The house we just bought came with a hot tub. There's just me and the wife and we use it maybe a half dozen times a year. She claims it is cheaper to keep the water warm all year long as long as the tub is covered, than to reheat it for each use.
I say the whole damn thing is a big time energy sucker and we should just sell it or use it as a fish pond.
Anybody out there with one who can share any wisdom?
If you were using it every few days, then oh wait, you wanted WISDOM. Unless it's affecting your ability to to pay the mortgage, do whatever your wife wants, even if the reason she gives doesn't make any sense. (The reason she wants it probably doesn't have anything to do with the words coming out of her mouth, anyway.)
Don't do what I did. I had an Oscar. I guess it is tropical. It was in a heated aquarium when I got him. For a treat, I bought him 100 little goldfish, and put them in a second 10-gallon acquarium I had acquired. In less than a day, they were all dead. I had to give him all 100 for one meal. Instead of spreading it out over weeks. Apparently goldfish don't do well in warm water.
I'm sure it's a lot cheaper to warm the water when yhou need it. I don't know how long in advance you have to start. Maybe you can boil hot water on the stove amd pour that in. That's what my great grandmothers did. But others probably know more about this than I. I'm just like you.
No wisdom here. I like mine. I keep it hot 24/7. I use it a LOT more than the pool, which also runs most of the time. I like my hot tub. Before I had one, I just thought they were a waste. Sounds like you've got your mind made up. Why even ask the wife? Besides, if you didn't have the hot tub to relax in, you'd have more time to gripe and more to gripe about besides.
Steve
We had an above ground spa for my wife's medical needs. We kept it covered and adjusted the thermostat to just circulate the water, etc. It was mostly used during warm months before it got to cold in the Winter. She never went out there unless it was summer or so it seemed.
You guessed it, I cleaned it. We moved across town eighteen months ago and I refused to bring it as the new house had a pool. What I did with some help was, remodel the new master bath and put a whirlpool type bath in for her.
Hot water right out of the tap.
Oren
"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."
Here in NJ, I keep mine turned down around 80 during winter and turn it up a few hours before I intend to use it. I use it a couple times a week, so it definitely saves energy MAny also have timers so you can have it turn itself up to 100+ before the times you are most likely to use it.
But in the end, if you only use it 6 times a year, the hassle of maintenance plus the energy usage probably aren't worth it.
If you use it a few times a week, keep it hot. If you use it once a month, get rid of it and save a bundle on your electric bill. Depending size and temperature, it can cost from $20 to $60 a month or more to keep heated.
There is no question that it's cheaper to have the hot tub cool, and heat it up when you want it. The problem is that you either need the ability to supply a great amount of heat in a short time, or you need to start heating the hot tub an hour or so before you want it.
"Goedjn" wrote
Mine heats at five degrees per hour. So, at that rate, I would have to maintain it at 95 degrees instead of 100. Or, if I had it at 80, that would be four hours. I guess it all depends on YOUR spa. One size does not fit all.
I cannot "supply a treat amount of heat in a short time". My spa only heats as fast as it heats. There is no control other than the standard/economy mode, which switches from heats when temp down to heats only in filter cycle.
I have not run mine and checked what it costs to run in all these different situations. I set the heat at 100, and it's always ready.
Steve
I see a significant difference in my electric bill when I turn the hot tub down after use (to about 75-80 degrees) and then turn it up the next day in anticipation of using it. It does remove a little of the spontaneity, since I have to remember to turn it up several hours beforehand if I think I'll want to use it later, but it's worth it to me for the savings.
Jo Ann
Steve B wrote:
NJ? Oh yeah, what exit ?
When you first get one, all excited and then find the cost of products to do this and that. It was as hard as Japanese Arithmetic. I found it easier to drain the 500 gallon monster and refresh it with celan water
- cheaper (6-10$) vs.chemicals at 20, 30, plus to do this and that.
Oren
"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."
Thank you, Jo Ann. Here in Las Vegas, I don't get in the hot tub from about the end of May until mid September. I leave it hot, thinking that it might get gungy if I don't. But, next summer, I believe I will set it down to about 80.
I don't monitor the bills (don't ask, it's all in a trust), but there's sure no sense of letting it run all the time if it don't need to.
But, man, I sure do like it in the cooler weather, and the cold of winter, when I keep it hot all the time.
Steve
I don't know what chemicals or practices you use, but my cost of spa chemicals is very low and not an issue. Might be $50 a year. I use time release bromine, plus ocassional shock. Change the water about every 3 months.
Cheaper to keep the hot tub and 86 the wife..
Well, technically, if you use it only once a month, it's probably cheaper to re-heat it. (unless it's indoors, in which case it's a wash {so to speak} during the winter, because the escaped heat from the bath heats the house.
But *WISDOM*, which is what you asked for, suggests that winning this argument with your wife is not a good idea. Particularly since the reason she wants in left warm is because she wants her damn hot tub on the same day that she decides to use it, not
22 hours later.
I agree - I turn mine down when I don't plan on using it for a couple days.
The water should be changed every few months anyway, so if you are not using it through the summer, just drain it. Wipe it down and refill in the Fall.
And in the dead of winter, the (outdoor, above-ground) tub obviously uses more energy in colder climes (like here in NJ). When it gets below 15-20F, getting in/out of a wet tub is a less appealing proposition. I may drain mine this December...
Regards, Teo
We keep our tub hot (100 degrees) 24/7. Up until this year, it was wired for 120V which meant that it could take literally days to go from 50 degrees (e.g. a freshly-filled/changed tub) to usable temp). This spring I rewired it for 220V (huge job -- had to run about 100' of new wire/conduit) and it now heats about 4x faster. But as was mentioned elsewhere, if you cool down the tub, you then have to plan to use it significantly ahead of time. It's kind of nice to be able to say "hey lets go jump in the tub".
If we're leaving town for more than a weekend, we'll sometimes turn it down to 80 degrees. But otherwise it stays hot.
-Tim
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