you must have a way to keep the pump from cavitation on high speed when the filters are clogged or it is a horrible design.  (Hint; The largest manufacturer of spas uses only filters on their jet pumps).  We only do this when we use the MM and the WP pump as the circulation pump, then we do some special valving on the filter side to bypass the filters as much as possible when that pump is on high.

When you take your water for your jet pumps ONLY from the bottom of the spa, you are using all the natural head pressure available so the water has pressure from being at the bottom of a 200 to 500 gallon tank ( the seating area is the "tank") with water. 
You know that when you dive deep the pressure goes up and your ears will start to hurt if you don't use ear plugs.  This is because the lower you  go the more pressure. 
It is an extremely obvious engineering concept to use all the natural pressure you  can get if you want to use less energy to create the most powerful jet therapy.
This is why sucking water from filters at the top of the spa is ridiculous in order to achieve maximum energy efficiency and "being green" or if you just want to save money and have much longer life on the equipment.

"Life is tough, but it is tougher if you are stupid." John Wayne


How the “pressure side” is designed.

We are the only spa manufacturer who considers the best possible way to allow water to flow from the pump's pressure side to the jets.  How do we know this?  We look at how poorly designed most spas are.  They don't seem to have any engineers and if they do the sales and marketing people control them.  With out Haven Spas the engineering is FIRST and the ONLY consideration in design of our mechanical, hydraulic, and thermodynamic systems.

The ideal is the least restrictions possible and only use the jets as the cause of any back pressure. The way to achieve that is very linear logic and follows basic and advanced hydraulic engineering.

Here are our design rules that we follow exactly:

1/  ZERO, 90 degree sharp turns allowed on any main pump line. We use only ONE 50.8 MM (2 inches) sweep with a radius of at least 76.2 MM (3 inches) on any pump. If we use any turns to a diverted or TEE it is way down on the plumbing tree where it has the least dynamic hydraulic head loss (water flow restrictions).

2/ No Diverters directly after the pump's pressure outlet. Diverter valves can restrict the water flow from "dynamic head loss" by up to 35% on high HP water pumps. Analogy: You do not want to stuff 10LB of water flow in a 5LB bag. Or don't put rocks in your car's exhaust pipes then expect it to work properly.

3/ We eliminate turns, and TEE's in the direct flow to the jet manifolds as much as possible. On our high end spas we have only direct to jets plumbing with no other parts in the way. We do not split water flow using any form of unnecessary restrictions.
To do this requires careful design considerations and we even adjust the manifold positions on the jets.

4/ The manifolds have different outputs of water pressure depending on where the manifold outlet is. If you understand this then you can position the right manifold outlet to the correct jets for specific pressure therapy considerations.  For instance: we put the highest known pressure outlets to the lower human back, because that area can take much more pressure and needs more pressure.  The mid back needs less (softer muscle tissue), so use the outlets that naturally have less pressure on that area of the body. Upper shoulders get the maximum pressure remaining after the lower back jets.

5/ We allow for any "sonic" wave patterns that may develop in the plumbing.  We make sure all the possible areas where any pulsating sound wave can cause any back pressure in the opposite direction to the water flow.  Most spa designers don't even understand this principle.

For example in a two cycle motor cycle engine they use what is called "extractor" exhaust that uses sonic waves produced at high RPM's of the engine to actually pull the exhaust out and away from the engine. This is because two cycle engines need help with exhaust because they have no real exhaust valves. Extractor pipes are recognizable by the fact that they are tapered pipes, like a funnel, expanding, going wider as it goes to the exit of the exhaust.

Then it has a sound "reflector" at the end that causes the pulse of sound wave to reflect and feed back and "extract" the exhaust with perfect timing to the certain RPM of the engine which the engine has the most power.

In spas we do not want any "reflectors" of any pulsating waves to cause the water to have any back pressure at all.  No water waves or ripples going in the opposite direction allowed. We do this by carefully positioning and testing the manifolds to release any back pressure at the ends of the run and we keep the runs smooth and straight with slightly larger pipe at the end. It is impossible to get this perfect, because of the laws of hydraulics in terms of water flow, but I don't ever see any other company even caring about this well known issue.  

5/ Use solid pipe on the pressure side as much as possible Or we only use smooth flex pipe or large solid sweeps to make smooth transitions around a corner then we go "straight" as much as is physically possible inside a spa cabinet.

Straight, solid pipe has the least restrictions possible. When water is in motion and has momentum in a straight line, keep it going in the same direction for a long as you can without turns until you reach the manifolds (outlets to the jets).   It is like shooting an arrow in a stream line fashion. The shortest path is a straight line, and the solid pipe is the smoothest pipe there is. It also lasts longer than any other pipe. The only exception to this is if we need to turn the pipe slightly to overcome a sonic wave.

6/ When we make our cheapest basic models (which have far better therapy that many of our competitors two pumps spas), and we use a diverter valve concession.  In order to make a one pump spa that wins out with therapy, we use a special designed plumbing system with a diverter, called “Easy Flow Therapy Control”.  That valve is spaced a distance "down" on the plumbing "tree". So that it does not affect the output of the jet pump.

The worst thing competitor's spas do is to use the diverter directly after the jet pump.  We will have several jets running "all the time" the pump is on and then split the end run between two sets of 6 to 8 jets in a very even pressure distribution.

The way you know that a valve is installed correctly is that you can turn it with one finger when the jet pump is on high speed. (Try this with any other spa!)That way you know the valve has the least amount of restrictions and is used way below it's maximum flow design. The numbers are 90 GPM, maximum, passing through a valve rated for over 150 GPM with 12 feet of dynamic head loss.
By reducing the “dynamic” part to 90 GPM at 15 PSI, the dynamic head loss is less than 6-8 feet of head. The valve outlasts any other spa using the same valve.

We, literally, destroy all the competition, in comparison to water flow and jet pressure, when it comes to jet pressure. We have full power and the most useful horsepower to the water jets. We get the maximum possible water flow and do not waste any flow by unnecessary restrictions that are common in ALL the competitors' spas.  More pressure less wasted energy and the pumps last about 2x as long.  All it takes is common ordinary everyday hydraulic engineering to achieve this.

The competitors are not concerned about any level of perfection because consumers are so ignorant about spas so the spas get sold anyway to uninformed consumers. 

7/ The end result is that the jet pumps run in their "sweet spot". The "sweet spot" is where the manufacturer of the pump recommends the pumps operate in terms of water flow to the back pressure. All centrifugal pumps require a proper back pressure to make them run at the optimum "power" output.  If you drop the pressure and increase the water flow you actually lose power.  If you increase pressure by too few jets on a pump, you lose power as well. (And you MUST NEVER over power the water jets with too much pressure, because it destroys them.    If you don't mind buying new jets and a new pump often, the so be it.  (The absolute best way to get MAXIMUM therapy massage is to use our exclusive TurboMassage Plus^TM  with our water plumbing design. 

Power or the actual therapy at the jets is measured by the proper back pressure to give the maximum intensity.  We control the back pressure to maintain proper power transference to the water jets and we go beyond with our air pressurized water jets.

The therapy jets are the back pressure and nothing else in the plumbing line is allowed to cause unnecessary back pressure.

8/ Gaps in plumbing connections.  There is a problem of turbulence when there are any extra distance of "gaps" between glue joints or fittings.
To insure this we do not use hand cut pipes unless they are cut in a jig. Even the internal flex is cut on a square saw. They are cut perfectly square so that any joins are as tight as is possible.  Every speck of turbulence WASTES energy and lowers water flow.

Every gap causes some extreme dynamic hydraulic head loss.  It is like putting reduced size pipe or restrictions in the plumbing. As the water passes the gap it is swirled against the edges of the fittings and swirling causes the water molecules to be going in the wrong direction to the flow.

If you don't know any of this, is "ignorance" really bliss? Take a look at some major brands and you will see such things as 90 degrees and lots of them, just from the pump to heater.

Now you know some of the main reasons why our equipment outlasts all of the competitors.  We run the equipment in the most smooth possible ways. The pumps never pulsate. There is no way for them to pulsate, because all possible ways for restrictions and any sound waves gaps, and wasted turns are eliminated.

We are the only company who does this.  Our reputation with our customers is the best. We have the longest time between any repairs of any spa company on earth and we have the longest warranty of now 7 years on all the equipment and plumbing. This is because we have the records of 10 years average, between any needed costly repairs.  

If everything is running smoothly, it just lasts much longer. And we use the BEST equipment we can find.  We are the experts at spa design and no other company seems has the wherewithal or the business plan to do this.  They just do not know or they don't care or they have no real understanding of spa engineering.  I think it is all of the above.

"Stupid is as stupid does!" Forrest Gump
"Genius has its limitations stupidity does not" A Einstein

Summary of the gestalt of all this and the electrical considerations.


The next thing that seems to be a problem with spas is using improper controls with undersized relays on circuits to the components.

The solution is simple: Use the correct size of power relays to any device and as in the case of Haven Spas use over-sized contactors and relays to insure the absolute longest life. Our relays are rated for over 100,000 actuations or “on-off” cycles. If you turn on the pump 4 times a day you would have 100,000 / 4 or 25,000 days which is longer than a human life expectancy for a person 30 years old who buys the spa or 68 years + 30 = 98 years. Like I said we build in over-kill.

In our American and European spas we use 30 amp relays and contactors to drive our high horsepower pumps and heaters.  Relays are rated by horse power because inductive motors use a lot of starting current. You do not want to "starve" a motor while it is starting of enough current to overcome the inertia and get the motor up to speed as quickly as is possible. The more resistance in the switches the longer it takes to start because of voltage drops when you put too much current on an underrated device or too small of a wire size. Using “over kill” insures a very long life of more than what is needed.
As the contact points of the switches age they start to have some resistance.  If they are way too large to begin with and you are only using an average of ½ of the power rating aging is not a problem.

Some USA motors use over 80 amps for a split second during the start of the motor on high speed.  This is why the running amps are secondary to the actual inductive horsepower rating on a relay.

On our European models we use from 9.2 amp 2.5 actual horse power to 12.4 Amps 4 HP, with super efficient motors.  We also use stainless steel motor shafts to prevent rust.  The motors are sealed and have large fans to cool them to match the high standards of CE certification. They also have "class F" insulation on the motor windings. That is the highest temperature rated (311 degrees F or 155 degrees C)  winding insulation there is.

These motors are "worthy" of respect and to be taken care of properly. It is almost sacrilegious (sort of like the Anti-Engineer. "destructive force" of spa science) to destroy a motor like this with improper pump size, poor plumbing, and incorrect contact switches or incorrect wire size to operate them.  I find it disrespectful to design in self-destruction on any piece of equipment.  It is also against any form of environmental consciousness (ethics) to just waste things by destroying them and putting them in the trash when pumps used daily have a life expectancy of 12 years nominally,  if and only when used properly. 

I have looked at nearly ever spa made today on the inside, and not one of them is designed to any level of engineering standards to allow for full flow of the jet pumps to the water jets. They simply don't know how  to do it or cannot do it because the design is not integrated. 

By running them with extremely efficient plumbing that does not cause any extra drag on the water flow, the pumps run cooler and they run very smooth.  You cannot hear any plumbing surges or restrictions in our spas. They sound like music to the ears with continual smooth water flow and no pulsations at all. The motors start fast and run smooth.  Isn't that what it is all about?  (Most spas sound like "trashing machines" to me. Literally, the are beating the motors to death. )

Combine that extraordinary plumbing with the extreme electrical efficiency by doing the same thing electrically with over-sized switches (relays and contactors) and over-sized wires, so the pumps motors are never "starving" for starting or running power. We give the pumps and motors what they need to run with the most power and efficiency without any of the "normal" over taxing of any parts as found in “standard spas”.

It takes special care in construction to do this.  It takes a special type of craftsmanship to make a product this well. I call it ethical, conscious and objective awareness manufacturing.  It offers the best respect to our customers to do this for them.


I really don't understand this industry tendency to use absolute minimum sized switches and restrictions on the plumbing and then expect failure as being normal.  (When you listen to people on the forums, they often are sales people working in traditional stores. The first thing the say about "internet spas" is "Who is going to do the repairs when they break."  My answer is this.  If you design them correctly they will run for at least 10 years with no warranty problems.  Why can't they do that?

Why is that normal? Why is that acceptable?



If you save 5% on the cost of electrical parts, in order to just get past the warranty and your yearly sales are $14,000,000 dollars, then you have made an extra profit of 700,000 dollars. Why is this good idea at the cost of having your product fail much sooner than necessary, normally just after the warranty is over, and continue to ruin the already bad reputation of spas in the USA. 

Some of the early spa companies when they were smaller, made good products. The biggest problem with spas is money and wasteful ways of marketing.  We found that direct to consumers is the ONLY way to have highest quality at an affordable price.

We are not going to allow any reduction in quality on our spas that we make. We want to have the continued reputation in USA and Europe as we have in the USA of the most durable and pleasurable spas ever made.

We already have the reputation of spas lasting for 16 years running on the original equipment and a warranty rate of less than 2% over 5 years, in the USA, by simply following normal engineering and design principles that are available to anyone.  With the improvements we now have we expect 20 years of life on equipment if you take care of the water quality.

This is why we now offer a 6 year warranty on our spas, parts and labor. We don't expect to spend money on repairs, because we spend the money on making a better (best made) product.  

We don't want to be any part of "normal" , so we stand alone on making spas that will endure and outperform any other spas.   I put up the "Spa Challenge" many years ago and sent out notices and polite requests for all spa companies to do a side by side spa challenge in the mountains of Colorado.  Sort of a put up or shut up contest.

Long after we stopped this "Challenge"spa challenge. because no other spa company wanted to be humiliated, one guy contacted me from a small factory, and he had no idea how to make a decent spa, so I told him if he wants to sell his product, it would be best to follow what all the other manufacturers did and don't even respond, because they know they would lose.  

In every detail area of spa design we excel over any competitor. Right down to the screws we use.  Yes we use screws and modern high tack adhesives to assemble our cabinets, not staples.  The frames are 145x44 base and 94x44, vertices.  The cabinet has a structure that can withstand over 60,000 Lbs of downward force.

We have the data on energy efficiency in that our spas use less energy to maintain the water quality and temperature, and while the spas are open and running we have the energy of the motors all going back into the spa water as heat. We have the only thermally sealed spa, using modern "space age" insulation techniques, in the industry. The cabinet is actually sealed like a door on a freezer with rubber seals.

We have the largest intake manifolds on our spa pumps and we avoid all the turbulence on the intake by how we design in a clean entry into the pump wet end.

We use the cleanest and most robust plumbing to the water jets.  


We get over 97% of the, rated, output of a water pump to the jets. If the pump is rated for 150 GPM/19 PSI at zero head loss (with no pipe turns on level plane).  We get 147 GPM at 19 PSI to the water jets. This is because we exceed and oversize all of the plumbing and we get more water flow than any "normal" spa using the same pumps. By using the almost perfect intakes we get more water flow at zero head to start with. There is almost no resistance to the intake. We start with the best natural head and we don't screw it up by "stupid plumbing" ideas.

By testing we have determined that the minimum pressure needed to get really great therapy is 12 to15 PSI with a 7.94 to 9.53 MM orifice jet nozzle.


Then we optimize our "hot seats" (the main captains chair therapy seat in our highest end models) to have 19 PSI to these extra large size jets.  We never use the cheap bullet (Euro Jets or Cluster jets) jets on the backs of the human body.  Except for specialized therapy along with large jets.

Now, we also have the best idea when it comes to thermal expansion and contraction on all the major parts inside the cabinet. The water in the seating area is used as a “heat sink” and it regulates the inside cabinet temperature to withing only a few degrees.  (Full foamed spas and other poor designs have drastic temperature changes on the equipment and all over the plumbing area with different and rapid rises and cooling: way too much thermal expansion and contraction to last.) The huge surface area of the spa vessel is a huge heat sink that draws in all the motor heat and eliminates the need for venting in 90% of the world.

In very hot summer areas, like Phoenix AZ or on Bali Indonesia we put vents with temperature controlled fans to cool the cabinet as part of the DAIT system.  
Our spas are actually running the motors much cooler than in any spa with full foam and or a small equipment area that relies on convection cooling and outside venting.

Outside convection venting is a waste of energy, when you can simply put the heat of the motors into the spa water and help to reduce the use of the electric heater.

Outside venting also causes freeze damage to spas when the power is off or the equipment has any problems that stop it from running.  Since most spas have problems, the freeze damage issue is exacerbated by venting and weak equipment that has a known failure rate.  Freezing air enters the cabinet and freezes the water in the equipment causing very expensive repairs.

In Haven Spas the cabinet is sealed shut, so that NO cold air can enter to freeze anything and the spa vessel acts as a huge “hot water bottle” to stop the air from getting cold for weeks at below zero temperatures.



The back of the shell, the vessel where the seats are is coated with a heat absorbing coating. We do this to make the radiant infrared pump heat absorb quickly and directly into the spa water.


Even in Colorado mountains we can outlast any other spa for freeze down time so the urgency to get the spa repaired is eliminated and you have time for remedies that are far less expensive than $1000 to $3000 in repair damage.  (Digging out a full foam spa is extremely expensive)


Why do people buy other spas?

 To keep the trash dump busy, maybe.  We often take other brands to the dump in or service work.    Somebody needs to do that.
Ignorance? Not researching the market? Technically challenged?

We can't really help the "technically challenged". If you don't understand basic science, (common sense) then you need to find someone who does and have them read this for you. Otherwise, you will miss out and lose the opportunity to own a real spa that is reliable and easy to own with the best therapy.

Ignorance is not bliss when your full foam spa freezes and normally you wind you taking it to the trash dump, because the repairs are more costly than any 5 year old spa is worth, except for Haven Spas which have the highest resale value of any spa made today and they don’t freeze unless you let them set for weeks with no power.

There is no other spa with this level of design and careful construction.
Years ago I put up the "put up or shut up" spa challenge.



We do not have any competition unless you are not educated on spa design and have not the understanding necessary to make a good choice.