Scheduling, shells, and more!
Take a journey through the Arctic Spas® factory to gain a sneak peek at the love, care, and innovation that is encapsulated in your hot tub.
Have you ever wondered what a spa must go through to be made? Have you ever thought about what kind of spa you’d like to get your family? Or, have you pondered what makes your Arctic Spas® hot tub stand apart from the rest? It’s time to be let in on all the secrets that make your Arctic Spa truly exceptional.
In this multi-part blog series we’re pulling back the curtain on all the meticulous, methodical operations that go into building your dream hot tub. From the precisely placed fiberglass on your shell to the inclusion of sustainably harvested cedar cabinetry, let’s discover what makes an Arctic Spa so exceptional.
Welcome to Our Factory
Let’s begin our journey at the Arctic Spas® factory.
Once our sales team has helped you find your dream spa, your order is sent off to begin its Scheduling Section. The Scheduling Section involves matching your order with the closest build date to your desired delivery.
At any one time there are thousands of build requests coming in from all over the world. From Kodiaks, to Summits, to cozy Timberwolfs, our team is working tirelessly to ensure an efficient scheduling process.
Once your spa has been matched with your desired date, we move on to the Carding process.
When your spa’s build date is nearing, a black plaque is engraved with its serial number, model, and electrical ratings. This plaque, along with stickers for the inside of the cabinet and shell, are all placed in a plastic bag that will follow the spa throughout the factory as it’s built. This process is just one of the ways that we ensure your hot tub is crafted perfectly for you.
Vacuum Sealed Precision
Finally! Your spa’s build date is here! We’ll begin the manufacturing process by constructing, strengthening, and perfecting your hot tub’s shell.
The first stop in this part of your spa’s adventure is the VacForm station. Here, your chosen shell color is identified, sourced, and prepped to be formed over your hot tub’s mould.
A sheet of 4mm acrylic is slid into a massive oven and heated to 390°. This sheet will sit in the oven for up to five minutes where it will be constantly monitored by a diligent team of factory technicians. This monitoring process is integral – if your acrylic gets too hot it could melt and form a heat rash causing imperfections in your shell.
Once the acrylic has been heated to a soft state, it is slid out of the oven and placed over a spa mould. A huge vacuum is then turned on and the hot acrylic is sucked down to perfectly contour into the spa’s shape. This rapid process only takes about ten seconds and the instantaneous transformation is thrilling to watch!
Once your acrylic shell has passed its initial inspection and quality control phase, it is then carefully flipped upside down and transported on a pedestal throughout the factory as it makes its way to its next stop.
This vacuum sealing process highlights our desire to create a perfect spa for you, right from the start. When we get it correct from the beginning, we can continue to build on our high standards throughout the rest of the manufacturing process.
Strengthening Your Shell
Our next stop is where your spa will spend the majority of its time; the fiberglass coating stage.
In this stage, a team of people work rigorously to apply a coat of resin and fiberglass to your spa’s shell. As the mixture is sprayed onto the underside of the shell, this specialized team precisely rolls the resin and fiberglass into every corner, coating it evenly and entirely.
From here, your spa is sent to a second coating booth where it is sprayed with a higher concentration of fiberglass. The meticulous task of smoothing and rolling the fiberglass is then performed to remove any bubbles from its coating.
This second coat of fiberglass is left to dry for 24 hours where it hardens into a 9mm thick, incredibly strong cast, creating your shell’s unparalleled and puncture-proof strength.
Once the spa has completely settled and dried, a quality control specialist visits your hot tub to take note of its thickness, the measurements of its lip, and to confirm that there are no air bubbles hiding in its coating.
After your hot tub’s shell has received a thumbs up from this team member, the vacuum forming and strengthening process is marked complete and part one of our journey is finished.
We’ll See You Next Time!
Although an incredible amount of hands have already taken part in crafting your perfect hot tub, we still have numerous stations to visit, team members to meet, and technologies to explore.
Join us for Part 2 in this series where we’ll discover all the robotic innovation taking place in our factory. From cutting jet holes to grinding down the lip of your hot tub, our robotic friends can do it all.
In the meantime, happy hot tubbing!
