Can you keep Spa open in winter on a shared system if pool is winterized

[MDpool21]

Not quite that big, but close. This one is 8-9 people. Saw this one in person at a local dealer actually. It made our 6 person one seem tiny!

Executive® | Dimension One Spas

Executive®: The industry's largest and deepest spa. Versatile seating, like the Ultra Therapy Seat™, provides unparalleled head-to-toe hydrotherapy in the Reflections® Collection.

www.d1spas.com

Thank you!

 

[MDpool21]

Everything the OP described is what is currently being built in my backyard right now.
Spa does have a skimmer.
I'd prefer to keep it open in the winter, and my PB has told me that wouldn't be an issue. Cost of gas, would be high no doubt.
My spa is only 6 x 8 and fully in ground detached.
One set of equipment.
I'm told that is not an uncommon setup here in Utah. I imagine that things get colder here than in MD.

So your pool and spa share one set of equipment? Do you have any concern for freezing/bursting pipes in your pool if you keep your spa open all winter but close your pool?

 

[MDpool21]

I was thinking about this last night and I think you can have what you want... I will not be easy to do you just have to do it right..

1. Make your hot tub a stand alone system complete with its own pump, filter, skimmer, and heater.
2. put your pump and all equipment in a heated shed. (you said you have a whole house auto backup generator)
3. your hot tub will be set up like a big pool, just heated with jets.
4. use an electric heater or 2 to keep the temp up to 104 or whatever temp at all times.
5. bury all pipes 6 inches below the normal frost line
6. use some kind of foam or something else for insulation around the hot tub during install to keep heat in and cold out.
7. get a 6 inch custom cover, beyond nice makes custom covers like this.. Oversized Spa Covers | Large Hot Tub Covers | BeyondNice
8. make the hot tub a rectangle not round to be able to have a cover.

In the winter if anything happens and the temp falls below 50 degrees have a way to winterize the system fast.. The problem people in Texas found is it went bad fast and freezes within hours... The more insulation you can have the less it will cost to keep heated...

I grew up in Oregon and they had giant hot tubs like this, they did not have covers.. It was a great big heated hot tub that they kept at 100 degrees at all times so I know it can be done.. I can only imagine the cost to keep it going but it was a very expensive resort..

You could also have a gas heater connected to it, not sure the most efficient way to do it, gas or electric....

This would be the ideal situation, but we unfortunately don’t have room for a second system. But thank you for thinking about it.

 

[MDpool21]

If you are going to go this route the plumbing needs to have a design to completely bypass the pool with double valve isolation. And you need to really learn what is what amd why it is there. If you have an issue PB may not be on call to help.
The larger spas amd swim spas are great, no comparison. My biggest issue with all this is the need to plan use. I have a standalone hot tub, I just got out of it. Had no plan to use it but had a rough day digging a pool amd got beat up. If I had to go outside amd heat the water and wait I'd be asleep already amd said screw it. Not to mention the gas bills

Thank you. I will pass this info onto our PB.

 

[MDpool21]

This would be the ideal situation, but we unfortunately don’t have room for a second system. But thank you for thinking about it.

And thank you for the custom cover link

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Have you ever sat in a concrete spa?? Have you sat in a stand along hot tub?? Apples and Oranges for comfort.

The variety of jets and directed levels are far reaching a world above a cement spa.

The seats alone come in various shapes and loungers in a hot tub make you comfortable, unlike the hard straight cement spa.

Hot tubs for 8-9 are out there..... otherwise that large family will just have to take turns.

Maddie

 

[sl7vk]

So your pool and spa share one set of equipment? Do you have any concern for freezing/bursting pipes in your pool if you keep your spa open all winter but close your pool?

Well, I didn't until I read this thread. My PB has the same setup himself and hasn't had issues.
Now you'll have me nervous.
As far as comfort, jets etc... I'm sure those prefabs are much better. They all look pretty horrible to my eye though. Form over function here for me I'm afraid.

 

[Bensmith82]

Everything the OP described is what is currently being built in my backyard right now.
Spa does have a skimmer.
I'd prefer to keep it open in the winter, and my PB has told me that wouldn't be an issue. Cost of gas, would be high no doubt.
My spa is only 6 x 8 and fully in ground detached.
One set of equipment.
I'm told that is not an uncommon setup here in Utah. I imagine that things get colder here than in MD.

I'd love to hear how things went with winterizing your pool and using the spa through the winter with a shared set of equipment. I live in Utah too and this will be our first winter with a shared set of equipment for pool and spa. Did you have a professional company winterize your pool or did you do it yourself? Any tips for winterizing the pool with the shared equipment?

 

[Bensmith82]

We are building a pool and a separate raised spa that will be located 5 feet from our pool. We had planned on 2 separate systems so we could use the spa all winter and heat both the pool and spa to different temperatures at the same time during the spring and fall. However, due to the extra space required for a second system, our pool builder suggested we use a shared system (gas heater).
He said we could winterize our pool in October/November and keep just our spa open all winter by putting it in spa mode. Is this true? Are there any problems with doing this? Will winterizing our pool and putting our heater in spa mode prevent all water from going into the pool pipes? I am concerned about freezing pipes. We will be getting a generator for our spa in case the power goes out in the winter.
Are there any other issues I should be aware of with using a shared system where the spa is separate from the pool (so no overflow)?

Also, in the spring/fall if I heat my spa to 100 degrees in spa mode and then switch to pool/spa mode will the temperature of my spa go down (does the cold pool water mix with the hot spa water in pool or pool/spa mode)? Is there any way I won’t have to heat my spa from 80 to 100 every time we want to use the spa. We will cover our pool with an autocover and our spa with a normal cover at night.
I assume I will need to keep our system in pool/spa mode at night to filter and circulate the pool and spa, so I will either have to heat both our pool and spa to 80 degrees through the night or not heat either at all during the night. Either way I assume it will drop my spa temperature a lot each night.

Do they make gas heaters/shared systems where you can heat the pool and spa to different temperatures at the same time?

Thank you in advance for any advice/answers you can give.

So what did you end up doing? Did you install a pool and spa with shared equipment or did you get separate equipment for both the pool and the spa? If you used a shared system, can you share any special steps you took when winterizing your pool? Maybe you left the pool open all winter? I have a pool and spa with shared equipment and I want to use the spa through the winter, but I'm not sure what the best approach is to make this happen. Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

The poster in question has not signed on in almost a year.... hopefully he has email notifications that folks are questioning him?