Electric heater for hot tub/spa?

[JamesW]

You have to pay for quality.

I had the leather seats redone in my plane about 5 years ago and I chose the lower grade of leather to save some money.

The problem is that the seats are now faded and the leather is beginning to crack due to sun damage. It looks horrible. I had to put seat covers on the seats last week when I had some guests flying with me to my private island.

Now, I need to have the seats redone.

This time, I will go with premium grade, and do it right.

Sure, I complain when I get the service bill to have a technician flown out from Italy to fix my Ferrari or when I have to pay for port fees for my megayacht, but at the end of the day, if I couldn’t afford these things, I wouldn’t have them.

 

[A.O.]

In your case, perhaps. Some people have to get a service upgrade to have an extra 50 amps to work with. Or maybe the panel is on an interior wall in a finished basement and would need drywall and painting after you run the wire. An extra $1-2k may be "no big deal" to you, but in alot of "grand schemes" it's a huge deal.

Yeah, had access to my pool panel and room in it, $100 for the breaker and another $150 for wire and conduit so maybe $250-$300 not $1-2k, that seems pretty high.

 

[JamesW]

 

[RDspaguy]

Wow.
I serviced all over town, not just the ritzy neighborhoods, and there are many pools and spas out there belonging to people who don't have money lying around and would certainly like to be aware of added expenses they may not have considered before investing in equipment.
Since an 11kw electric heater is quite a bit less than a gas heater, I assume the OP is trying to save some $ by switching, and needs to know these hidden costs. Or is that not how you guys do business? I would feel I neglected my duties if I sold a customer some equipment without discussing all of the factors first. I don't assume that they must be wealthy and able to shrug off thousands of $ because they own a pool. Maybe that's just me.
And if you think my estimate is high then you have clearly never had major electrical work done by a licensed contractor. That's a fair estimate for a service upgrade, and I see spa wiring jobs run $1k all the time, depending on individual circumstances. Just because you have the electrical setup and skills to do a $300 wiring job does not mean everyone else does, and many places require a licensed contractor to do this work, so diy is not an option if you want to continue to legally occupy your home.
You guys can offer whatever advice you like, but don't criticize me for doing my best to help someone. It seems that my profession has a bad reputation here on TFP, and I suspect that the attitude of "they can afford it" might be a big part of the reason. I help people make informed decisions before they buy, whatever their (real or imagined) financial situation. I certainly have no personal stake in what type of heater the OP decides to get, so am not trying to convince him one way or the other. Just pointing out the variables in the equation that are considered negligible by the other posters in this thread.

 

[JamesW]

I agree that the customer should be fully informed about all initial and operational cost for all options.

Electrical costs can indeed add up and they are a legitimate consideration.

 

[A.O.]

Wow.
I serviced all over town, not just the ritzy neighborhoods, and there are many pools and spas out there belonging to people who don't have money lying around and would certainly like to be aware of added expenses they may not have considered before investing in equipment.
Since an 11kw electric heater is quite a bit less than a gas heater, I assume the OP is trying to save some $ by switching, and needs to know these hidden costs. Or is that not how you guys do business? I would feel I neglected my duties if I sold a customer some equipment without discussing all of the factors first. I don't assume that they must be wealthy and able to shrug off thousands of $ because they own a pool. Maybe that's just me.
And if you think my estimate is high then you have clearly never had major electrical work done by a licensed contractor. That's a fair estimate for a service upgrade, and I see spa wiring jobs run $1k all the time, depending on individual circumstances. Just because you have the electrical setup and skills to do a $300 wiring job does not mean everyone else does, and many places require a licensed contractor to do this work, so diy is not an option if you want to continue to legally occupy your home.
You guys can offer whatever advice you like, but don't criticize me for doing my best to help someone. It seems that my profession has a bad reputation here on TFP, and I suspect that the attitude of "they can afford it" might be a big part of the reason. I help people make informed decisions before they buy, whatever their (real or imagined) financial situation. I certainly have no personal stake in what type of heater the OP decides to get, so am not trying to convince him one way or the other. Just pointing out the variables in the equation that are considered negligible by the other posters in this thread.

I apologize! I did not mean to degrade what you do or the prices you claim it should cost, they are most likely spot on. My intent came out a bit skewed!! And yes not everyone can perform this task on their own or have the place set up for this type of addition in advance. I've lived in many places and not one would not let me do my own wiring on my own place legally, I'm sure there are those places also and just glad I've never found one.
Again sorry if I came off a little harsh or something. You do a valuable service that's for sure!
Scott

 

[ajw22]

Note that the OPs mothers pool/spa that is under discussion already has a 400K NG heater. So NG service is already installed and operational.

If serious consideration is being made to change to an electrical heater then the first thing to determine is what electrical limitations they have in the house, the power that can be dedicated to the heater, and the costs involved. I think the OP already determined that the electrical demands were not feasible.

 

[JamesW]

Gas might be the best solution.

Since it's a hot tub, they can go to a smaller than 400k btu/hr heater.

 

[pool2905]

I have convinced her on a gas since we have the hookup and electric would take forever to heat up. When I asked what was the issue with the broken one, she had no idea that she could get it fixed lol. So that's the next course of action and if it needs to be replaced it will be. She's always assumed the issue was with my dad winterizing the pool himself. The times it's been broken, it worked up until the fall then come spring when it was time to open the pool, it wouldn't work.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[JamesW]

The times it's been broken, it worked up until the fall then come spring when it was time to open the pool, it wouldn't work.

Maybe dad didn't want to use the heater and it mysteriously "broke"?

"Gee, I don't know what happened to it. I would really like to run it, but it won't start".

 

[ajw22]

Once you open the pool this year and try and run the heater let us know what it does and post some pics of it and we will give you some help with it.