deandog

Hi J, They instructed me to touch both pumps at the same time and then the up key in order to get into the spa cycle program. When I did that it was in continuous cycle range. I hope we get to the bottom of this soon as well. Dean

Hi John, I was in your store again on Sat. aft and we talked about my tub. I got some shock and my little guy got a rubber duck from your other staff member. I appreciate your expert advice regarding chemicals and things have been great since I stopped micromanaging the spa. As we have discussed and from my previous post you probably have a pretty good idea of the problems I am having with energy costs. What I am doing now without a meter is the following. I know my avg daily usage for the last 2 years to be about 71 Kwh/day so I add 20 to that number when we are all home and subtract 20 when we are away during the day and everything is off. I then take the daily reading at the same time every day and sutract those numbers, I have made a excell spreadsheet with all the calculations to give me the cost of the tub and normal cost usage. It's the best I can do to try to figure out the huge increase in my bill. (~ 200.00 last month) I would love to put a meter on it and if you ever come out this way to Seaforth perhaps you could stop in ( I would really appreciate it). I could return it to you when the month is up and I need more chemicals. That would be fantastic to get to the bottom of this. I am hoping the new spa pack and the 240 V 1 amp circ pump that is replacing the 115 4 amp will make a difference with the insulation. I am sure that I will see a change right away if the heater was running on 115V due to contacts sticking on the board. They also are assuring me that the ozonator is supposed to shut off as soon as any button is touched on the spa control and they are sending me a 240V ozonator to go with everything else. The tech who was out said that the ozone has to shut off and this is a defect in the board. ( I don't know who to believe anymore). thanks John, Dean by the way the spatech who was out to my place put my filter setting to filter continuously F1LC and I was told to change it to F1L8 so that it filters every 8 hours by hydrospa. Why would he do that and am I better off now with 3 x a day. (will the tub stay clean enough) What are the cost differences? Could you explain to me what exactly the tub does during a filter cycle and what it does if it's filtering continuously. I have recieved the new spa pack and am awaiting the circ pump and ozonator still. The circ pump was sent yesterday and the ozonator is on back order. They figure about a month for that so I will have to go without it for a while. They say once the board is converted totally to 240V with the new circ pump the ozonator in there can't be used because the higher voltage will fry it. They have also said that the circ pump in there now is drawing a contiunal 4 amps and the new one will only draw 1 amp. Also the draw with the 240 V Ozone will be be less. So there will be some saving's there ( not enough to explain the daily increase of 65 to 75 kwh/day) I sure hope they get to the bottom of it soon because it's costing me a fortune to run everyday. Therefore it's very hard to enjoy.

Not all pumps are created equal, if it's a crappy pump in mine then it probably is drawing 4 amps despite being a 1/15 hp motor which it claims to be by the stamp on it. Anyway I really don't care I just want it replaced with a 240 Volt that was supposed to be in there and the tech working on the tub agrees that this will cost less and be a better quality pump. So I am looking forward to seeing if the changes to the spa and the insulation help with my energy woes. If not the tub will go back and I will replace it with an artic or sundance. They will even pick it up for me and deliver it back to cost co at no cost when they deliver and set up the new one. Glad I have that option. Time will tell, unlike other posts that I have read that say you can take back a spa to cost-co at any time even 10 years down the road, the cost-co where I purchased the spa only gives you a year to return a spa, so I have some time to figure it out. (but not money for hydro-one). All I can do is hope that the heater has been malfunctioning and the new spa pack will fix the problems together with the insulation to bring down the cost to a reasonable level, I can deal with 2 or 3 bucks in the winter but not 8 dollars extra a day. Our average hydro use before the spa was 71 kwh averaged over the last 2 years. We have very little change between summer and winter with the ac on. Only a difference of 2 or 3 kwh/day avg. Since getting the tub the bill has gone up from 71 kwh/day avg to 135 kwh/day avg prior to insulation. I spent some time on the phone with the hydro company and came up with more accuate numers based on actual readings done since I got the spa. I am not happy with this spa's performance but I am giving them a chance to rectify the situation.

Great info thanks

2x 20 min

Yes checked that and it was at the twice a day setting it comes on 2x per day during off peak times for 20min.

I don't know insulation doesn't seem to be helping much after monitoring usage for last 3 days. It's still using a lot of power. Around 6.5 bucks today, which is better than 8 though. It's really cold here right now. Apparently it's illegal in Canada to not have the ozone shut off when we are in the tub. There is supposed to be regulations about the gas, so they are to shut off even if you turn on a light. I was told this is a defect in the spa pack? the tub used about 56 kwH today.

Yes that is what was in it unlike the manual which shows a 240V in the schematic. They are covering it all under warranty. They seem to be trying to work with me to correct the problem which is good.

Right it seems to be a combination of things including the cheap inefficient 115 V circ pump that was supposed to be 240 V. Swapping that will then use half the energy that it's using now and therefore half the cost that it's costing me now to run the piece of crap that's in there. Even if it's only 15 bucks a month difference it still adds up over time. It was hydrospa that told me the ozone is supposed to shut off. They said that is how it's supposed to be programmed into the balboa board. I don't know maybe they are wrong about their own spas. I have also been told by multiple sources that if a contact is stuck on in the circuit board then the heater could be running at 120 instead of 240 and this would not trip the breaker or anything else. If this is the case then the heater would be working harder and on most of the time. This could be causing the large kwh usage. My electrician did the math and told me that this is one problem that it could be and the math works out that the heater could be on most of the time. That's one of the reasons they are swapping the spa pack. The blower and jet pumps seem to be coming on when they are scheduled to be. My electrician also did the math based on their ratings for the heater, ozone, circ pump and the other 2 pumps on for approximately 2 hrs a day. If the heater is on nonstop than this would amount to around 350.00 a month at my electricity rate which is not to far off my bill. Hopefully the tech that was here yesterday will fix the problem after the 240 V circ pump, ozonator and new spa pack goes in. After 24 hrs of insulating the tub, it seems to be helping. I am going to monitor my daily usage for a month and this will tell me just how much better.

Unsure of that, it was not working properly. That's all I know. Ozone is supposed to shut off if you touch the controls and then return back on 1 hr after no buttons are pushed on the controls bu it was not shutting off and if temp was turned down the circ pump was cutting out. Also some issues with the heater.

The circ pump was a 115 volt circ pump instead of the 240V which will draw half the power of the 115 Volt. That alone will have a big impact on the cost. Ya and the cover fits fine.

Ya tech was here yesterday. (promptly after complaining loudly) it seems there is something wrong with the spa pack it's being replaced as is the circulation pump and ozone. Can't pinpoint the problem exactly. I also insulated 3 sides yesterday with R 14 Roxul and threw some in the front panel in open spaces in garbage bags carefully as not to have to much near the pumps for fresh air circulation. The tech recomended to leave the area at the lip above the panel uninsulated so there was some fresh air for the pumps so they don't overheat. We shall see what happens, I am monitoring the hydro usage daily now.

This is insane, i am going crazy here, I just figured out the numbers exactly on my hydro bill and since installing this spa my hydro use has gone from and avg of 71 kwh to 155 kwh /day. That means the spa is using more energy than the entire house. Can you imagine, my bill went up 200 for one month. There must be a defective motor or heater that is drawing to much current. What else could it possibly be? Could a defective cover also be causing this or a loose cover? I can hardly wait to talk to them tomorrow Disregard the numbers on the last reply as they were inacurate, I calculated them exactly now.

well i have p2 from cost co and just got my first bill and it went up 200 from last month. I am totally confused on what to do. I live in Ontario and it has been cold. My usage went from an average of about 55 kwh to 180 kwh.....???? Help.....don't know whether to shut it off or what. can I get an electrician to see how much it's drawing? Any suggestions would be great.

I also have p2 from cost co and live in Ontario Canada, very cold here lately. My first bill from Dec 6 to Jan 4 increased by 200 dollars from usual. I am very concerned about this and need to add insulation to see if it helps. I keep my spa at abou 102 and use a lot. I keep it on standard mode and don't have a solar blanket on it either. I wonder if there is something wrong with these units if some people are having normal bills and others aren't. I was told of course that my bill would only increase by 30-40 per month. The hydro company told me realisticly for Ontario that it will be arould 60 but 200 is ridiculous.