ScottWilliamson

When you first get your spa, it will feel like you are spending hours trying to get it right. It did with me. Once I read more on this forum, I found some posts which helped. Once I finally got it down and established a routine, it really takes no more than 15 minutes a week to maintain. The first week after a refill will take a little more. But once the numbers (CH, ALK, PH, etc..) are dialed in, you wont be spending that much time maintaining it. Get the Taylor kit. Worth the money. I do use strips, but I uses those to spot check in between my weekly checks with the Taylor kit. Verify the strips against the Taylor kit.. there are some POS strips out there.

Scott, there is obviously a problem with either your spa or the measurements. Your 12A rated motors are not supposed to be drawing anywhere close to 12A on low... that's the high speed number. The low speed windings operate at a much lower current, typically around 4.4A. The low speed number might be (usually is) on the motor nameplate. (240V x the motor amperage draw x the 4 hour run time)/1000 is the number of kW-hr your spa draws with the heater off. Maybe some small additional amount for the ozonator if you have one. For your spa to be consuming 12 kW-hr per day, your current draw has to be 12000W-hr/(4 hr*240 V) = 12.5 Amps. That's higher than the motor's current draw on high. There is something wrong. Either your spa has a problem causing the consumption to be very high, or "something" is going on to distort your measurements. It's simple math. The spa should not be drawing 12.5A to filter. I also don't understand your comment about the heater coming on "for 5 to 6 minutes to heat it up". 5 to 6 minutes of heater isn't going to heat the water more than a degree F. Spa heaters heat the water at the rate of 5-8 degrees F per hour, give or take a little based on the water volume of your spa, and wattage of your heater. Not wanting to be argumentative... just pointing out that your figures aren't making sense so there must be something else going on. Do you have one of those new "smart meters"? We have gotten those here in San Jose and there are many reports that they are overcharging customers. I know that in my case, I can get daily usage graphs (by the hour) on the power company website. The thing has shown some huge and inexplicable usage spikes...when I've been away on business, with the house unoccupied! And NOT is synch with the spa at all! HD2000, OP's bill cannot be based on his rates and Scott's measurements. Scott has told us that his measurement is based on a comparison of the spa filtering only v. not running. It completely ignores the heater (largest consumer of energy in a spa that's being kept warm), and the actual usage of the spa (a large amount of heat is lost when the cover is off, in addition to the use of the jets). So you really can't make use of Scott's data to predict OP's bill. The spa does have an ozonator. As far as heating up 5 to 6 minutes... I meant when the filter period starts at 6p, it only takes the heater about 5 minutes to bring the temperature back up to 102 from the last filter period (12pm). The spa is well insulated and has a well insulated cover. I was finally able to get the dealer to come out and look at the spa. He connected a meter to the spa and saw it was using 2700 watts when running in filter mode. When he ran the pump in high speed mode, it also used 2700 watts. He said that should not be and it going to get a new motor and replace it free of charge for me. In the mean time, he suggested filtering less and adding a little more dicor. I have dropped the filter periods from 4 - 1 hour filters to 2 - 1 hour filters. My usages has dropped about 5 KWh per day. But it now takes about 15 to 20 minutes to heat the water back up to 102 at the start of the filter period. We do not have Smart Meters yet in my neighborhood. Suppose to get one by Nov 2011. But I know people that have received them and been hit with a shocker of a bill.. one of my co workers was hit with a bill 3x from the previous month.

California is a tiered systems. You are given a baseline every month. For the winter, my baseline in 315 KWh. Tier 1 $.13/KWh (within baseline) Tier 2 $.15/KWh (up to 30%) Tier 3 $.24/KWh (31% to 100%) Tier 4 $.27/KWh (101% to 200%) Tier 5 $.31/KWh (201% and over)

This is from the invoice of the spa: Jet pump 1 - 2 speed, 3 HP continuous duty, 5 HP breakdown torque Jet pump 2 - 1 speed, 3 HP continuous duty, 5 HP breakdown torque Jet pump 1 is used from the front jets and filtering. Jet pump 2 is used for the rear jets. The low speed on jet pump 1 does the filtering. When I look under the spa, there is a plug in for both jet pumps. They are rated 240V/12A. There is a plug in for a "circ pump" 120v/3A which is empty. When I noticed the high bill, I tried to figure out what it was. I started to write down my hourly usage which is around .5KWh. From 5pm to 6pm, my usage was .5KWh. From 6pm to 7pm (during one of the one hour filtering periods) my usages was over 3.0KWh. From 7pm to 8pm, my usages was again around .5KWh. The following day, I shutdown all the breakers to the house. No usage. I turned on only the spa breaker and ran a filter period for one hour. Usage as just a tad below 3KWh. The following week, I wrote down three days of electrical usage (with spa). Day 1 27 KWh Day 2 31 KWh Day 3 28 KWh Avg 28.6 KWh The next three day, I wrote down my electrical usage, but I drained the spa and left it off: Day 1 17 KWh Day 2 17 KWh Day 3 16 KWh Avg 16.6 KWh So.. the spa add around 12 KWh per day to my usage.. or around 360 KWh per month From my last bill. 224 KWh @ .27 136 KWh @ .24 $93.12 additional to run my spa. I call the vendor and asked about the "circ pump" and if I can add a circulation pump for the filtering. They said they can not do that because it will mess up the back pressure or something like that. All the testing was done with the heater turned down so I would not come on. Besides, the heater only comes on for about five to six minutes to heat it up. My filter periods are 1 hour each, every six hours. 12am, 6am, 12pm, 6pm.

I have. Before I had the spa, my monthly bill in the winter was around $70. During the summer, about $200 (A/C). Since I got the sap, the winter bill has hovered around $160 to $180. The lowest quote for Solar for my house... $37,500 AFTER rebates, tax credits, etc. Plus $2,500 permit fee.

Something must be wrong for you to use that much in your warmer climate. That is what my el-cheapo Home Depot spa cost in November BEFORE I added insulation which brought it down to $35./month in the winter with 10 degree or lower nights at a power rate of 0.119/kWh. WHat is your rate and spa brand/model? CalSpa Escape ES748. Heating is not the issue as it heats quickly and stays hot with the cover on. It is the filtering that sucks up the electricity. I shut the entire house down with just the breaker on for the spa. A one hour filter period takes just under 3KW hours. Thus.. puts me in a higher tier and I can pay up to $.31/KWh.

I am in the same boat as you.. Southern California. My electric bill increased about $100 a month since I got the spa. Based on some testing and calculations, my spa uses about 350 to 400 KWh per month. That puts me in tier 4, sometimes in tier 5. The spa has two pumps, the filter cycle uses pump one with is a 3KWh pump. I am actually getting to the point of selling it and calling it a loss. Cant afford an extra $100 a month for electricity. I was told, but the sales rep, about $15 to $20 extra a month would be it. Lie about anything to get the sale...

I wish my bill went up $30.. My bill went up about $90 a month with my spa. I am in Southern California, set for 4 hour filtering per day and temp at 102F. 375 gallons. The spa used 12KWh per day just for filtering. My baseline for the month is 10KWh. A 3KWh, 240volt, pump to filter is overkill I think.

I have two filter and rotate between the two. On Saturday, I replace the filter in the spa. With the filter I just took out, I give it a quick rinse and soak it in a bucket of water and 8 oz of filter clean overnight (24 hours). The next day, I rinse the filter really, really good and soak it in a bucket of water and 1 cup of bleach for about 10 minutes. I move it from the bleach solution and let is air dry for a few days in the garage. Do not put the filter in something or in a bucket.. mold will form. Air drying it does not do this. By the time next Saturday rolls around, I switch it out and do the process over again with the other filter. I replace the buckets of filter clean and bleach solution every 3 months.

I have a CalSpa. I set the temp at 100 degrees and run it 6 hours a day for filtering. I use the spa once or twice a week. My electric bill is now $100 more than it used to be. The spa added about 400 Kh per month, which of course puts me way above my baseline in the higher tier. I was scammed. I was told, even in Southern California, my bill should go up no more than $30.

The CalSpa dealer I went to had a room with two hot tubs in it, both filled and heated. When I called about wet testing, they said I had to schedule it because they like to do all the wet testing at once to keep costs down on heating it. It was not big deal because they had two days a week where you can schedule at anytime for 30 minutes. Add, it was private. The sales person let you in the room and you will be alone.

Thanks for the Welcome. First.. I did not mean to post to a two year old thread. I did a search for "LifeSpas", and I just happened to reply. Also, I never mentioned Costco. I have seen the threads on Costco. I am staying away. I went with a CalSpa, a six person Escape model. Something interesting... LifeSpas called me back on Saturday, after I bought the CalSpa. When I told the sales rep at LifeSpas, he said that if I would cancel the CalSpa purchase.. he would beat the price I bought the CalSpa for by $100. Hung up.

I been browsing the forum for about a month now. Looking to purchase a hot tub for the backyard. I went to a Jacuzzi dealer.. very nice lady. No pressure, knew I was just looking, answered questions, feel free to come back or call if needed. Over the weekend, I went to a California Home Spa, a CalSpa dealer. Same attitude as the Jacuzzi dealer. Now.. Lifespa. Wow.. what a bait and switch. I saw the ad for a $1950 spa. Of course, they basically said it was a worthless spa, will crack, and you want this one... plus, you want this and this and that... after 1 1/2 hours.. they wanted $12,000 for a 6 person spa. Titanium heaters are $2000 extra? They pushed the duraflex crap on me also. Said the Acrylic will fade and crack within two years.... even if it is kept full of water and covered. Smelled fishy.. I left. So.. between Jacuzzi and CalSpa.. the models I looked at were similar and similar in price.