My hot tub uses 49% of my electricity per month...lets fix that.

[gotbeans]

That is what he was saying because summer gets to 119F here it being drained might cause it to leak because dries out. I haven't had that issue with it we had a pump go out and the control board died 3 times. I'm not sinking any more money into it if it dies give it away first who hauls it away. Lots of them in FB marketplace, or CL for free all the time here. People buy them don't realize how much work it is keeping the chemicals perfect and draining refilling. They leave them full of nasty water all summer turn green eventually just want it gone. The cost to have it wired into the house is also not cheap I did it myself I know a co-worker who spent $2500 for a contractor to run wire underground. He put in a 16-person hot tub cost him almost $20k I told him he was nuts in AZ just sit in the pool 92F water in the summer.

Yep had one 20 years ago massive pain in the ass. That's why I went with a stock tank build. Also can rotate water through UV lamp for well pumps that kills bacteria and don't eve need chlorine in it. IDC about PH either anymore.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/countyline-oval-galvanized-stock-tank-3-ft-w-x-8-ft-l-x-2-ft-h-300-gal-capacity

holy shit that is a lot to run some wire, but 16 person damn!
if it's just you two I recommend going stock tank, there are a million videos on youtube too. I'd went with the oval one above, 8ft by 3ft wide by 2 deep is massive. It is nice to sit across from each other. Circle one is kinda dumb imo

 

[Danke]

Anyone use salt water instead of chemicals for their hot tubs?

 

[gotbeans]

Anyone use salt water instead of chemicals for their hot tubs?

salt water hot tubs / pools still require chlorine =[

 

[Crowz]

salt water hot tubs / pools still require chlorine =[

All the ones around here are using salt to replace adding chlorine.

 

[gotbeans]

All the ones around here are using salt to replace adding chlorine.

How does the system work? All salt systems I've ever seen just have way less chlorine but still have it.
Only way I've seen to get rid of it entirely is to use UV sterilization like usually used on well systems. Lots of Europe does it to clean drinking water too. Which is why I made my own to do that for my tiny tub

 

[Crowz]

Salt water chlorination is a process that uses dissolved salt for the chlorination of swimming pools and hot tubs. The chlorine generator uses electrolysis in the presence of dissolved salt to produce chlorine gas or its dissolved forms, hypochlorous acid and sodium hypochlorite, which are already commonly used as sanitizing agents in pools.

 

[Crowz]

The only drawback with the salt method is it EATS anything that isn't plastic/coated metal.

 

[gotbeans]

Salt water chlorination is a process that uses dissolved salt for the chlorination of swimming pools and hot tubs. The chlorine generator uses electrolysis in the presence of dissolved salt to produce chlorine gas or its dissolved forms, hypochlorous acid and sodium hypochlorite, which are already commonly used as sanitizing agents in pools.

yea so still chlorine in the water, still easy to test and see it has it. People that get rashes from chlorine get less of a rash but still get one. Chlorine tablets also produce chlorine gas in the water

yea salt would be even worse in my stock tank. chlorine also eats the zinc off the galvanized steel but a lot slower.

 

[time2roll]

salt water hot tubs / pools still require chlorine =[

Salt pools also get a chlorine generator. Guess what salt is made of? Anyway the generator separates the ions and suddenly there is active chlorine. Then muriatic acid is needed to balance the pH as chlorine is used up. It is quite a chemistry project.

 

[Balrog006]

So a few years ago, I bought an old broken down hot tub for $300 and restored it to working order. This took me about 2 months since all the frame wood was rotten and all of the jets were leaking. I re-sealed everything, rebuilt the 2 main motors and added an additional circulation pump for heating. I also bought a brand new control module with a 5.5 kw electric heater.

Fast forward to September 2023 and I have installed a 5kw solar system with a 30kWh battery that is working amazing. Here is the graph of my solar / consumption:

View attachment 182668

My hot tub heats 10-11 times per day using avg 6100w for 20 mins each time. This ends up being about 21.9kWh per day, 657kWh per month. This is nuts...I know people on this forum say that a hot tub really drains the power but I had no idea!

My solution was to purchase a natural gas tankless water heater off of craigslist (cost me $100) and use that in place of the electric heater currently in use:
View attachment 182669
I tested it and it seems to be heating properly up to 140 degrees.

22kw a day!?!?!? That’s just nuts. Is there a setting on the controller to put it into economy or power save mode, out of its standard mode for heating?

I have a 330gal 6 person Viking and its balboa controller has a standard mode that I assume is a lot like what yours is running. We keep it in the EC mode though, where it only heats the water 2X a day on a 12 hour schedule. I have it set for 8 o’clock, so at 8 am it runs and heats and filters (2 hours of low speed filtering) and uses at most 6kWH. And then again at 8pm it runs again and is ready for when we usually take our dips in it about 9 pm. It runs the same and uses about the same. These are winter numbers, where the ambient is sometimes down in the teens but usually 20-30f. In the summer it’s the same schedule but it only used 3-4 kWH each cycle. This also avoids the Peak Use Charge times of 2-7pm in the summer

For the winter at my rates the extreme max of 15kWH would be a little over $2 a day, in the summer it’s less than $1.

 

[gotbeans]

22kw a day!?!?!? That’s just nuts. Is there a setting on the controller to put it into economy or power save mode, out of its standard mode for heating?

I have a 330gal 6 person Viking and its balboa controller has a standard mode that I assume is a lot like what yours is running. We keep it in the EC mode though, where it only heats the water 2X a day on a 12 hour schedule. I have it set for 8 o’clock, so at 8 am it runs and heats and filters (2 hours of low speed filtering) and uses at most 6kWH. And then again at 8pm it runs again and is ready for when we usually take our dips in it about 9 pm. It runs the same and uses about the same. These are winter numbers, where the ambient is sometimes down in the teens but usually 20-30f. In the summer it’s the same schedule but it only used 3-4 kWH each cycle. This also avoids the Peak Use Charge times of 2-7pm in the summer

For the winter at my rates the extreme max of 15kWH would be a little over $2 a day, in the summer it’s less than $1.

It's all about the tubs insulation and how the top is designed (more insulation!) too.

It's ugly but the best thing to do is just buy a lot of foamular insulation and wrap stuff.
(It is resistant to basically everything)
Only home depot sells it (several sizes):

Owens Corning FOAMULAR 150 2 in. x 4 ft. x 8 ft. R-10 Unfaced Squared Edge Insulation Sheathing 6W - The Home Depot

FOAMULAR Extruded Polystyrene (XPS) Rigid Foam Insulation offers a comprehensive product line of insulation boards in a wide choice of sizes, thicknesses and edges with a Lifetime Limited Warranty for

www.homedepot.com

One old tub we had we had 6 inches around it and then laid brick around the outside of the tub which made it look nice

 

[k490]

Yep had one 20 years ago massive pain in the ass. That's why I went with a stock tank build. Also can rotate water through UV lamp for well pumps that kills bacteria and don't eve need chlorine in it. IDC about PH either anymore.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/countyline-oval-galvanized-stock-tank-3-ft-w-x-8-ft-l-x-2-ft-h-300-gal-capacity

holy shit that is a lot to run some wire, but 16 person damn!
if it's just you two I recommend going stock tank, there are a million videos on youtube too. I'd went with the oval one above, 8ft by 3ft wide by 2 deep is massive. It is nice to sit across from each other. Circle one is kinda dumb imo

This one has two 5.5KW heaters 11KW of heating cost $30 a day to run.

 

[gotbeans]

20k too.. damn man
I'm pushing $800 on my tub with all the insulation I put on and already concerned the price is too high lol

 

[Balrog006]

It's all about the tubs insulation and how the top is designed (more insulation!) too.

It's ugly but the best thing to do is just buy a lot of foamular insulation and wrap stuff.
(It is resistant to basically everything)
Only home depot sells it (several sizes):

Owens Corning FOAMULAR 150 2 in. x 4 ft. x 8 ft. R-10 Unfaced Squared Edge Insulation Sheathing 6W - The Home Depot

FOAMULAR Extruded Polystyrene (XPS) Rigid Foam Insulation offers a comprehensive product line of insulation boards in a wide choice of sizes, thicknesses and edges with a Lifetime Limited Warranty for

www.homedepot.com

One old tub we had we had 6 inches around it and then laid brick around the outside of the tub which made it look nice

I need an arctic cover for this one, it’s fairly new and haven’t sprung for it yet. I have packed much of the free space inside it with more insulation and spray foamed all the joints.

Hadn’t considered sitting it in a bathtub of more insulation ?

 

[Balrog006]

This one has two 5.5KW heaters 11KW of heating cost $30 a day to run.

That’s a big one. Mine is pretty standard and it has a 5kW heating element and 2 240v pumps.

 

[gotbeans]

I need an arctic cover for this one, it’s fairly new and haven’t sprung for it yet. I have packed much of the free space inside it with more insulation and spray foamed all the joints.

Hadn’t considered sitting it in a bathtub of more insulation ?

More insulation is like more solar panels.. it's an addiction
The foamular holds up good against chlorine fumes etc it is a decent top on a hot tub. If you coat it somehow even better but yea it's pretty strong and easy to work with.
If you plan to use it get https://www.amazon.com/Double-Japanese-Flexible-Cutting-Woodworking/dp/B0BTBDX427/ to cut it. It's better than hot knife, sawzaw, hacksaw, wood knife, circular saw, etc. I've used every saw and these are the best, probably cuz the blade is so thin... cuz hacksaw is second best but have to use the blade only since the top part is too fat

 

[Tripplett]

Like someone else said my Watkins Hot Spring hot tub has a small 120v circulation pump that runs all the time. It’s much more efficient than the tubs that fire up the large 220v pumps hourly for circulation.
Also getting a quality cover can make a huge difference. If your cover is over 5 yrs old and is heavy (soaked with moisture) it’s time to replace it.

 

[Balrog006]

Like someone else said my Watkins Hot Spring hot tub has a small 120v circulation pump that runs all the time. It’s much more efficient than the tubs that fire up the large 220v pumps hourly for circulation.
Also getting a quality cover can make a huge difference. If your cover is over 5 yrs old and is heavy (soaked with moisture) it’s time to replace it.

Mine fires up one of its 240v pumps to circulate and for the cleaning cycles- but only at a low speed. Under low loads and speeds 240v motors are more efficient than 120v ones pushed.

 

[S Davis]

So a few years ago, I bought an old broken down hot tub for $300 and restored it to working order. This took me about 2 months since all the frame wood was rotten and all of the jets were leaking. I re-sealed everything, rebuilt the 2 main motors and added an additional circulation pump for heating. I also bought a brand new control module with a 5.5 kw electric heater.

Fast forward to September 2023 and I have installed a 5kw solar system with a 30kWh battery that is working amazing. Here is the graph of my solar / consumption:

View attachment 182668

My hot tub heats 10-11 times per day using avg 6100w for 20 mins each time. This ends up being about 21.9kWh per day, 657kWh per month. This is nuts...I know people on this forum say that a hot tub really drains the power but I had no idea!

My solution was to purchase a natural gas tankless water heater off of craigslist (cost me $100) and use that in place of the electric heater currently in use:
View attachment 182669
I tested it and it seems to be heating properly up to 140 degrees.

It is not going to like the chemicals, they will eat the heat exchanger. Also those units are designed for a 60-70 degree heat rise through the unit, when feeding it with already heated water it will probably cycle on and off repeatedly as it hits its high limit. Will it work? probably but not well.

 

[Donny Hucklebuck]

Mine fires up one of its 240v pumps to circulate and for the cleaning cycles- but only at a low speed. Under low loads and speeds 240v motors are more efficient than 120v ones pushed.

My tub has the small circulation pump but it is 230v, so it must be more efficient than a small 120v pump or doing what your doing,
i did some research on tubs, watched some YouTube vids, one gentleman claimed running the bigger pump works better for keeping the water clean than having a small one running 24/7 which makes sense. On an other note get ready for big gov pushing, making people install new more expensive variable speed pool pumps. It’s kind of the same argument running a high amp motor 6 hours of the day or the big variable speed that can run at low rpm 24/7 apparently using less energy. Some guys say it doesn’t keep the water filtered enough, so you have to eventually run them at higher speeds anyway