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What Insulation To Use Inground Spa?


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Hey Guys,

I have an old 02/03 Jadan spa (inground) that I have recently dropped into a raised deck. It looks awesome and works great, but the pump is running hard. And my power bill is going to be huge.

What I didn't consider when putting this in the deck was that approx 750mm of the spa shell will be out of the ground and therefore completely uninsulated.

So my question is, what type of insulation should I use to wrap the shell? It will get water on it. So I'll need something waterproof. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

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  • 2 weeks later...

Insulating the top part of the shell will get you very little in terms of energy savings. May I assume the plumbing is buried? If so, when the pump comes on (timer or other) it will move the water through the cold ground and you will have huge heat drain.

A good cover will make a big difference, but in-ground spas are just giant heat sinks. Unless you have a huge gas heater to pull that whole system up to temp, you are going to keep on paying a lot to run this thing.

I have set many many portable spas into vaults - keeping a large air-space all around the fully-insulated tub and it's cabinet. That costs pennies per day to keep hot.

B)

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Hey Chas,

The majority of the shell is out of the ground. I just wrapped it in Bubble Foil yesterday. To see if that makes any difference as Expanding foam is ridiculously expensive out here in Australia.

All pipes are above ground. I've taken a reading and I'll see if there is any decrease in power usage over a 24 hour period.

At the moment this thing will give me $1000 power bill for 2 months. Which is a crazy.

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Well you may get some good results then, if the plumbing can be insulated along with the part of the tub NOT in the ground. Keep an eye on air movement: if you have an open deck or vents, you don't want air to be able to blow around the tub under the deck. A sheet of plastic can cut down air infiltration.

And easy way to see if you are getting any help is to run the tub up to 102 F and then shut it off with the cover in place. Check the temp in 24 hours (or 12 if that makes more sense for you). Then as you add insulation, see if the temp drops more slowly.

B)

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