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Energy Efficiency Of Hot Spring Spas


jmendoza17

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I have a question for owners of Hot Spring spas: How energy effiecient are they really? Hot Spring is the only brand who makes a point of selling on their low operation costs and I would like to know if the claims are true. Can you really run a Hot Spring spa for $30 bucks a month. Thanks in advance for any info.

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HotSpring has some info available on the web site:

www.HotSpring.com

Which includes an energy cost calculator, and a report on an engery consumption study they had done by an independant testing lab. All the details on who did the test, how they did the test, what model was tested, and precisely how the test was run are included.

In my experience, having sold these things for twenty years now, the energy projections on the web site are right on, and the tubs do perform as promised.

My customer seldom pay over $30 per month. The exceptions would be people who own the Vista or Envoy and run the jets every day for long periods. Those folks seem to be paying around $40 to $50 or so per month. If they do not run the jets a lot, or if they don't use the tub often, the costs are in line with other HS and TR models.

We live in Southern Cal, and our rates are very high.

HTH

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Thanks. Their online test is based on a 115volt sovereign. Can anyone accurately identify what difference voltage makes, if any?

Well, the test spa is a single jet pump model, with around 355 gallons. It gets a good amount of use, if you read the details.

As to the voltage - in a HS the voltage does not really impact the cost of operation as much as some other designs. That is because the HS tubs use a small circ pump which runs 24/7, and they are very well insulated. The watt-hours consumed to heat up the tub will be the same - it will simply run the 1500 watt heater four times as long as it would run the 6000 watt heater. The math looks like this:

  • 1500 watts for 24 hours = 36 KiloWattHours
  • 6000 watts for 6 hours = 36 KiloWattHours

Tubs which run the jet pump on low speed will be different. They will be cheaper to run 220 because the heat comes up faster so the pump runs less. That is basic cost to heat. Now let's move on to the jet systems:

On the HS - the pumps are larger on the 220 models, so your cost to operate may be a bit more if you run the jets a bunch. On a HS the jet pumps only run when you turn them on. So basic heating costs are very uniform across the entire line.

Sorry, but there is no direct connection between 110 or 220 and which will cost more to run other than the one I mentioned above. There are rules which need to be applied, and which tend to work with each other, such as:

  • Better insulated spas cost much less to run.
  • Better covers reduce operating costs drastically
  • Giant jet pumps create giant power bills
  • Using a blower costs power to run the blower, AND power to reheat the water.
  • Wind removes heat from an open spa fast.
  • Wind removes heat from a spa with a leaky cabinet or a loose cover all day.
  • Running all the jet pumps costs more.
  • Running cool air through the jets costs more - some tubs recycle hot air.
  • Shut off the air to jets not being used if possible.

So, we could say the following: a tub with good insulation - and I'm not trying to say TP or FF here, I'm just saying a tub with good insulation - with moderately-sized pumps, owned by somebody who runs the jets for 10 minutes per use, four times a week , who has the spa in a protected setting (wind protection), and who may not have a blower, or may not use the blower - will cost less.

A tub with poor insulation, huge pumps, owned by somebody who runs the jets for 20 minutes per use, five or six times a week, who has the spa in an exposed setting and who has and uses a blower will pay a bloody fortune.

B)

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I have a question for owners of Hot Spring spas: How energy effiecient are they really? Hot Spring is the only brand who makes a point of selling on their low operation costs and I would like to know if the claims are true. Can you really run a Hot Spring spa for $30 bucks a month. Thanks in advance for any info.

Demension One also has an energy calculator on there web site and it bases rates on listed criteria. I think it's more like 16-22 bucks a month not counting heavy use extreme cold and a fresh water fill..

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Demension One also has an energy calculator on there web site and it bases rates on listed criteria. I think it's more like 16-22 bucks a month not counting heavy use extreme cold and a fresh water fill..

Thanks. The more I look at it, the more I am convinced that there is something terribly wrong with this particular spa.

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I am not sure why your bill is running that high. My highest bil on my P.E.II has been 45 dollars and that's keeping it up to temp and I have no clue as to what filter cycle it is set at. I did run a " foam rope" ? around the top of the spa to seal the gap between the spa lip and synthetic siding, I did leave the equipment bay door area open for fesh air for pumps however. I do plan on installing thermal foil panels that are a bit thicker then the half inch styrofoam panels it came with just for fun.

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HotSpring has some info available on the web site:

www.HotSpring.com

Which includes an energy cost calculator, and a report on an engery consumption study they had done by an independant testing lab. All the details on who did the test, how they did the test, what model was tested, and precisely how the test was run are included.

In my experience, having sold these things for twenty years now, the energy projections on the web site are right on, and the tubs do perform as promised.

My customer seldom pay over $30 per month. The exceptions would be people who own the Vista or Envoy and run the jets every day for long periods. Those folks seem to be paying around $40 to $50 or so per month. If they do not run the jets a lot, or if they don't use the tub often, the costs are in line with other HS and TR models.

We live in Southern Cal, and our rates are very high.

HTH

Chas, does the Envoy and Vista really use more energy? Don't they use 2.0 HP and 2.5 HP pumps respectively? Most other manufacturers like Sundance and Caldera also use 2.5 HP pumps. Have you ever hooked up a meter to your Grandee for kicks?

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HotSpring has some info available on the web site:

www.HotSpring.com

Which includes an energy cost calculator, and a report on an engery consumption study they had done by an independant testing lab. All the details on who did the test, how they did the test, what model was tested, and precisely how the test was run are included.

In my experience, having sold these things for twenty years now, the energy projections on the web site are right on, and the tubs do perform as promised.

My customer seldom pay over $30 per month. The exceptions would be people who own the Vista or Envoy and run the jets every day for long periods. Those folks seem to be paying around $40 to $50 or so per month. If they do not run the jets a lot, or if they don't use the tub often, the costs are in line with other HS and TR models.

We live in Southern Cal, and our rates are very high.

HTH

You need to compare the energy usage, in kwh, not the 'dollars per month' since the dollars-per-month is equal to the energy usage multiplied by the cost-per-kwh and the cost-per-kwh varies a LOT between different parts of the c ountry. $40 per month might be a lot in an area where electric power rates are $.06 per kwh and not very much in an area where power costs $0.30 per kwh.

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Additionally, if you're simply comparing this years bill to last years bill, and your electric rates have risen (per kwh),you're not seeing an increase due only to the spa.

Thanks to both of points. The HotSpring calculator is a formula based of varying KHW costs and their usage formula. I set it for maximum cost (.25) and adjusted temp to be colder than it really is where I live. I still got an estimate of under $40 a month. I called HSpa's tech and he said that it is what it is.

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Chas, does the Envoy and Vista really use more energy? Don't they use 2.0 HP and 2.5 HP pumps respectively? Most other manufacturers like Sundance and Caldera also use 2.5 HP pumps. Have you ever hooked up a meter to your Grandee for kicks?

I only meant that the Vista, Envoy and now the Grandee have the larger pumps of the HotSpring line. They will cost a bit more than the Jesetter for example. They are still pretty low-cost to operate compared to other brands with huge jet pumps, and of course any well-insulated tub is going to cost less to run than a poorly insulted tub.

I have metered a Grandee in Ojai - an inland valley. The customers assumed that the jump in electrical was due to the tub. It was warm weather, and our inland valleys do get hot during the day during the summer.

The meter came back with around $11 to run the tub for 30 days. That was starting with the tub already heated up, of course. Sorry, it was too long ago for me to remember the kWh - or the rate. The two days I was in their yard - installing and removing the meter- it was easily 105 degrees in the area around the tub. They had no shade over the tub, and had enclosed the samll area around it in a rock wall about four feet high. It was sitting on a slab with some planters which contained very dead flowers. The whole thing was like a solar collector. That was the first time I used the 'summer mode' on a HS product.

They later found out that one of their kids had overridden the automatic setting on their AC thermostat and it was keeping the house nice and cool all day...and jacking their bill up a bit. I later sold them an open gazebo for the spa area and some retractable awnings for the back of the house.

B)

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