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Time For A New Cover


Brent Hamm

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Actually meant the 5" to 4" one

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Productgroup.a...&search=spa cover&topnav=&Mo=0&s=1〈=en-CA&Nr=P_CatalogName:BCCA&N=4294961286&whse=BCCA&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BCCA&Ne=5000001+4000000&D=spa cover&Ntt=spa cover&No=0&Nty=1&Sp=S&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&s=1

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Hi Brent. I'm not sure about that cover, but the one I have is made by Arctic Spa. It's nothing short of amazing. Ten people can dance on the darn thing! ( Trust me, I vaguely remember that party), lol. But Arctic Spa has this Castcore* cover that is basically a metal cover injected with foam. It's as sturdy as it gets! It's not as light as the typical ones you can get, but it will never get water logged years later, making those standard covers almost impossible to lift off! I'm not sure they sell these covers separately but you can always inquire.

Eddie

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PLEASE SEE RED COMMENTS BELOW

  • 12.7 cm to 10.1 cm (5 in. to 4 in.) tapered spa cover
  • R19.7 insulation rating
  • Available in 4 colours (hunter green, navy blue, wildwood brown and silver grey)
  • 907 g (2 lb.) density closed cell foam sealed in 2 mil plastic for reduced water absorption - 2 mil is quite thin
  • Aluminum “C” channel reinforced for extra support and strength - What gauge is the aluminum?
  • Marine grade exterior vinyl - What is the weight?
  • Mold and mildew resistant
  • UV inhibitors - What is the UV rating?
  • Solid vinyl underside with drainage grommets
  • Rubber evaporation seal and double stitched evaporation pillows are strategically positioned to prevent heat loss
  • Reinforced, double stitching throughout the cover
  • Reinforced handles and centre seam
  • 4 locking safety straps complete with key
  • Made in accordance with ASTM standards
Warranty:

1 year - How is this effected by the Costco member warranty?

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PLEASE SEE RED COMMENTS BELOW

  • 12.7 cm to 10.1 cm (5 in. to 4 in.) tapered spa cover
  • R19.7 insulation rating
  • Available in 4 colours (hunter green, navy blue, wildwood brown and silver grey)
  • 907 g (2 lb.) density closed cell foam sealed in 2 mil plastic for reduced water absorption - 2 mil is quite thin
  • Aluminum “C” channel reinforced for extra support and strength - What gauge is the aluminum?
  • Marine grade exterior vinyl - What is the weight?
  • Mold and mildew resistant
  • UV inhibitors - What is the UV rating?
  • Solid vinyl underside with drainage grommets
  • Rubber evaporation seal and double stitched evaporation pillows are strategically positioned to prevent heat loss
  • Reinforced, double stitching throughout the cover
  • Reinforced handles and centre seam
  • 4 locking safety straps complete with key
  • Made in accordance with ASTM standards
Warranty:

1 year - How is this effected by the Costco member warranty?

I like the full lenght center seal versus the "stratigicly placed" pillows. In other words instead of a couple inches of seal on both ends a full lenght seal will do more.

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dlx-cover. Deluxe Spa Cover

Cover upgrade - 2# Density Foam $ 49.95

COVrflx. Cover upgrade - Reflex Energy Shield $ 34.95 $ 34.95

dubrap-bus. Free Cover Upgrade - Double Wrapped Foam Cores $ 0.00 $ 0.00

TOTAL $404

from www.rhtubs.com

Is this a better cover? Not sure what options to take.

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For 3# foam the difference is about R-2.2, for 1.5# foam R-2.

I am also looking for a cover and that looks good except that the original was a 5"3" taper rather then the 4"3" taper of the one shown. will that make much of a difference?
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Difficult to say for sure as the Costco description leave off a lot of info.

They use a 2 mil plastic, we a 6 mil

They use Aluminum “C” channel, we use steel (which is stronger, though weighs a bit more)

They don't list the weight or UV rating of their vinyl

They have pillows sealing the hinge, we have a full length center seal

Our warranty is 4 years, compared to their 1 year (but I don't know how their warranty is effected by the general Costco Members warranty)

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Ok..that sounds cool. Our kids are old enough to not go on the cover any more. Snow would be the only other concern. But doubt we would get so much on there that it woudl wreck it (before we clear it off).

Should i get a floating blanket as well?

Also need to choose a new lifter. No idea which one to go with. But would like one that keeps half the cover sticking up for shelter. Have unlimited space behind and around the tub, so that is not a concern either.

Personally? I'd go with the 6x4 1 pound cover. Yes you lose about 15% of the strength, but the insulating factor goes up 30%. And it saves you $10 :-)
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Hi Brent. I'm not sure about that cover, but the one I have is made by Arctic Spa. It's nothing short of amazing. I'm not sure they sell these covers separately but you can always inquire.

Our cover division now offers custom covers (or is planning to). I don't have specifics, and I don't know if the CastCore cover that Edweirdo mentions will be available for anything but Arctic models. I'll try to find out, but in the meantime - please contact Arctic Spas at the number or email address given on the Arctic Spas web site.

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Am thinking of this one from Costco

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Productgroup.a...rtial&Nty=1

Want to order soon. Any thing not soo good about that one?

Hi,

I actually ordered this exact cover a couple of months ago. I have to tell you I wasn't very impressed. The end seam seals didn't seal (i could see all the way through to the other side of the cover and out the other side - basically a index finger size hole on either side of the "seam pillows" or whatever they are called). Also, where the skirt meets in the middle there is a 1.5 inch gap which leaves the acrylic rim of the hot tub exposed (and mine's aqua green so it's quite ugly). Basically the manufactuer didn't extend the skirt to cover this area.

I called the customer service number for alpine spa covers, basically to say i would be returning it, and they were quite helpful. They offered to ship me out an upgraded vinyl cover that i would have to swap with the original one. It was better constructed and had a full seam seal and the skirt was made to cover the entire spa rim. I had to take the insulation panels out of the old cover and put them in the new cover - which actually wasn't that difficult. When i had the insulation panels out i noticed that the plastic vapor barrier was quite thin. The ends were vacuum sealed, but it almost looked like the main seam was just taped (although the tape may have been there to just keep the excess in place - it was hard to tell. I opted to add an additional layer of 6 mil vapor barrier i had laying around and sealed it with tuck tape. Not sure if it will help or not, but it couldn't hurt.

All in all, I believe this costco model is just alpine's bottom end model and I wouldn't recommend it. I would recommend the "classic gold" (this is what they sent me as an upgrade) or above. Their customer service is excellent.

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I'm shopping for a new cover and my primary concern is life-cycle cost, and a major impact to that is energy conservation. This spa is up in the mountains and electricity costs $0.14 per kwh. I'm looking at two options and would like some knowledgeable feedback. It is to replace a standard Hot Springs cover (2-3.5" tapered foam, I'm guessing 1.5# density) with a simple rectangular lifter that hinges on the bottom of one side, the top sits on top of the cover at the hinge and carries the folded cover up and over to one side. To open the spa you just fold the cover over the lifter bar, then use the bar to lift the whole thing over one side. I estimate my current cover is R15 before it became saturated with water. It's probably about half of that now and too heavy for my wife to lift.

The first option is to get a 6-4" tapered foam cover from hottubworks.com. For "the works" the manufacturer claims R-30. This should work fine with my existing lifter. My main concern is when or if it becomes saturated It will be twice as heavy as my current one and even I won't be able to lift it. Compared with an R15 cover the payback should be about 2.5 years.

The second option is from spacap.com; it is not foam but air. It floats on the water and claims to have an R value of 26. This has a similar payback period. I'm thinking that I can continue to use the lifter with this cover, since the top bar of the lifter should sit on top of the cover at the center and it should simply flop over the bar and then out of the way.

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I would implore you to do a Google search for;

spacap complaint

Wow a BBB rating of F. They should change the name to SpaCrap. :o

Lots of issues with it that I hadn't thought of:

1. It floats on the water. What do you do when you drain the spa?

2. Potential air leaks and resultant loss of integrity when I'm not around.

3. The guy who they hired to measure the R rating says that they misrepresented his findings. Since thick pockets of air don't insulate I'd say that this is the case.

4. One guy measured the cover temperature with an infrared device and found it to be 40 degrees while his neighbor's foam spa cover was 19.

5. Guy in high wind area found that leaves and crap blew under the edges of the cover into the water. I've got to secure my foam cover at all four corners or else the wind will open it but I've never had crap blow into the spa.

I almost got hoodwinked. Thanks Dr. Spa!

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I'm in the market for a new cover too for my Sundance Palermo. The one I have now is VERY heavy and ripping at the seams. I got it in 2005, live in New England and use the tub every night. So I figured I got my money's worth out of it.

Don't mean to pirate the original thread, but since there are some experienced tubbers out there, I thought I would ask here:

Does anyone make a top with removeable foam inserts? Having 2 sets that I could rotate out and dry to keep light would be great. Looking at some supplier sites however, it appears that the foam is embedded into the C channel and that probably would not be an option.

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