The research desk
Short answer
The HotTubFinder research desk is the name every page on this site is published under. We read makers' spec sheets, owner's manuals and warranty documents, California energy filings and public BBB and CPSC records, and link each of the 46,112 specifications to the document it was read from.
Hot tubs
390
Swim spas
186
Sourced specifications
46,112
Maker contradictions published
2,379
Who is the HotTubFinder research desk?
It is how this site signs its work. Every page is published by the research desk rather than under a personal byline, and the evidence travels with the page: the dot after a figure opens the document it was read from. You can check the work without taking anyone's word for it.
The desk covers 390 hot tubs from 15 brands, 186 swim spas from 17 brands, and the owners, factories and public records of 22 brands. It works for HotTubFinder.com, which is free to read and is paid one way, explained on how we make money.
What does the desk read?
The documents makers publish first, then public records kept by others.
- Spec sheets and product pages for sizes, seats, jets, pumps and electrical.
- Owner's manuals and installation guides for the electrical and setup details brochures leave out.
- Warranty documents for every term, part by part. 354 of 390 hot tubs have theirs on file.
- The California Energy Commission's appliance database for measured standby power: 317 hot tubs and 44 swim spas matched to their filing.
- Better Business Bureau, ConsumerAffairs and CPSC recall records for how each company treats owners.
- Parts catalogs, patents and supplier pages for the build checks, where a maker's own pages say too little.
Where a maker publishes nothing on a point, an authorized dealer's figure can stand in, and it is labeled as a dealer figure. The full method, with how each number is computed, is on how we research.
What will the desk do, and what won't it do?
It will put the evidence first and say what it does not know. It will not sell a ranking.
We will
- Read the maker's own document first, and link it from the figure.
- Publish both answers, with both sources, when a maker's documents disagree. 2,379 so far.
- Leave a field blank when the maker doesn't say, rather than guess.
- Rank on published facts only. No opinion changes a best-page ranking or a quiz result.
- Fix errors and log each fix on the corrections page.
- Date every page by the day its facts were last checked.
We won't
- Take money from a manufacturer, or payment to move a model up a list.
- Print a price we can't show you at its source. A maker's list price appears only when the maker posts it on its own site, with the date we checked. Reported prices are dated by month. The rest read “Price on request”, and we never estimate one.
- Publish review scores of our own invention.
- Call a brand one to avoid. We grade build methods and describe brands by their records.
- Show one model's photo in place of another's.
- Make medical claims, or tell you a circuit or a deck is safe. That is a licensed electrician's or a builder's job.
The rules behind these are on the editorial policy.
How is the data checked and dated?
Against the source, then again by a second pass. After the hot tub catalog was gathered, a second pass re-read the original documents for all 390 models without trusting the first. What it fixed, and the mistakes it made itself, are on how we verify every figure.
Every page shows the date its facts were last checked, and that date moves only when they are read again. The hot tub specifications were last read Sep 20 to 21, 2026, the swim spas Sep 27, 2026, and the brand records are dated Sep 23 to 24, 2026. The update log lists every page and dataset by date.
How do I reach the research desk?
Through the contact page. If a figure looks wrong, name the page and the number, and send the document that shows the right one if you have it. How fixes are handled is on corrections.
Common questions
Who writes HotTubFinder.com?
The HotTubFinder research desk. Pages carry the desk's name instead of a personal byline, and every figure links to the document it was read from, so you can check it yourself.
Is HotTubFinder.com paid by hot tub brands?
No manufacturer pays us, and none ever has. A dealer pays a fee only when we introduce you, and that fee buys no ranking.
Where does the research desk get its numbers?
From makers' spec sheets, owner's manuals and warranty documents, the California Energy Commission's standby power filings, the EIA's electricity rates, and public BBB, ConsumerAffairs and CPSC records.