What Happens If You Lose Power In The Winter?

[Parafly9]

Just curiuos - if we lose power this winter, what happens? Does the tub stay warm for along enough time with its own insulation; or will I have serious problems? In other words, if power is down for, say, 24 hours, wll the tub be OK?

Thanks for the advice

[JohnInSJ]

I lived in New England (the New Hampshire side of MA) for 7 years. Here's my thinking

* if it's -10, and the power's out for 12+ hours, you'd probably want to think hard about draining the tub while the water was still water and not ice.

* if it's just somewhere near freezing, you could probably go a day, or possibly two, before you'd want to consider draining

* burying the sucker in snow (if present) would probably buy you another couple days, assuming it was foam filled. After all, snow doesn't get any colder then 32.

I live in CA now, this is thankfully not my problem. When I lived in the sticks of MA we would sometimes have killer winter storms and power would go out for 3-6 *days* - took that long to cut thru the deadfall and get the powerlines back up. Our house was on a well and had oil heat. No power == no water, no heat. Fun! We could (barely) keep the whole house in the 40s with two woodstoves and a fireplace, and about a 1/8th of a cord of wood - really wish I had popped for that gas generator.

[Trigger]

[/i]

We could (barely) keep the whole house in the 40s with two woodstoves and a fireplace, and about a 1/8th of a cord of wood - really wish I had popped for that gas generator.

[/i]

I kept my house toasty warm with one woodstove and 4 cords of wood. (Central MA).

IF the power goes out, most tubs are fine for 24 hours. After that it could get dicey. The better insualted tubs will go for a few days, but more than that ...

However, how many days do you loose power, and for how long? If you are "out there" I'd invest in a generator.

If any dealer tells you their tub will last in freezing temps for more than 4 days, I'd have them put it in writing.

[ciderjack]

If your tub goes down in the winter, DO NOT DRAIN IT. Cover up any vents with a heavy blanket and do not open the cover. This should keep most tubs for a day or two. Unless something actually breaks, tubs can be thawed very easily if you know what you are doing.

[104 Degrees]

I not only have wrapped my tub for this reson, i have a tent of sorts with a small Kerosun heater that will keep it from freezing.

Just set the alarm clock for every two hours to keep your eye on it.

[JohnInSJ]

Is it just not possible to fully drain before it freezes? I'm just wondering, not facing freezing temps any more, and when I did live there my tub was inside the house (yeah, I was a wuss... woulda never used it if it was outside - used to LOVE plowing the driveway with the ol' tractor, throwing off the ice station zebra suit and hopping into the tub to thaw out!)

[104 Degrees]

104 degrees will heat you inside or out

[soakerman]

My tub went for two days without power in 17 degree weather and I was nervous but it never did freeze and this is the Costco spa everyone loves to bash so I bet a "high end" spa would last a week! Just kidding.

[New NW tub owner]

quote name='Parafly9' date='Jun 11 2007, 11:02 AM' post='28366'

Just curiuos - if we lose power this winter, what happens? Does the tub stay warm for along enough time with its own insulation; or will I have serious problems? In other words, if power is down for, say, 24 hours, wll the tub be OK?

Thanks for the advice

I had a 6-day power outage last winter with the temps in the 20s. I just monitored the tub water temp every day. If it had gotten down to the mid-40s I would have drained the tub but it never got below the mid-60s. When the power came back, I shocked and chlorinated and jumped in as soon as the temp was up. I think draining the tub is a last resort because it's hard to get all of the water out of all of the lines at the low points without power and if you miss one spot that freezes, then there's a leak to come. The manual says to use a shop vac to blow water out of the lines, I think, but that would be difficult to do without power. The best protection for the tub is to keep the water in, as long as the water doesn't get too cold, and then the water acts as a big thermal mass to moderate the temp in the cabinet.

[flibotte]

I refuse to believe that ANY tub in 20 degree weather would be in the mid 60s after 6 days without power. I'm surprised we haven't heard of this amazing feat before.

[New NW tub owner]

quote name='flibotte' date='Jun 13 2007, 09:19 AM' post='28546'

I refuse to believe that ANY tub in 20 degree weather would be in the mid 60s after 6 days without power. I'm surprised we haven't heard of this amazing feat before.

No idea. That's about 7 degrees F per day or about 19,000 Btu or about 6 kwh per day. I'm not sure if you're saying that's way too much heat loss or way too little but either way you're wrong.

[Trigger]

How does converting temp loss to thermal units support your statement?

I bought a wide screen tv for $50. Thats 500 dimes or 66. 6 libyan dinars.

[104 Degrees]

Trigger

Will a full foam tub be able to do that??? hows the new baby!!Nice pics

John 104 Degrees

[Trigger]

Trigger

Will a full foam tub be able to do that??? hows the new baby!!Nice pics

John 104 Degrees

[/1]

Do what? Lose only 35 degrees over 6 days in 20 degree temperature?

No.

And I tell you NW tub didn't either.

I am inclined to beliver that his average ambient temperature was significantly higher than 20 and that and his statement is just a *bit* misleading.

[104 Degrees]

Thanks. i thought so.

[New NW tub owner]

quote name='Trigger' date='Jun 13 2007, 10:41 AM' post='28553'

Trigger

Will a full foam tub be able to do that??? hows the new baby!!Nice pics

John 104 Degrees

Do what? Lose only 35 degrees over 6 days in 20 degree temperature?

No.

So Trigger, just out of curiouslity, what would you expect the temperature of your full-foam tub to be after 6 days of no power?

[Trigger]

I have no idea. I do know that the coefficent of heat transmission through high density foam is a lot lower than that of a wood skirt.

So, for the record, you are saying that your hot tub sat in 20 degree F temp for 144 hours and lost only 35 degrees, do I have that right?

Or do you want to amend your statment?

[New NW tub owner]

quote name='Trigger' date='Jun 13 2007, 11:04 AM' post='28556'

I have no idea.

Well, you've pointed to my observation and disparaged it but you have not offered an observation of your own. You must have at least some opinion about what the 'right' number would be based on your own experience so share with us here what that would be.

[Trigger]

Well, you've pointed to my observation and disparaged it but you have not offered an observation of your own. You must have at least some opinion about what the 'right' number would be based on your own experience so share with us here what that would be.

eight. the answer is eight. Ok?

Now, are you saying your hot tub lost power and sat in 20 degree F weather for 144 hours (no wind) and lost only 35 degrees?

Is that what you are telling us?

[New NW tub owner]

quote name='Trigger' date='Jun 13 2007, 11:23 AM' post='28559'

eight. the answer is eight. Ok?

Eight? Eight what? Here's the question again: "what would you expect the temperature of your full-foam tub to be after 6 days of no power?"

You must at least have some opinion on this, based on your comments. What is it?

[flibotte]

I don't have any experience with tubs going without electrity that long. Mine has lost electricity for a couple of hours at the most but I simply refuse to believe that ANY tub could be 65 degrees without any power for 6 days in 20 degree weather. I don't care about btus and kwhs, common sense tells me that isn't possible. I seriously question your credibility.

[Spamaster101]

I tested my spa a few years back at average of temperature of 15 degrees for heat loss over a 24 hour period. I hooked up a thermocouple so I would not open the cover.

The tub is full foam.

It lost 2.9 degrees F.

I did the same test on my buddies thermopane spa (not full foam) and it lost 9.6 degrees F.

[Trigger]

Humor is lost on you NW. I was being sarcastic, as you seem to be turning the topic around, and not answering a direct question to you about a very interesting statement you made. ( I also think thought it was laughable that you try to turn it around on me not answering question. Nice try.)

Are you saying that your hot tub sat in 22 degree weather for 144 hours and lost only 35 degrees? Is that your statement?

To make you happy, Id say it would be closer to 22 than 60. I'd lose my tub.

And I know you would too.

Care to amend your statment? Or once again do you want to toss out outrageous statments that you pull out your butt to validate your purchase?

[Flyonthewall]

Aren't there any thermo-nuclear engineers out there? we won't ask to see your transcripts.

[Trigger]

Aren't there any thermo-nuclear engineers out there? we won't ask to see your transcripts.

Thermo nuclerar engineers? What is the heat source for your tub? A nuclear explosion?

I'm not a thermal nuclear engineer, but we don't need to be one:

The temperatue difference between the inside of the tub and outside world and BTU's per hour is a factor of area x heat difference divided by the R value = BTU's. So no matter what, the tub that has a higer R factor will loose less BTUs.