Three Questions from a New Guy Please

[DanAbshere]

Hey everyone,

Trying to maintain and repair my six person Phoenix spa on my own.  Can you help me with a few new guy questions?

1.  Is it normal to lose an inch or two of water each month due to evaporation?

2. I just started using my spa almost daily, and maintaining it at 100 degrees in 40-50 degree weather.  The filter is set to go on twice for three hours each.  It is costing me about a hundred dollars more in electricity each month.  Is that normal? (I know it depends on how much I pay for electricity in my area)

3. Is it normal to have water come our of the air vent (whatever that thing is called we open to increase the jet flow, see attached picture)?

Thank you in advance,

Dan

[CanadianSpaTech]

1) Yes

2)120V or 240V?...turn filtration down to 2/12H or 4/24. Make sure cover has a good seal around the top edge of the spa. Most of your heat loss will happen there. 

3) Power off...remove the handle (part you turn) then use palm of hand to tighten until it stops leaking. If it won't tighten enough to stop the leak remove it and replace the o-rings. If the water is coming up through the center of the valve where the handle goes then replace the 2 small o-rings on the post part if it is coming out from under the top cap then replace the o-ring under it.

[RDspaguy]

If it is a water diverter, that switches water flow to various jets, then @CanadianSpaTechis correct.

If it is the air control, that mixes air in with the water turning the water white where it comes out of the jets, it should not have water in it at all. Make sure all adjustable jets are fully open and getting good flow. If so, begin removing jet internals until it stops. Post a pic of the jet internals. Some have o-rings that separate the water and air connections, and will pressurize the air line with water when they fail.

[PNW Soaker]

2. I have my tub on a schedule, 99 degrees from 12am to 12pm and 104 from 12pm till midnight. It takes about 3 hours to heat back up so I can use it from 3pm onward. I save roughly 1/3 of the energy cost this way, which I can see in my usage graphs from the power company. 

Anytime you can get away with lowering the temp, you'll save money. Contrary to popular assumption it does not take more energy or money to heat back up than it does to maintain a higher temperature.

[CanadianSpaTech]

2)... This is where an economy mode works best. In Economy it will only heat the water during the 2 hour filter cycle. If your spa can't be programmed on a time setting where you determine the actual start and stop times and can only program 2 hour am and 2 hour pm cycles the start time is determined by whatever time you initially turn or flip the main breaker on. So if you come home every day at 5 pm and like to go in the spa at 6 pm...flip the breaker off/on at 4 or 4:30 pm and then use the Economy setting and a 2 hour filter cycle. It will have had time to heat the water back up to the set temp for when you go in at 6 pm. You will/should only have minimal heat loss during that 10 hour period between the end of the last filter cycle and the start of the next filter cycle 10 hours later. The heater should only run for a short period at the start of the cycle to regain the 2 or 3 degrees of heat loss between cycles. If you are losing more temp than that then you either need a new cover on you need to add some rockwool insulation if the spa is poorly insulated from the factory.

C) Turn off any air injection valves when not using. The air injection valves take cooler air from inside the cabinet and inject it into the water having a mild cooling effect even when you are not using it and just running filter cycles.