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Hot tub venting - Winter


Mykkah

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Hey guys,

 

Quick question on hot tub venting... I just finished rebuilding a viking heritage hot tub which included stripping all the foam off the shell and rebuilding the cabinet from the ground up. To reinstate I wasn't about to spray foam it again so instead I used rigid foam board on the outside. I haven't cut in vents yet as we're headed in to winter and I plan on using it year round so the question is this. I know cabinets need to be vented in order to protect the motors, but in 30 degree and below weather would it hurt to leave it unvented until spring - especially considering the shell doesn't have spray foam anymore?

 

Would love to know your thoughts on this!

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Nice job, OP.  You even did the bottom and added new plywood, that looks great.  I skinned the sides last fall with my new-to-me Dynasty. The photo is small, but I also trimmed out the bottom platform with aluminum trim to dress up the old, rodent chewed lumber. 

The enclosure has existing vents on the controller/motor side, and I had good intentions to box out the motor so only it was exposed to the venting (haven't done that yet).  So the vents are currently a short circuit in the thermal envelope, like leaving a house window open in the winter.

CanadianSpaTech, I think you are right that the vents aren't needed - I'm gonna block them this winter. I have a remote temperature monitor that I can put in the enclosure and will keep an eye on it. Thanks for your post.

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 11/19/2022 at 12:14 PM, Couch67 said:

CanadianSpaTech, I think you are right that the vents aren't needed

Your situation might be different. Most older Dynasty Spas have a thick coating of foam on the shell and might not have as much open space to dissipate the heat. There are adjustable vents on the market that can be opened and closed depending on the season. The OP's spa has no foam on the shell and can dissipate heat into the water where if yours has a layer of thick foam it may not. A pump running for a 2 hour filter cycle might generate around 160 degrees. 

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Thanks for the heads up, @CanadianSpaTech.  I did block the vents for the winter. While I havent put the remote monitor in the cabinet (it isnt strong enough to send the signal to the house), I have checked the temperature with an IR thermometer when I first opened up the panels a few times. 40 and 45 deg C, although I don't know how long the pump had been running so that will be important for me to test next time I plan to open the cab.

I don't think it would be that difficult to box in the motor and just vent the box, so I will put that on the spring list. 

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