Northern Willy

The thermal blanket helps prevent evaporation which is the major heat loss. It doesn't matter as much how "insulating" it is rather than how it helps prevent evaporation. Therefore, it is more important to keep it on the surface.

The utility company is dead wrong if they say maintaining a constant temp uses less energy. The only way that would be possible is if the operating components and heater are somehow more efficient at 100F than a lesser temperature. Better enough to offset the energy savings. If this were really the case then there would be no reason to have a home thermostat on a timer unless you wanted to vary the temp during the day to suit your own personal requirements.

It's clearly less expensive from an energy usage standpoint to cycle it. There's really no debate about that but I'd rather not bring in thermodynamics. The tough question is how much could you save? I have no idea about that. Keep in mind that you have to open your door twice to go outisde and fool with it unless it's on a timer. If your use is more intermittant then cycling becomes more of an advantage. From a mechanical maintenance standpoint it is generally better to cycle equipment fewer times and run for longer durations. Some utilities have deals where the electric rates are cheaper at night if you set up the right type of metering. In that case it could be cheaper to heat the heck out of it in the middle of the night to minimize your loads during the day. Combine this with dishwashing and laundry and you could see some savings. Heating it as I suggest here will use even more energy to maintain the same soaking temp at time of usage but might be a net savings. NW

TravelingSpaGuy, What I think is unethical is a $3000 variance on the same product from the same store. How much time does a consumer have to waste with salesman before the $3000 is gone? I bet the final price was not taking food off of anyones table either. Suppose you go to 3 Best Buy's for your new HDTV and you find prices of $2625, $3000 and $3375 for the same thing? I'm glad you would not be annoyed. When you have commissioned sales and non-regulated prices the consumer should not hear any whining. Your current setup is designed to make YOU the most money. Live with getting shopped or change your process. NW

3 different quotes on the same product from stores under the same ownership? I wonder why people here are wary of dealers.

The first thing you should do (and probably have already) is open both the main and GFCI breakers to the tub. While I have considerable electical knowledge I am not familiar with spas. My best guess would be to agree with Roger. IMO the most likely problem was a pre-existing connection that had worked its way loose during shipment and initial usage. It is amazing how much trouble bouncing on a truck for a few hundred miles can cause on screw tightened connections. With the breaker and GFCI not tripping my guess would be just a strand or two of copper hitting the wrong place. The current flow can melt the copper and make it vanish before anything trips in certain cases. In order to avoid a he said/she said thing with the damage I recommend having both the electrician and the dealer inspect at the same time to keep them from being able to point fingers at each other later on. Lastly....Prudence dictates that you should not ever stick your hands onto live power equipment like that while it is energized unless you really know what you are doing. Feel good statement: If my guess is correct you probably would have had this happen sooner or later whether you touched it or not and it's good that it was found w/o somebody getting hurt.