Anyone Ever Bought an Electronic Lift Cover?

[jseyfert3]

Something like this:

We were at the spa dealer the other day getting filters, and this caught my eye. I asked for a demo, and they raised it up. They had a filled and heated spa under it. What really caught my eye was the seal. Not only does it have a rigid roof that looks like it would last a really long time, but being hard molded plastic just like the tub, there is a custom applied gasket that makes an air-tight seal around the top of your spa to the lid. Given how I've noticed our bowed cover (probably time for a new one) has steam coming out the edges and making icicles off the cover lockdown straps, this seemed like a good way to reduce standby losses.

They have roll-up privacy shades on the sides. You can either manually drop them or leave them down and they unroll automatically when the roof is lifted. Great for privacy. There's also color LEDs in the roof for extra lighting.

Of course it's not cheap...$7k, roughly. On the flip side it will never become waterlogged, though it has a lot of moving parts that likely will require maintenance. They do claim it can operate in winter with their optional winter leg sealing kit.

 

[PoolBrews]

Although it may not have all the bells and whistles of the high end models, check out the Tuff Spa line of spas (Tuff Spas | Tuff Top Spa Cover | Hot Tubs | Jacuzzi). The cover is guaranteed for life, is connected to the spa, and works extremely well! This is our 4th spa we have owned over 30 years, and while it does not have all the bells and whistles of my last two spas had, it does what we need, and the cover is fantastic!

On my previous spas, I generally had to replace the cover every 3-5 years. They sag, get saturated over time, and start to break down. While this spa may not be for you, the entire spa costs less than the cover you are looking at.

They have a video somewhere where they push one of these spas down a hill. It slides, then tumbles and rolls. And it still works when they test it! The other thing I liked is that they use standard components for everything - no custom spare parts. If anything needs replacing you can get it online from any standard spa parts warehouse.

We have had ours for 4 years now - zero issues so far.

 

[jseyfert3]

Those are nice covers. Too bad they don't sell them as retrofit covers for other spas. I wonder if someone else makes a similar cover.

Our spa is very nice ($7k when they bought it in 2008), I think it would be hard to consider downgrading size/jets after we've experienced this, nice as those Tuff Spa covers are.