Adding Insulation To My Infinity Sunpeak

[Biz]

Hello everyone:

I live up north in New England and with the weather getting colder, I have decided to try to add insulation to my Infinity Sun Peak hot tub.

First of all, I purchased the hot tub at Costco. They had indicated that the tub came with 2 inch foam insulation. When I checked underneath though, no such foam was installed. I contacted Infinity and they did send me several cans of foam insulation to spray on.

My first question, is has anyone else sprayed on the foam insulation to their Sunpeak hot tub, and if they did, is there anything I should be aware of before spraying it on?

Next, I am considering adding on some additional foam rigid panels which I understand can be purchased from Lowes. I do have a concern though, that adding insulation might overheat the pumps in the summer.

Has anyone added this foam insulation and if so, did they experience any problem this past summer?

Also, would like to know the process for adding these additional panels?

Thanks

[kengorman]

Has anyone added this foam insulation and if so, did they experience any problem this past summer?

I purchased an Infinity spa and insulated it - details can be found in the thread here. Scroll down to post #14. There are some pictures as well.

I didn't have any problems at all with pumps overheating, however, that doesn't mean I won't down the road. I don't have a thermometer inside the cabinet so I can't comment on what the ambient air temperature is and what affect it is having on the motors.

My tub is wrapped pretty tight - it has the "spray" foam insulation on the underside of the tub and all the plumbing. The foam is nominally about 1/4" thick. It then has 2 inch rigid foam, foil backed panels on every side. I used additional spray foam to seal up any air gaps between the foam panels and framing members to cut down on convective heat losses. These panels are wrapped with 4 mil plastic sheathing to further reduce any convective heat losses. The rigid panels are foil faced to reduce the radiant heat losses. Finally, the plastic sheathing is wrapped in Reflectiv foil wrap to further reduce any radiant heat loss.

I then used a roll of weatherseal tape along the top and bottom seams to, once again, cut down on air infiltration and any convective heat losses.

HTH,

Ken

[jjfromtheburgh]

Ken,

I saw your link before and I actually just followed your advice. I see that you did that last year. Did you notice a difference in your electric consumption? Do you think that the insulation help to keep the water temp up and the heater from running? Just curious to know the benefits of adding additional insulation???

Thanks,

Jason

[kengorman]

Ken,

I saw your link before and I actually just followed your advice. I see that you did that last year. Did you notice a difference in your electric consumption? Do you think that the insulation help to keep the water temp up and the heater from running? Just curious to know the benefits of adding additional insulation???

Thanks,

Jason

I wish I could say definitively that the insulation helped, however, I only had the spa 1 month before I decided to insulate it. The first months electric bill versus the previous years bill had increased 81% to the tune of $186. After I applied insulation, the following months bills were much more manageable increasing over the prior year of $39, $39, $51, $70, and $59 - an average increase of $51/month. The $70 increase was in January when I drained, refilled, and reheated the tub.

All the data (and a better explanation) are in the 2nd post of this thread here.

I definitely think the insulation kept the heater from running, especially this summer. I set the setpoint of my tub to 90 degrees and put the tub in Sleep mode (meaning, the heater would only go on if the set point dropped 20 degrees below the setpoint, i.e. 70 degrees). The temp of the water hovered between 99-101 degrees the entire summer. The only source of heat was the 24-hour circ pump and the 2-hours the low-speed pump was on during the filtration cycle.

Ken