The Alberta SE

We only ship one finish: a marbled white shell with a dark brown cabinet and a winter-rated black hardtop cover. It's a deliberate decision — the white shell hides waterline calcium that you'd otherwise be wiping off a dark shell every week, and it carries the Aurora™ LED lighting far better at night. The dark brown cabinet sits naturally alongside rattan garden furniture.

Because of its size and weight (240 × 216 × 93 cm · 350 kg dry / 1,650 kg filled), the Alberta SE always ships on a flatbed truck and needs a HIAB or crane to lift it from the back of the lorry onto your base. You arrange the HIAB or crane locally yourself in either option — we don't book the lift, because a local operator near you will nearly always be cheaper than one we'd book from our end. Typical costs: HIAB £200–£400, crane £500–£1,500. Get a few quotes — they'll usually do a free site survey or check your property on Google Maps. The spa is a big lump but it doesn't weigh much compared to a pallet of slate, so the lift itself is normally about 45 minutes on site and they're gone.

Where the two options differ is how flexible the delivery timing is, and that flexibility is what controls the cost of your HIAB:

Option 1 — Free kerbside delivery. A third-party pallet company brings the spa to your kerb on an all-day delivery slot. The challenge: HIAB/crane operators charge by time — without a fixed delivery window, your operator typically has to quote their full day rate to wait through it. Workable if you have a flexible operator happy to sit on standby, but you're not in control of the timing.

Option 2 — Back Garden Installation Service · +£799. We bring the spa to you on our own truck, and we're flexible on the date and timeslot. The play: ring round HIAB/crane firms in your area and ask when they're next on a job nearby — the same size or bigger — that they could piggy-back yours onto. Something like "Wednesday, Thursday or Friday at 2pm in three weeks". We'll sync our delivery to that window. Because the operator is already in the area for another paid job, your lift is a back-load — pure profit for them — which usually brings the quote down significantly versus a dedicated trip out. We arrive 30 minutes before the HIAB so we're on site to receive it. Once your HIAB has lifted the spa onto the base, we:

• Position the spa on its base
• Fit the cover lifter
• Start the fill
• Walk you through the chemicals and how to use the spa
• Make a temporary electrical connection (provided your electrician has left the cable in place) so we can test everything is working before we leave

Your electrician then returns to make the permanent connection and sign it off before first use. Lead time for the install option is 3–4 weeks.

Which to choose? If you've already got a HIAB operator you trust who'll work with an all-day pallet window, the kerbside option is the cheapest headline price. For most customers — particularly first-time spa buyers — the +£799 install is the smoother experience: our delivery flexes to a back-load slot your HIAB can quote cheaply, one team on site for the handover, and the spa is filling and tested by the time we leave. Any questions, ring 01293 824 094 — we talk people through this every day.

The Alberta SE needs a 3″ or 4″ thick concrete pad that covers the footprint of the spa — 240 × 216 cm minimum. The base doesn't need to extend beyond the spa itself, though most people find it useful to run it a little wider for a step and chemistry caddy. The pad must be flat and level: the weight of the filled tub (roughly 1,650 kg) unforgivingly finds any unevenness.

Reinforced concrete is standard. Some owners use a large paving-slab base, provided it's on a compacted hardcore subbase and properly level; speak to us if you want to run through your plan before ordering.

Your Alberta SE arrives with two 50 ft² Microban Glacier filters already installed and ready to go — 100 ft² of filtration in total. The filter media is infused with Microban, an antimicrobial agent that inhibits bacterial growth on the filter itself for the full life of the cartridge. Paired with the built-in ozone generator, it means cleaner water with fewer chemicals.

Replacement schedule: we recommend replacing the filters every 4–6 months, or sooner if they look discoloured or worn.

A good trick: keep two sets of filters on rotation, so you can pop in a clean set while you soak and rinse the used set overnight.

Households who want a luxury large-chassis six-person with a proper lounger and two Captain's chairs. The Alberta SE is for buyers whose priority is quality of soak, not maximum headcount — the 240 cm lounger is long enough to really stretch out in, and the two corner Captain's chairs are hydrotherapy-dense for daily back-and-shoulder work. Sized for a household of four to six who use the spa most evenings, with 2 × 50 ft² filters (double the filter area of the London SE and Erie SE) to handle that usage cleanly.

Step sideways: if you'd rather seat seven adults on the same 240 × 216 cm chassis — and don't need the lounger or the Captain's chairs — the Kingston SE is the same spa with a seven-seat perimeter layout (and a slightly lower price since it drops two jets).

Step up: if you want the absolute top of our range — 60 jets, a 12-jet corner Captain's chair, diverter valves and a heated air blower in a 228 × 228 cm square at 99 cm depth — the Niagara flagship is the one.

Step down: if a smaller footprint fits better — the Erie SE is our luxury six-person square (213 × 213 cm) with a no-float lounger, and the London SE is the value-tier six-person square with a full-length lounger. Unsure? Book a showroom visit — ten minutes from Gatwick — and sit in all of them.

No. Our 2-year parts and labour warranty runs from the date of delivery with no mandatory annual service. Some brands require a paid manufacturer service every year to keep cover active — miss one, warranty voided. We think that's a tax, not a condition.

That said: an annual service is still a good idea for the long-term health of any hot tub. It's a recommendation we'll happily make — it's just not tied to your cover.

Two separate layers, both included as standard:

2 years parts & labour — the shell structure, pump, heater, and control system. If something fails in normal use, we replace the part and fit it, anywhere in the UK.

10 years against water loss through the shell structure — structural protection for the core integrity of the acrylic body.

You can also extend the parts and labour cover by a further 2 years for £850 (this tier; £500 on Patio Spas, £1,200 on Swim Spas). The extension is stackable — buy it twice and you get four additional years — and can be purchased at any point while still under warranty.

The Alberta SE runs on 230 V and needs to be wired to a dedicated 32 A RCD breaker in your consumer unit, via an outside rotary isolator switch. Your electrician runs the cable (typically 6 mm armoured tri-core) from the RCD to the spa, and should leave roughly 5 m of slack outside the footprint of the spa so our installers can bring the armoured tail into the cabinet and connect it on delivery day. None of this kit — the breaker, the isolator, the cable, or the cable gland — is supplied with the spa or brought by our installers; we connect using the tail your electrician leaves. It's a short, straightforward job for any competent spark, but please have them lined up and the cable run ahead of delivery. Electrical connection itself sits outside our delivery and installation service.

Running costs depend on your energy tariff, how often you use the spa, and your discipline with the cover. Thanks to the ThermalSprings™ heat reclamation system, Blackout Insulation (triple-layer with IR reflection), and the 5″→3″ tapered winter-rated hardtop cover, the Alberta SE runs more efficiently than its 1,300 L water volume might suggest — several owners have specifically called out how efficient and quiet it is.

Most UK owners report monthly running costs in the region of £60–£75 a month across the year, working out to roughly £2–£2.50 a day. Pairing the spa with our optional Balboa Clim8zone II heat pump typically reduces that further. Speak to the team on 01293 824 094 and we'll model your specific setup.

Yes. The Alberta SE is built for year-round outdoor use — acrylic shell, triple-layer insulation, and a heat-trapping winter-rated hardtop cover with locking straps. Many owners say a soak on a cold, clear night is the single best argument for owning one.

As standard you get the hardtop locking insulating cover, the Aurora™ Premium LED lighting system, the Bluetooth audio system, the two installed Microban Glacier filters, the built-in ozone generator, the aromatherapy canister, all manuals, and free flatbed delivery to mainland UK. The top-mount cover lifter, step and chemical starter kit are available as add-ons. What we don't supply is the HIAB/crane lift (always arranged locally — see the delivery FAQ) or the electrical kit — the 32 A RCD breaker, outside rotary isolator, armoured cable, and cable gland all sit outside our scope and are fitted by your qualified electrician ahead of delivery day.

Yes — please do. Our showroom is at Canada House, Unit 1, Salbrook Road, Redhill, Surrey · RH1 5GL. Ten minutes from Gatwick. Open Monday to Friday 9am–6pm and weekends 10am–4pm. No appointment needed, but booking means we'll try to have the Alberta SE available to view for you when you arrive.