in-ground spa: any $ savings with a cover? what to get?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
S

socrates

0
LifeTime Supporter
Mar 7, 2012
42
I have an in-ground spa built into a cement pool deck, next to the pool. I know that rigid covers are commonly used with standalone spas. Question: are there any dollar savings to be had by getting some kind of cover for an in-ground spa?

I have seen floating bubble-wrap "covers", and I've seen thicker closed-cell floating covers on in-ground spas. No idea if any of this is useful. An in-ground spa is probably not as well insulated as a standalone spa.

What kind of covers do people commonly use for in-ground spas, if any? What do you recommend?

Thanks!
 
I can tell you emphatically, without a cover in a concrete hot tub, you will lose a LOT of heat. I spend about $30-60 per month keeping my hot tub running full-time at 70 degrees during the winter. Without the cover, I would just quickly guess and say it would probably run near 5-6 times that not to incude the amount of water needed that evaporates each day.

I've got a 4" insulated cover that folds over on my hot tub. Never used the bubble wrap, but it would be better than leaving the water exposed. I would highly recommend an insulated cover.
 
Thanks folks. I'm looking for a source for a cover. Here's one on eBay, but it doesn't look very thick:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/INSULATING-THER ... 4ab4e972e8

I'm having trouble finding sources for floating covers for in-ground spas -- there really isn't a lot of discussion about it on the web.

I have a of large-bubble wrap left over from my move. I suppose I could hack something together using that. Would prefer something a little more finished, though!
 
Floating cover is not required, XsAllOverIt. A cover like yours would work fine. Mine needs to be round -- looking around online, I've been finding mostly square ones, for square standalone spas. My inground spa is connected via a spillover to the pool -- see attached. What would be a good source for such a cover and what should I expect to pay?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_4783 (1024x683).jpg
    IMG_4783 (1024x683).jpg
    184.4 KB · Views: 279
Mine has a very small spillover also. Not sure how the cover would support itself on your spa unless you would some kind of supports between the spillover and the cover? I'm not sure how much mine cost or where they got it. I got it when the pool was built, but I can tell you, it retains a LOT of heat during the winter. It will normally take 3-4 days to go from 100 to 70 in 20-30 degree weather. Where are you located? Is it cold? Your pool is obviously open.
 
XsAllOverIt said:
I'm not sure how much mine cost or where they got it. I got it when the pool was built, but I can tell you, it retains a LOT of heat during the winter. It will normally take 3-4 days to go from 100 to 70 in 20-30 degree weather. Where are you located? Is it cold? Your pool is obviously open.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'd like a hard cover like yours, assuming I can find the right price and it can be made to fit my tub/spillover. Mine is about 7.5 feet in diameter. I'm located near Sacramento, California. Pool stays open year 'round, the weather here is very nice IMHO. Wintertime nighttime temps can approach freezing, days are anywhere from the high 50s to the high 70s right now. If I had my druthers we would keep the hot tub hot all of the time and I'd be using it just about nightly.

We only bought the house late last year and I only fixed the hot tub pump late last week, so this is new to me.

If I could figure out a way to cover and waterproof it, I reckon I could McGuyver something together using rigid foam insulation, a foam cutting wire or knife, a potter's wheel and/or good old Yankee ingenuity. However my understanding is that rigid insulation is open cell and will quickly become waterlogged if not properly covered.

In the meantime, I have ordered one of those blue bubble-wrap floating covers and a 1/4" closed cell cover. If anyone has leads on something more rigid that would suit our needs, I'd love to hear about it!
 
I would certainly think you could put a cover like mine on your hot tub if you use some rocks/bricks on the side with the overflow to hold the cover in place. My cover wouldn't work if it got wet. Did a search on google and the few places I looked for spa cover, they had circular covers. Mine is an 8' radius also. I fold mine over twice and usually leave it in place. We use ours about 1-2 times weekly all winter. I keep my hot tub at 70 degrees full-time. I have a 400BTU gas heater and it takes approx. 10 minutes to get it to 90 when we go in and another 5 minutes to get it to 100. I think I save significantly on heating costs by keeping it at 70 degrees due to the fact that it's used infrequently.
 
I have a hard top cover for an inground spa... Round. I think I paid about $600.
It doesnt fold and it has a cut-out section for the spill-over.

But I wouldnt recommend it to anyone because it doesnt fold. Its enormous and I never have any place to put the thing. If I could get the exact same thing as a fold up, it would be awesome.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply