Maintain Water Temperature to Protect Tub from Freezing
Most modern hot tubs, once heated to 102 degrees, can safely be left covered & turned off for 3-4 days in temperatures as low as 23 degrees. The warm water acts as a heat reservoir, protecting the hot tub’s pipes from freezing.

However, it can be more efficient to actually leave the hot tub running (with the cover on). This uses less energy than reheating the reservoir after it has cooled. Simply cover your spa & program the water heater to maintain water temperature at 102 degrees. The energy cost is less than you might imagine – only about $5.00 per week.

Leaving for the Winter?
If you plan on being out of town for an extended period in freezing temps, take the precaution of having a spa service company professionally drain your spa. Simply draining the water from the hot tub is not enough, as water left in the pipes may cause them to expend when freezing temperatures are reached, resulting in damage. Protect your investment by seeking professional service.

Questions about Hot Tubs?
Learn more about hot tubs on our website, or contact us!

A variety of exterior finishes echo the look of natural  materials such as stone and wood, giving the unit the appearance of an ornamental water feature, rather than the bulky “box of water” look associated with traditional hot tubs.

Aesthetic Appeal
Perhaps the most appealing aspect of Elemental is the variety of options when choosing an exterior finish.  All aspects of the hot tub are fully customizable – from the exterior finish, to the frame of the hot tub, to the color of the hot tub’s interior. This means you can achieve almost any look – from an earth-toned, Asian-inspired appearance to an all-white unit that oozes Hollywood glam.

Simple Operation
Elemental is very easy to use as it requires no special construction. Not only can this hot tub be plugged into a regular outdoor electrical outlet, there is no special plumbing necessary. Simply fill and empty the hot tub using a garden hose.

Compact Footprint & Roomy Seating
While Elemental comfortably seats two to four occupants, its design still allows it to fit through a regular-sized doorway. And, while traditional hot tub covers can be unwieldy, Elemental’s cover is designed to be easily removed and replaced by one person alone.

Portable
Because Elemental is not hard-wired or plumbed into the infrastructure of your deck or patio, and because of the careful thought put into its design, it is much easier to transport in the event of a move than traditional hot tubs. Likewise, if you decide to change the layout of your outdoor living space, Elemental can be re-positioned according to your needs.

Far from being just a box of water on your deck or patio, the unit becomes a decorative element of your landscape, allowing you to extend your enjoyment of your outdoor living space into all seasons.  A running Elemental spa is currently on display in our store – you must see it in person to fully appreciate this hot tub’s unique aesthetic appeal.

Special Blog Offer: Mention this blog post to receive $300 off the purchase price of an Elemental hot tub – now through the end of February 2012.

So, if you want to create an exciting statement
in a remodel or new home that says “This house ain’t your uncle’s old house”, combine a
contemporary fireplace with ranch, craftsman,
lodge or most any other architectural language.
The industry leaders in quality, contemporary
fireplaces are Heat & Glo, Fireplace Xtrordinair
and Town & Country.  Yes, we have several
burning models on display for you to look at.

But, the one really strange, food that Roger has been grilling is tofu… yuck.  He says that with the right marinade, grilled tofu is very good. You may not believe it, but grilled tofu really does taste good. The reasons to grill tofu are that it’s healthy for everyone and it’s the perfect main course when some of your dinner guests are vegans.

Here’s how he does it; it’s real simple:

Grilled Tofu Steaks!

Ingredients:

1. Extra firm tofu, 8 to 12 oz. Do not use “regular” or “firm”, it must be “extra firm”.
2. Beef bouillon concentrate (paste, or cubes)
3. Worcestershire Sauce
4. Soy sauce
5. Mrs. Wright’s liquid smoke
6. Fresh ground pepper
7. Salt

If you have a thick piece of tofu, slice it in half. Trim the edges of the tofu so it looks like a steak. Prepare about 8 oz. of marinade by making beef bouillon 4 times stronger than listed. Add a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, a tablespoon of liquid smoke and 4 tablespoons of soy sauce.

Remove all the moisture from the tofu steak with paper towels. Rub freshly ground pepper into both sides and place the tofu in a container that will allow the marinade to cover it. Pour in the marinade, cover the container and place it in the fridge. After 12 hours, turn the tofu steak over so the marinade soaks in better and leave it in the fridge for another 12 hours. If you leave the tofu steak refrigerated in the marinade for a couple of days it will taste even better. You now have a tan tofu steak, ready to grill.

Preheat the grill for at least 15 minutes, just like you’re grilling a regular steak. Remove the tofu from the marinade, pat it dry with paper towels and let it come up to room temperature. Lightly salt it. Lightly rub it on both sides with cooking oil. It’s fragile, so handle gently. Grill it just like it’s a steak being grilled medium rare, then close the grill lid. Use a spatula to turn it. Your finished tofu steak will have better grill marks than a regular steak. It will be very tender and taste amazingly good. It can be paired with a soft Merlot, Rose´, or Gewürztraminer.

Be sure to e-mail us your experiences, or post them on Fireside’s Facebook page!

The Rest Of the Story

Here’s the rest of the story about using salt water systems for sanitizing your hot tub. Salt water systems are being promoted as the better way to keep hot tub water clean because allegedly:

1. They require less work because it’s automated and “hands free”.

2. They don’t depend on harsh chemicals like chlorine, bromine or spa shock

3. They use an inexpensive salt like table salt instead of 
expensive hot tub chemicals

4. They leave your skin feeling better because they don’t have harsh, traditional sanitizers

5. They are environmentally friendly because they use less chemicals

6. They use diamonds in the system to create powerful cleaners

Now, don’t get me wrong. Salt water hot tub sanitization can be beneficial if you are willing to understand the reality of the system. So, lets peel back the “hype” and look at the reality by examining each of the above claims.

Claim 1, less work: They require less work because it’s automated and hands free. The simplest answer to this claim is to look at one major hot tub manufacturer’s salt water sanitization manual.
The manual has 16 pages and includes 167 separate warnings, procedures and descriptions. This means that there is a huge amount of work required to operate and maintain this system. That manual is also full of dozens of required actions, making it much less “hands free” than traditional sanitizing. This includes fun things to do in maintaining a salt water system like removing the “cell” and cleaning it in an acid solution every three months, then reinstalling it.

Claim 2, no harsh chemicals: They don’t depend on harsh chemicals like chlorine. Well, they use salt and water to constantly produce five harsh chemicals in your hot tub water as you use the tub. Their main “powerful cleaner” is in fact good old chlorine. Salt water system manufacturers also recommend that you use normal spa chlorine and spa water shock any time that the tested chlorine level gets low…which can be frequently. So much for not using “harsh chemicals”.

Claim 3, inexpensive to use: It’s true that special hot tub salt is a little less expensive than hot tub chlorine ($7 a month for hot tub salt vs. $15 a month for hot tub chlorine). But, the salt is a very small factor in the overall salt water system cost. Here are the real costs:

1. Stand alone salt water systems: $500 to $700 to purchase and only a one year warranty.

2. Built in salt water systems: Up to $1500 and only a one year warranty. Sometimes the salt system is thrown in for “free” with the purchase price of the hot tub. Nothing is “free”. Wouldn’t you prefer a $1500 cash discount instead?

3. Cells have a 1.6 year average life and cost from $300 to $500 each time one is replaced.

4. Salt water system users also have to purchase:
• Hot tub chlorine
• Hot tub shock
• Special calcium remover
• PH up and PH down
• Stain and scale defense
• De-foamer
• 5 way test strips

So, over five to ten years, the salt water system users will save a little on the salt, but overall they will spend thousands of dollars more on water sanitization than traditional hot tub chlorine or bromine users.

Claim 4, skin feels better: It’s true that a little salt in the water will not affect your skin. However, the salt water system uses a special “cell” to generate elemental oxygen, chlorine and several other “powerful” cleaners and oxidizers. Your skin reacts to these powerful cleaners and oxidizers just like it will react to hot tub chlorine. Whether its salt water generated oxidizers or hot tub chlorine, having too much of either will not be beneficial to your skin.

Claim 5, they’re environmentally beneficial because of less chemicals: It’s true that when the 167 cautions and procedures for salt water sanitization are regularly and carefully followed, less harsh chemicals will be used . Similarly, if the simple procedures for using regular hot tub sanitizers are followed, much less harsh chemicals will be used. Oh by the way, the salt water system constantly uses electricity and requires the manufacturing of non environmentally friendly components that have to be thrown out on a regular basis.

Claim 6, diamonds are used in the “cell”: Not really. Just a diamond vapor is deposited in the “cell”. And, after the “cells” fail, they’re thrown in the trash. Not much diamond value after all.  Apparently, diamonds are referred to as a way to make the salt water systems appear more valuable.

The bottom line: Sadly salt water sanitization systems for hot tubs are over ”hyped”, making consumers confused. They are in fact, complicated to operate properly, expensive to purchase and maintain, create harsh oxidizers and have no special environmental advantages.

To be honest, our experience with pellet grills has been mixed. On the plus side they do impart a nice smoke flavor to food that’s slow cooked. On the minus side, not everyone has been happy with their required maintenance, short life spans, not searing steaks and being made in China.

Times are a changing. A pellet grill manufacturer has come out with a line of pellet grills that seems to have eliminated all the negatives plus added a number of extremely desirable features. That manufacturer is Hearthland, Memphis Wood Fired Grills. http://hearthlandproducts.com/products/grills And, they’re making their award winning pellet grills right here in the US, not in China.

We’ve just evaluated their Memphis Pro™ model and are very impressed.
Here’s what we found:

1. All Stainless: The pellet burning process is extremely hard on components. Memphis grills however, are made entirely of stainless steel. This eliminates the durability problems that the other pellet grill brands have.

2. Simple: The controls are simple and the design is “plug and play”. Simply add pellets, press the on and prime buttons, set the temperature and leave. 10 minutes later the grill is at that temperature and ready to use. No gas grills and very few pellet grills can do this.

3. Real Bar-B-Que: Want to do real Bar-B-Que? Turn the grill on, set the temperature to 180F and come back in 10 minutes with the meat. Put the meat in and come back in 5 to 10 hours, depending on the type and size of meat being Bar-B-Qued. Then it will be slow cooked and smoke infused to perfection. Talk about perfect pulled pork! To equal this you would need to have big expensive commercial equipment, or an expensive Big Green Egg.

4. Convective Oven: The grill is also a dual fan, convective roasting oven with a double wall insulated hood. This allows you to do everything just like you would do with your kitchen while keeping the smoke and heat outside. Even a meat thermometer is included. Just set the temperature, drop in the roast, install the probe, close the hood and remove the roast when it is at the set temperature.

5. Sears Steaks: The grill gets up to 650F and at that temperature, unlike most
other pellet grills, it will nicely sear steaks and burgers.

The Bottom Line: The Memphis Grill by Hearthland seems to have more usable features than any other pellet grill and has eliminated all the historical pellet grill complaints. It does the job of a gas grill, a convective oven and an expensive Big Green Egg. Looks like we’re becoming Memphis pellet grill lovers.

• Built in programmable thermostats
• Programmable set back temperatures and times
• Fan speed control
• Flame height adjustment
• Automatic flame height adjustment based on temperature
• Internal lighting control
• Automatic turn down if the remote is inactive
• Automatic pilot turn off after 5 days of no activity
• Automatic coffee brewing (just kidding)

Just how important are all these features? Well, if you have central heating that maintains your overall home temperature with a thermostat, many of these features are not of much value for your fireplace. Most people find that once they set the fan speed and light (if included) all they want to do is simply turn on their fireplace, maybe change the flame height to low and maybe set the maximum temperature. The rest of the above features tend to not be used.

You guessed it. What’s happened with all these added features is that remote thermostats have become programming nightmares. In fact, a recent NEST™ thermostat study showed that only 10% of people even program their central heating thermostat temperatures because they are too complicated. And, programming temperature settings is only a portion of the features that complicate these newer hearth products remotes.

Now, don’t get me wrong, these remote control features are great to have on a fireplace or stove! The problem is that unless you constantly use them, they are very frustrating because they are not intuitive. And, if you still have your fireplace manual, reading about how to use the remote is like reading a poorly written physics text book. Sadly, fireplace and stove manufacturers don’t even put instructions for operating remote controls on their websites.

Apple did not became the world’s largest
corporation by bringing out new computer
based  products. They brought out existing and complex technology in a format that was intuitive and made consumers happy. The central heating, HVAC industry now has an “Apple-like” thermostat called Nest™, http://www.nest.com/,  designed by ex-Apple employees to actually make consumers happy to use their thermostats.
With luck the fireplace and stove industry will take some lessons.

Most every wood stove user can benefit from knowing more about their stove’s operation. Many of these secrets apply to wood burning fireplaces also.

These secrets fall into two categories:
A.  Planning ahead before a stove is installed
B.  Using your stove after a wood stove is installed.

Planning ahead:

Here are five secrets that even architects don’t know about. You may be able to break one or two of these five design rules and your stove will run OK, but if you break three or more of the rules, your stove will probably not operate very well. Additional information can be found at: http://www.gulland.ca/BPFinal.pdf

1. Install wood stoves and their chimney inside
the main building structure and do not locate them outside of exterior walls in a pop out structure. It may be easy to create that pop out structure for an alcove on an outside wall, but this almost guarantees that hard starting, downdrafts and smoking will result.

2. The stove and chimney should be located at or near the peak of the building. This location keeps the chimney the warmest and creates minimum roof and wind caused chimney pressurizing. Warm chimneys that have little downdraft pressure always start well and have little smoke spillage.

3.  Large exhaust fans and poorly balanced HVAC systems depressurize naturally drafting chimneys and draw air down chimneys. They definitely should not be used during stove startup. HVAC depressurization of a home can sometimes be eliminated by inspection and repair of attic duct work.

4. Avoid short chimney systems. You may save a little money, but it is guaranteed that you will have a poor starting and weak drafting stove. The solution is to add chimney. An absolute minimum height from floor to chimney top is 15 feet.

5. Use straight chimney systems. Systems with elbows and large offsets from the stove to the vertical chimney will make the stove very hard starting and poor drafting. This will also make the chimney more difficult and expensive to clean.

Using Your Wood Stove:

Whether your stove installation breaks none of the above rules, or it breaks several of them, here are some operating procedures that will always make it work better, save you money and pollute less.

1. Keep your wood dry. Always keep your
wood covered. Excess moisture (more than 20%) in firewood excessively reduces combustion temperatures. It causes smoking, creosotes up your chimney, wastes your money and pollutes the neighborhood. When you see your chimney smoke spreading out in your neighborhood, not only will you make your neighbors mad, but that smoke is like dollar bills floating away. Amazon.com has moisture meters for under $20.

2. Use plenty of kindling for quick, hot starting. I know it’s more work to split lots of kindling, but plenty of kindling starts your stove quickly and minimizes smoking.

3. Get your stove really hot when you start it each day. Hot stoves burn cleanly and save money.

4. Reload your stove more often with smaller loads of wood. This produces smaller, hotter fires that have less smoke and save your money

5. Give your stove plenty of air. You want to
have grey ash residue and glass that has no black deposits. Starving stoves for air, reduces their combustion temperatures, reduces efficiency, pollutes the neighborhood and wastes your money.

6. Most stoves need to have the grey ash removed after half a cord of wood is burned. If you have a lot of black charcoal it means you are burning your stove too cold and wasting fuel. This can be caused by any or all of items 1 through 5 above.

7. Regularly have your wood stove and chimney inspected and cleaned by a good chimney sweep. A clean chimney will make your stove draft better and be much safer to operate. Chimney sweeps can also tell you a lot about how well you’re operating your wood stove.

It is true that if you slow cook meat in a charcoal grill with the lid closed and add wood chips as a smoke source, you can get great tasting food from a charcoal grill. But, this slow cooking process takes hours. High temperature grilling on a charcoal grill will not flavorize food any more than a gas grill because the cooking time is too short and the smoke is not retailed in a closed lid.

Like most things, grills do have to be operated properly and most any charcoal or gas grill can make food taste good, or taste bad.

So how do you make food taste bad on a gas grill.

1. Not properly preheating the grill: The problem with gas grills is that they are so convenient that some people assume that all you do is turn on the grill and throw on the food. This will guarantee that the food will not taste good on a gas grill and will probably be tough. Meat will be initially undercooked, be on the grill way to long and become grey. Many times meat is then burned because  people then become desperate and finally turn the grill on high. All gas grills need to be preheated on high for a few minutes, then turned down to the desired cooking temperature.

2. Not properly maintaining the grill: Many people also assume that gas grills are just like indoor gas ranges. All you need to do is to clean the grids and they run forever. Sadly this is not true. Gas grills require regular cleaning of the interior components, particularly the flavorizer plates located  over the burners. These plates protect the burner from debris build up and provide smoke flavorizing. If debris is allowed to accumulate, the grill will not heat properly and no flavorizing smoke will be generated. The grease trap system must also be cleaned regularly, or a very large grease fire will occur.

3. Not using the proper grilling temperature: Gas grills all operate differently and many are dramatically affected outside temperatures. Grill operators need to learn how their grill operates so they properly carmelize and flavorize their food without undercooking it or overcooking it. This simply takes practice.

4. Grease fires: Grease fires come from not keeping the grease trap system clean. Grillers need to consult their owner’s manual on ho to completely clean their grease trap systems because every grill is different. Grease fires also come from putting too much greasy food on a hot grill. Eventually the grease drippings get to their auto ignition temperature and the sooty red flames give the food a very bitter flavor. The solution is to keep the grill turned down to a temperature below the ignition temperature of grease.

 So, you can definitely do things with a gas grill that make food taste bad. But, food properly cooked on a gas grill will taste as good, or better than food cooked on a charcoal grill.

Get It Hot First - A very common problem that leads to much frustration and bad results has a simple solution. Get the grill very hot first, then turn it down to the temperature that you need. This allows the grill to adjust to a stable operating temperature, to thoroughly sanitize the inside and to properly flavorize the food. When a grill is too cold, the food just seems to sit there too long so the temperature is turned up. During that process, foods like red meats are “greyed” (yuck) instead of flavorized. Sometimes when the starting temperature is too low, the heat is turned way up, the food starts to burn then the heat is turned down and the cycle continues. Not good. Also, remember that grilling does speed up as the food heats up, so you don’t have to keep the grill running at its maximum temperature.

Room Temperature – Allow the food to set at room temperature for 15 to 30 minutes before grilling, large, thicker selections of meat even longer. This results in the center of the food being cooked more quickly as the outside is seared and flavorized. Ice cold food however, stays raw in the middle and the outside can become burned before the inside is cooked.

Caramelize vs. Carbonize - Caramelizing is browning and produces the best flavor. Carbonizing blackens food and makes it bitter tasting. Which do you prefer? When you’re grilling, don’t just leave food on one side and try to cook it half way through. Watch it and turn it several times to reduce the carbonizing and increase the caramelizing. The higher the grilling temperature, the more that food should be turned. You will be amazed at how much better it tastes that way.

Thick Steaks - Of course you should bring thick steaks to room temperature before grilling and if you are not an expert short order chef, you should use a quick response meat thermometer to check temperature. Steaks should be grilled at a temperature that’s high enough to leave good sear marks after about 3 minutes on each side. After turning the steak enough to sear it nicely on both sides without carbonizing it, it’s probably still raw in the middle. A two inch thick tri-tip, or fillet may not even be warm in the middle. What to do? Simply turn the grill down to low, close the lid and convectively cook the thick steak for another 10 to 20 minutes. This will finish the thick steak or roast off so the center is pink, while the outside is not carbonized. If you don’t like pink, leave the steak longer on a low grill setting with the lid closed.

It’s the Moisture, Stupid - One of the biggest complaints about grilled food is that it’s too dry! Well, food, particularly chicken and turkey should not be over cooked. Over cooking dries food and makes it tuff. Unless you want to slow cook it for hours to break down the fibers, there’s another way to retain grilled food moisture. Ever see moisture bubbling out the top of a steak as you sear the other side. Guess what, you have just driven out a lot of moisture and the steak will be dry. Don’t do it! Turn the steak often enough that it sears, but does not lose its moisture. OK, you may have too many grill marks, but your food will be much more moist. And, with a little practice you can learn to have perfect grill marks and moist grilled food.

  The World’s Best Seasoning - The best grilled food has lots of sauce on it, right. Absolutely not! There is an akmost secret seasoning to use with vegetables, meat and fish that’s absolutely amazing. It’s a dry rub that’s very inexpensive. By the way, meats should be dry rubbed, put in a plastic bag and left for hours in the refrigerator to soften and allow the rub to penetrate into the meat. Vegetables should not be seasoned more than a few minutes before grilling however, as the salt will turn vegetables to mush if it is left too long.

Freshly ground pepper with salt, or seasoned salt is the secret. You’ll find that freshly ground pepper and salt bring out the natural grilled food flavor without covering that grilled food flavor up. There are now hundreds of marinades and sauces for grilling, but none bring out the grilled flavor like freshly ground pepper and salt do!

The recipe for problems - So, guests are coming for dinner and you want to impress them with your latest grilling skills. This is a simple, but usually ignored recommendation. Don’t practice on guests unless you have first practiced grilling the food for your own enjoyment. When you try something new with guests it’s almost guaranteed that you will have first time problems because your attention will be somewhere else and you may have had a glass of wine. Inattention and a glass or two of wine is a recipe for problems unless you have practiced the meal a time or two. Your last minute emergency grill activities and burning the food may be entertaining to your guests, but it’s unlikely that it’s what you hoped for.

Oil It Up - Be sure to add a small amount of cooking oil to both sides of the food you will be grilling, whether its fruit, vegetables, meat, or fish. You notice that I said small amount. Light oil helps retain flavor and reduces sticking. Also, be sure to remove any pieces of surface fat. Any excess oil, or fat will cause a grease fire that will make your meal taste bitter. Also, remove all skin from chicken and other fowl, as the extremely fatty skin will cause a grease fire. Fatty food should be grilled at reduced temperatures to eliminate grease fires. If you want to eat that fatty chicken skin, you need to use a rotisserie with indirect, or IR heat and catch the grease in a basting pan set below the fowl. Also, lightly oil your grill’s grids after each time that you wire brush them.

Know All the Variables - Each time that you use your grill, you need to think about and adjust for all the variables that will affect the taste and doneness of your grilled food. I’ve mentioned many of them above, but here’s a more complete list. Stabilized grill temperature, food temperature, food thickness, outside air temperature, kind of food, hood open, or closed, and fat content.

 Relax – The biggest grilling secret of all is to relax. The keys to relaxing are to properly pre-heat the grill, adjust for the variables listed above and then begin grilling at a stable temperature. Remember grilled food cooks at an increasing rate as it heats up, so even if it doesn’t appear to be grilling quite fast enough, relax and give it a little more time.