As I said, the only concept you need to consider is the AVERAGE temp maintained over time. It really IS that simple and obvious. If your AVERAGE temp over time is lower, your heater will be running less.
What you are "imagining" happening with your heater is not what is happening in reality.
Our Jacuzzi spa has an Economy setting in addition to the Standard setting. In Economy, the heater only runs when the pump is on. I.E. only during the filter cycles. When we get in it, and turn the pump on, the heater runs as needed. The heater never runs other than those two conditions. If we set it to Standard, the heater would run throughout the day to maintain the set temperature.
That's a pretty standard feature these days.
lettingthe spa cool down & then reheating ALWAYS saves money because the cooler the spa is, the less heat lost to the environment
In the extreme, if you let it get stone cold (~65F) for a week, you'll save a weeks worth of heating. It will only take a day to bring it back up. Turning the heater off saves money, costs "convenience"
cheers Bob
Unless your energy cost varies by time, it's not possible for that to occur. (We have this discussion about water heaters on a regular basis).
>I'd be skeptical that the thermal insulating blankets that you can float on top of the water add much in the way of energy savings. The spa should already have 3-4 inchs worth of insulation in the cover. I find it hard to believe that one of these thin blankets that floats on top of the water adds much in the way of energy savings, unless there is something I'm missing about the way they are supposed to work.
I see people here claiming they do work, but I don't see how you would ever know, since spa electric is bundled in with everything else. Unless you put a meter on it and monitored it for many days with similar weather/temps, you'd never know.
They are pretty effective for the same reason that storm windows are effective. Another example is the similar bubble mats sold for picnic coolers. I use one of those in my boat's icebox, and it keeps ice for almost twice as many days as without. It's not a minor difference. Spa covers are not airtight where they meet the top rim of the tub. The hinged area down the center is less well insulated than the rest. I can tell this by how the snow melts on the cover. It always melts over the hinge first.
All that said, I stopped using a floating mat because it was a pain in the ass to deal with. My medium sized spa costs about $30 a month to operate. You can either drive yourself crazy trying to save $5 a month, or you can simply decide if you really want a spa or not. At $30 a month, I find it worth having. Think about some of the other things you spend money on and this becomes a bargain. You could save money by remembering to turn off the lights when you leave a room. In my kitchen, I have a 25 watt lamp near the fridge that can be left on for the evening, rather than leaving 8 75 watt halogens blasting. It's enough light to get around and pour yourself a drink. Don't run the dishwasher, washing machine or clothes dryer unless they are full. If your car is paid for, drop the collision insurance. And so on...
We set our hot tub at 85. It takes a couple hours to raise the temperature to 102. I once figured it saved us at least a couple dollars per day.
g
That doesn't compute for me. Our heater runs maybe one hour per day by letting it bring back the degree or two it loses between filter cycles. That's 7 hours vs 24 hours using your method.
Dick
sorry it "doesn't compute for you"
that's the whole concept of setback thermostats for water heaters & furnaces.
If you don't believe it search back through the group & take a look the water heater discussions
how did you get 7 hours vs 24 hours w/ "my method", I was just giving some estiamtes. it all depends on the insulating propertires of the spa & the ambient environmental conditions.
a cooler spa loses less heat to the environment, it's that simple
"catching up" takes no more energy than would have otherwise been used...............
by your logic...... turning the spa off for a wmonth & then reaheating for a one day use would take more energy than keeping it heated for a month?
I don't think so
cheers Bob
By your logic, you could leave the spa off for a year and save all kinds of money. I'm assuming it will be used.
It's all a matter of kilowatt hours vs time. How much time you are running the heater to maintain the temperature needed for normal use of the spa. If setback thermostats were effective with spas, they would be equipped with them. The fact that they are not tells you something.
Here's a quote from one of the largest spa dealers in the U.S. "According to the electric company, it costs less to maintain the temperature in a controlled environment than it does to let it get very cold and then boost the heat up on demand. Most outside spas provide the ideal controlled environment. Don't let your spa water get cold and then crank the heat up right before you use it. Aside from running the risk of a freeze up, this method of heating will cost you a tremendous amount of money in energy bills. It is recommended to maintain your water temperature on a consistent daily basis during the winter."
Not my words, but theirs.
Dick
Whose words? What spa dealer? What brand of spa?
Most ARE! They call it "economy mode". Essentially it's a setback scheme to save energy.
Mine has that feature, but it is not a temperature setback. It only determines when to run the heater, not what temperature to set it back to. On my house setback thermostat I set it for 65 degrees at night, then 72 degrees in the morning. That's a setback thermostat.
Same as, same as. The end result is exactly the same thing. Lower average temp resulting in energy savings. Call it whatever pleases you.
In other words, you made the whole thing up. That's what I figured.
The run time on my heater is less than an hour a day when I dont use it and I keep my spa set for 102F. It was running about twice this which still isnt that bad. This is because the point where the temp probe is placed on the plumbing isnt insulated and gets cold a lot quicker than the rest of the hot tub. A little fibergalss insulation and tie wraps fixed that. I've found that leaving a maintenance cover off can cause excessive cycling of the heater also. Mine will run for about ten minutes even though the temp came up almost instantly once the pump starts. I insulated the maint panel in front of the pack and will do the rest of them this spring when I rebuild the outside of the hot tub replacing the cheap pine with composite material. I wish the pump wasn't located so close to the temp probe and heater. This way I could insulate them better without worrying about the motor overheating.
Doesn't matter whose words. They're only true if the electricity you use to heat the pool is more expensive than the electricity you use to keep it hot.
I take it you are too lazy to read the information.
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