Shocking Electric Bill

[fishernut]

Greetings All,

We picked up a used, well-maintained, clean, 10 yr old, 6/7 person tub (really! very nice and clean) in early Dec 2012, had it up and running by mid December. We received our first electric bill since installation. 252 dollars. Our average for this billing period in the past has been 117. The 252 does include some kind of "annual fee" of 20 bucks so let's round it down to 232 dollars. WOW!!!! Could it really be sucking that much juice?? We are about 30 minutes north of St. Paul/Minneapolis. Sure it's been cold at night and days resemble normal temps for the season, but really, did our bill double because of the tub? Sure we used it nearly everyday (it is a new toy afterall) and, sure the cover has seen better days but still is intact and fits properly.

The local spa store says it has to be something else besides the tub cranking up the bill. Christmas lights? not likely, it's not the Griswald's Christmas here. We can't think of anything out of the ordinary.

Has anyone tried to add insulation under the tub or . . . .

If so, what have you done to your tub?

Hate to shut it down for the winter.

[bobmak]

We live north of Boston and installed a brand new Artesian spa, about 380 gallons, just before Christmas... our bill doubled, went up just over $100 a month, so I'd say it was right. We only use the spa for maybe 1-2 hours a week max... the rest of the time it is turned down to 90 on economy mode. The folks we bought the spa from told us it would only go up a few dollars a month... yeah, right.

[NewNickels55]

Do you know how to read your electric meter? Read it and write down the results over a few days and you can guestimate if it is your spa. Check the meter at the same time each morning for a few days and write down the results. Start at say 8am each morning. Write down the number. Next day, same thing - don't change anything in your routine. Day 3, turn off your spa for a day exactly at 8am. Day 4, write down the number and turn your spa back on - it shouldn't have lost enough heat to freeze in only 24 hours (don't take my word for it but I doubt a spa can drop from over 100 to freezing in 24 hours). Turn the spa back on. Give it a day to heat up again. Day 6, put your spa in economy mode. After a few days you should be able to tell how much electricity the spa is using based on usage results comparing when it is off vs being on vs econeomy mode.

I did this for weeks on end when I first got my spa. Eventually I could see that leaving my spa on in the winter cost me like $3-4 a day. $3-4x30=$90-120/month to run the spa in the winter. In the summer it drops to like $1.50-2/day. My spa is old and not very energy efficient. Since then I only run it in economy mode in the winter and turn it on normal on days I plan on using it.

Example of my results:

no spa (turn off) - house uses about 20 kWh/day

spa on normal 101 degrees - 50 kWh/day (so the spa used 30kWh @ $.1/kWh = $3 day)

spa on economy 101 degrees - 40 kWh/day (spa used 20kWh = $2 day, saving $1 each day)

[Dr. Spa]

BE VERY CAREFUL IF YOU CHOSE TO FOLLOW NewNickel's ADVISE !!!!!!

While he's correct about the main body of the spa not losing enough temperature to freeze, the DANGER is in the plumbing and equipment area, where much smaller volumes of water can freeze up solid in only a few short hours, causing extensive and expensive damage.

[Haggie]

Does your utility company offer any online tools? My utility company (PG&E) has online usage tools. They show usage by day and by hour and shows a year over year comparison. I can tell from the usage exactly when the spa is being used and I can see the year over year comparables. When I am in the spa, it pulls about additional 2kWh @ $0.13kWh. And in standard heating mode on an 8 hour filter cycle, I can't even discern the increase in usage. Probably less than a .25 kWh per hour. I figure that the spa is costing me around $1/day. I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area (low 40's at night, mid 60's daytime in winter) and it is a brand new Master Spa TS 7.2 (btw: great price, love it, no problems).

[Roger]

Greetings All,

We picked up a used, well-maintained, clean, 10 yr old, 6/7 person tub (really! very nice and clean) in early Dec 2012, had it up and running by mid December. We received our first electric bill since installation. 252 dollars. Our average for this billing period in the past has been 117. The 252 does include some kind of "annual fee" of 20 bucks so let's round it down to 232 dollars. WOW!!!! Could it really be sucking that much juice?? We are about 30 minutes north of St. Paul/Minneapolis. Sure it's been cold at night and days resemble normal temps for the season, but really, did our bill double because of the tub? Sure we used it nearly everyday (it is a new toy afterall) and, sure the cover has seen better days but still is intact and fits properly.

The local spa store says it has to be something else besides the tub cranking up the bill. Christmas lights? not likely, it's not the Griswald's Christmas here. We can't think of anything out of the ordinary.

Has anyone tried to add insulation under the tub or . . . .

If so, what have you done to your tub?

Hate to shut it down for the winter.

Id say you are just about right. We have had some very cold nights 10-20 below (I live north of you about an hour) Your heavy use and your worn cover have a lot to do with it. Initial fill and heat up. You should be down to 20-30 in the summer months with 100 or more in the winter not all that uncommon. Get a new cover and a foam floating blanket. Limit your use to 2-3 times a week during the coldest months. Can I ask what kind of tub it is?

[bobmak]

I have copies of our electric bill going back over a year... it is definitely the spa that made our usage jump. We heat with a combo of wood & oil, our hot water is oil. We were between 700 & 800 KWH October thru December... We turned our tub on just before Xmas... our January bill (12/19 thru 01/23) came in at 1550 KWH... Just a little tiny jump there; quite a bit more than my dealer lead me to believe. As I said earlier... we leave the tub running in economy mode at 90 degrees... and turn it up to 104 about 3 hours before we plan to use it. We usually use it 30 minutes 2-4X a week... never more than 4. Brand new spa, brand new cover. Hungry little devil. If I knew the cost of ownership up front I might have had 2nd thoughts about my purchase; I assume the dealer knew that. I wish they posted energy usage on these things like they do with refrigerators, etc.

[bobmak]

I would love to hear if anyone has had any luck in adding insulation to their spa to increase efficiency.

[Roger]

I would love to hear if anyone has had any luck in adding insulation to their spa to increase efficiency.

On a true full foam spa you can't add insulation. Now on the other hand if you have a partial foam insulated tub you could add some perimeter insulation but it needs to be done right in order to allow for venting in the warmer months. If you have so little insulation on the tub that you can actually add it to the space between the outside walls and the shell then.......well you should buy a different tub. One of higher quality.

[NewNickels55]

For the record, I did my Spa turned-off testing in the SUMMER. I agree, don't turn it off until it is above freezing outside to see how much electricity you use without it.

[Spa_Guru]

Ah, the true cost of a low budget spa rears it's ugly head.

Not just sniping here, but keep in mind the first time you heat a spa from stone cold the month you do it in is going to be higher than maintaining heat.

If you can look in your cabinet and see a lot of space, yes, adding insulation will help.

Don't go buy a bunch of foam and go nuts with it, get plain old fasioned fiberglass insulation and stuff it into Hefty garbage bags, and tie them shut, then stuff the cabinet full with the opening of the bags down so they cannot collect condensation, keep the "Insulation pillows" you have just made clear of the pumps as they need to breathe to cool.