Buying a house with a standalone spa January 31st. Plan is to use it pretty much year-round (except super hot summer days). Not sure the model, but it seems to be a "typical" standalone spa, 5 person, 240 volt. Connected to a 50 amp breaker. I'll know more details at the end of the month when we close and I inspect the spa in detail and get it running.
I know these are pretty well insulated. What's the typical energy usage (kWh/month) of these? Would there be a potential savings in modding in a gas spa heater instead of using the electric heater?
Our current utility rates, including all distribution fees and taxes, but excluding fixed monthly customer costs, are:
I suppose this also makes more sense if I would already have a gas heater for a pool, but at this point I doubt I'd want to pay to heat our (future) pool, especially as it will be a non-insulated Intex AGP. I think the most I'd want to pay to heat the Intex is solar panels, but we'll see once we get a pool.
P.S. Because I love entertaining various far-fetched ideas, has anyone ever considered using or used domestic solar hot water panels to heat a spa? I'm not talking pool solar heaters, which wouldn't work in the winter, but specifically high quality domestic solar water panels, that can produce domestic hot water on a sunny day when the ambient temp is at or below freezing. This route would use the solar panels when possible, with electric (or gas) heat supplementing as needed. Certainly wouldn't be the easiest project, as you'd need anti-freeze in the panels for nights and sun-less days, with a heat exchanger to transfer heat from the anti-freeze into the spa, a separate pump for the anti-freeze circuit, a control to turn on and off the pump based on spa temp and panel temp, etc. It would be an interesting, math-filled project though, and I do like projects and don't mind math...
I know these are pretty well insulated. What's the typical energy usage (kWh/month) of these? Would there be a potential savings in modding in a gas spa heater instead of using the electric heater?
Our current utility rates, including all distribution fees and taxes, but excluding fixed monthly customer costs, are:
- Electric: $0.12/kWh
- Gas: $0.61/therm, or $0.021/kWh
- Assuming 80% efficient gas heater, and not counting thermal losses pumping through an external gas heater, that would work out to $0.026/kWh for gas heat, or 4.5x cheaper than electric per unit energy
I suppose this also makes more sense if I would already have a gas heater for a pool, but at this point I doubt I'd want to pay to heat our (future) pool, especially as it will be a non-insulated Intex AGP. I think the most I'd want to pay to heat the Intex is solar panels, but we'll see once we get a pool.
P.S. Because I love entertaining various far-fetched ideas, has anyone ever considered using or used domestic solar hot water panels to heat a spa? I'm not talking pool solar heaters, which wouldn't work in the winter, but specifically high quality domestic solar water panels, that can produce domestic hot water on a sunny day when the ambient temp is at or below freezing. This route would use the solar panels when possible, with electric (or gas) heat supplementing as needed. Certainly wouldn't be the easiest project, as you'd need anti-freeze in the panels for nights and sun-less days, with a heat exchanger to transfer heat from the anti-freeze into the spa, a separate pump for the anti-freeze circuit, a control to turn on and off the pump based on spa temp and panel temp, etc. It would be an interesting, math-filled project though, and I do like projects and don't mind math...