First Usage & spa set up

17 September, 2024

 

 

Unwrap your new spa : what to do first?

Before we begin, please ensure that your spas power supply has been installed and connected by a licensed electrician to ensure the safety of everybody using it.

 

Inspect for damage

Carefully unwrap your spa and thoroughly inspect it for any damage. If you notice any transit damage to your product, please photograph the damage, keep all paperwork/labels and contact the retailer from which the spa was purchased immediately.

 

Wipe out excess water

Your Sapphire Spa has been thoroughly factory tested during the manufacturing process to ensure maximum reliability and long term satisfaction. Wipe out any excess water from the spa that may have drained from the plumbing after testing and make sure the spa is clean prior to filling.

 

Remove filter tray & cartridges

Slide filter face upwards, then remove filter tray cover & filter cartridges before filling (2 x cartridges in spa pools / 4 x cartridges in swim spas).

 

Spa pool prior to filling

Attaching cover lifter

Once your spa is in its final position, we recommend attaching your cover lifter before you fill your spa, to ensure enough clearance for the lifter mechanism to operate freely. Do not place too close to nearby walls. All cover lifters have different clearance parameters.

 

Access in cabinet power supply BEFORE FILLING

Before filling your spa, remove door panel and bring power out of the corner that’s applicable especially if 15amp cord & plug are supplied as cord is 4.5MTS in length from the control box.

 

Check the drain valve

Ensure the drain valve of the spa pool is closed. Please note: all drain valves are external, excluding myHotTub (as above inside cabinet) hose.

    

 

 

Swim spa prior to filling
Check the drain valve. Ensure the drain valve on the outside of the spa cabinet is closed. 

 

Check pump connection and release valves
Prior to filling your spa, remove the side panels where the engine compartment and control equipment are situated. Ensure all your pump connections are tight and release valves are open as they may have shifted during transit.

 
Heat & Cool pump installation
We’ve compiled all technical information for your tradies but call your local store if there’s something that you can’t find here.
 

Electrical tradie information

Qualified electrician

Ensure a qualified electrician has hooked up your power source

 

Filling your spa : almost time to jump in

MANUFACTURER RECOMMENDATION : DO NOT FILL YOUR SPA WITH HOT WATER!

The acrylic surface of your spa is designed to be warmed slowly and evenly by the inbuilt heating system.

 

Double check release valves are open

Remove cabinet doors (using allen key supplied) and double check that all release valves (refer step one – inspection) in the plumbing system are fully open to maximise the amount of air that can escape the pipe work during filling. 

Remove filter cartridge(s) before filling

Remove filter cartridge(s) before filling to enable filling of the spa through the filter itself. This will flood the pipe work with water and minimise the chance of air pockets forming in the plumbing during the filling process.

 

 

Now it’s time to fill your spa. Make sure you read the instructions in your owner’s manual and fill the spa by removing the filter cartridges and placing the hose inside the skimmer box, instead of the foot well. This just ensures the pipework underneath the spa is full of water first, reducing the chance of you getting an airlock in the pumps. Ensure your spa is filled to the correct water level, which is half way up the skimmer box.

You can find a copy of our Owner’s Manual and tips on filling your spa on this page

 

Turn on your spa powering it up

ONCE THE SV CONTROL SYSTEM HAS PRIMED, IT BEGINS NORMAL OPERATION
Set the date/time and temperature.
Refer to your “Quick Reference Guide” supplied for basic operation of your particular touchpad (SV2 / SV3 / SV4 / smartTOUCH).

 

You may also find it useful to download the appropriate ‘quick reference guide’ for your spa (if you are not sure which POWERsmart control system your spa has installed, simply open the side door of your cabinet and note the SV number on the label on the black control box.

SV2 Quick Reference Guide (1.8 MB)

SV3 Quick Reference Guide (1.8 MB)

SV4 Quick Reference Guide (1.8 MB)

 

 

Ensure all air controls on the topside of your spa are turned to the ‘off’ position. Failure to turn off the air controls will extend your heat up time dramatically. Once the spa is filled to the correct level, turn the power on to the spa; the touchscreen will light up and the spa will begin its PRIMING sequence. This can take a few minutes but, once complete, the screen will default to its standard display showing your current water temperature. This means the priming has been successful and you can move onto the next step.

If however, an error message appears or you can hear the pump attempting to power the jets but there's no action inside the spa, you may have an airlock that needs to be released. Read this section for help with Priming/Bleeding the Pumps to release air lock.

If your spa is fitted with an iTouch colour screen display touchpad, press the settings/cog icon bottom left and you’ll find all the same settings within the menu.

Setting the TIME

The first thing we need to do is set the TIME. This is very important, as your sleep and filtrations cycles will run off this clock. Use the up arrow to toggle through the WATER TEMP / SET TEMP / TIME menu and press ok when you see TIME. Go through setting the date and time for your spa and once complete the default display will appear back across the screen.

 

Setting the water temperature S.TMP

Now were going to jump back into the menu and set the water temperature which can be done by pressing the up arrow, selecting ‘OK’ when you get to S.TMP. Use the arrows to set your desired temperature and hit OK. The current water temperature will appear on the main screen area and your set temperature will appear below in smaller text. CHANGING TEMPERATURE UNITS FROM F (fahrenheit) to C (celsius) - press and Hold Air Blower & Clean Button together until C.LMT comes up - scroll until you reach - UNIT press OK, press OK and change from deg F to deg C

 

Choose the MODE to suit your lifestyle

You can enter into the more advanced menu by holding the UP & DOWN arrows at the same time until MODE appears on your screen. 

MODE allows you to select from three different operating modes of the SV controller to suit your lifestyle. You can enter into the more advanced menu by holding the up and down arrows at the same time until MODE appears on the screen.

The first is ‘NORM’ or ‘Normal’ mode which operates normal demand heating and filtration for your spa. If you have your spa at home and are using it regularly then this is the one for you.

Secondly we have AWAY mode. This mode disables the heater and will only run your filtration for one hour per day to keep your water circulating with minimal energy costs. If you are on holidays or don’t plan to use your spa for a period of time, this mode will keep running costs low without needing to empty the spa.

Finally we have WEEK mode. From Monday through to Thursday, the spa will operate as it would in AWAY mode, but then from Friday to Sunday the spa will resume normal operation. If you find that you are only using your spa on the weekends, then this mode will be ideal.

 

Advanced menu options

These menu options can be accessed by PRESSING the UP & DOWN ARROWS AT THE SAME TIME then toggling through with the UP ARROW until you reach the chosen menu as referred to below

Set snooze timer : SNZE

The next setting is SNOOZE which will put your spa into sleep mode so it doesn’t operate during your chosen hours. Out of factory, the sleep time will begin at 10pm and the spa will wake at 7am – seven days a week. You can use the OK button to go through and set these options and customise the sleep hours & days to suit you best.

There is also a second SNOOZE timer so you can set different hours for weekdays and weekends.

 

Set the filtration cycle FILT / F.CYC

Firstly we have FILT which determines the total amount of hours your spa will filter for per day. For spas, we recommend 6 hours and for swim spas we recommend 8.

Next we run through F.CYC which is your filtration cycle. This just breaks up the total number of filtration hours into blocks throughout the day. We recommend setting this to 3 hours which will allow the spa to run a filtration cycle every 3 hours and top up any heat loss at the same time to reduce energy consumption.

 

Use timeout T.OUT

Time out, or T.OUT is a setting that will turn off your spa pumps after the time out period has elapsed. This is just in case you leave your spa and forget to turn off the jets, defaulting your spa back into automatic mode. Our factory setting is 30 minutes, but this can be customised anywhere from 10 minutes to 1 hour.

 

Use water clean W.CLN

You spa will run through an automatic daily water clean cycle which will time itself out after 10 minutes and resume normal operation. This is an important function to flush the spas pipework and ensure the water is passed through your filter cartridges to remove any contaminates. Our W.CLN setting allows you to choose the time that this cycle takes place, but it’s default time is 9am. 

 

Add your chemicals

Now that we have configured all of your settings, it’s time to add your spa chemicals. Please follow the instructions from your local Sapphire Spa retailer for a detailed water maintenance schedule and start up chemical kit.

It is very important to ensure your water clean function is activated when adding chemicals so they don’t sit on the bottom of the spa acrylic. Pressing the water clean button will begin the cycle and help your chemicals dissolve. It’s also a good idea to wait 30 minutes before placing your cover on the spa after adding chemicals.

 

Initial spa heat up & first use

With your water temperature set and chemicals added its time to let the spa begin its initial heat up. Place your hardcover on top of the spa to help insulate and retain the heat which will result in a faster heat up time. Once your spa has reached your desired temperature it’s time to hop in and enjoy.

OPERATING THE TOUCHPAD : Your touchpad will have several different buttons to operate the massage jets, air jets and lights, so let’s go through how to operate these now.

FILTRATION PUMP : filtration pump button operates your filtration pump which looks after your spas heating and filtration. Every press of this button will change the pump from ON, OFF, AUTO. It is recommended to always leave this on AUTO so the spa can heat and filter when required. If the pump is turned to off, it will default back to auto mode after 30 minutes.

BOOST PUMPS : The next buttons along the touchpad are your boost pumps which will turn the massage jets on and off in your spa. Depending on the model you have purchased, you may have up to 3 of these in your spa, or up to 4 in a swim spa. These simply operate with one press of the button to gets the jets to fire up and another press to turn them off again.

AIR MASSAGE JETS / BLOWER : The air jets in your spa are operated by the blower. This can be turned on by pressing blower button and you will have the option of choosing VARI mode to pick your massage pressure or RAMP mode for a gradual increase and decrease in massage pressure.

LED SPA LIGHTING : Our LED Lighting has several different options to suit your mood. To turn the lights on, simply press the light button for an ON/OFF function. You can flick through the different options to choose from single colour, white, fade, step and party modes. The colour brightness and transition speed are also adjustable here.

WATER CLEAN : The water clean button runs our water clean function which is this is the same button that we used when we added our chemicals earlier. This button needs to be pressed once you have finished your spa session and will begin a 20 minute clean cycle which will again time itself out and resume normal operation once completed. This function helps removes any contaminates, such as sunscreens or make up, brought in by bathers to help maintain high water quality.

TOPSIDE CONTROLS : Your Sapphire Spa also has three types of topside controls. The smallest being our ON/OFF dial. These dials manage all water features such as waterfalls or water spouts, as well and neck & shoulder jets. Turning these dials will result in these jets simply turning on or off.

AIR CONTROLS : Next we have our air controls which will control the strength of the jet stream from each massage chair. Turning these into the ON position will increase the massage pressure or decrease it when turned towards the OFF position. It's also worth noting that each individual jet face can be opened or closed simply by rotating it.

TOPSIDE DIVERTORS : Lastly, our largest of all topside controls is the diverter. Spas that are fitted with diverters give you the ability to divert water pressure from one area of the spa to the other. This could be from one reclining seat to the other or from one bank of jets to the next.

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