Hot tub running costs

[dunginhawk]

Good morning.
I had a question regarding the price to keep a hot tub running, electricity wise.
Now I understand there are a lot of factors including
- Temperature of hot tub water
- Temperature of ambient air
- Electricity Costs
- How often you use it (thus losing heat)
- Pump run time (longer for SWG etc)
- If you drained/filled that month.
- How much insulation, and what kind is in your hot tub.

Im sure there are others, but im fairly new at this.
I am more trying to figure out if my electrical bill is on par, or too high...
I may 7cents per KW hour. Last month I used just over 1000kw on the hot tub circuit (its a dedicated meter only for hot tub, currently).
My bill was $110. That counts a minimum 10$ service charge etc that have to come on a meter.
I keep my tub about 103-104 and use it probably 5-7 times per week for 20-45 minutes.
I run my pumps 8 hours per day for the SWG to work properly.
I live in Iowa where the avg temp last month was about 32 degrees. Its about to get REAL cold soon (-20) so im sure that will be brutal.

Just curious if those numbers are in line for what other folks might expect from their hot tub?

Thanks

 

[Jimrahbe]

dih,

I think location is probably the driving factor here...

I live in a much warmer area and estimate my tub costs me about $25 bucks a month on average. We use it everyday and I open the cover a couple of times a week to let it vent for a couple of hours. Mine runs at 95 degrees when not in use and ramps up to 104 just before we normally go in.

Even in the winter it will often get hotter than 95 just because of the sun on the cover and the fact that my small circulation pump runs 247..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Like Jim said - "Location, location, location..."

Is it a standalone tub or built into a deck? Can you insulate it any better - some people add standard wall insulation to the inside of the panels. Does it have a solid, insulated cover (the big hefty ones)?

Check your stand-by temp/ When no one is in the tub, it should be running 92-95F. If it's running hotter than that when no one is in the tub, you are just wasting electricity.

 

[BMK]

One of the most important but overlooked aspect with a new tub is the type and quality of the insulation. Some are made so that cold temps dont faze it at all while some other manufacturers scrimp in that department to lower costs. So the first thing I would do is take stock of your cover and insulation and beef them up if necessary.
When you say you run the pumps 8 hours a day, do you mean just the circulation pump is on or do you mean the jet pumps?
I'm assuming you mean just circulation, but if your jet pumps are on for 8 hours a day, that would certainly explain your high electric bill (plus a pretty high PH count I'd guess).
I agree that keeping the water temp at 104 all the time probably wastes electricity.
We keep ours at about 96-98 in the winter. With current evening air temps below freezing, the water temp is so much higher than the ambient temps, I doubt we'd even notice the difference if the water temp was several degrees hotter.

 

[dunginhawk]

So I dont know if I have a standby setting... I probably do, I can research that...
During the week it only gets use at 6pm or 11pm. Weekends, kind of hit or miss.
How long does it usually take to come up from 95 - 104?

Insulation is pretty good... Yes I have a very heavy cover... I feel like the tub is pretty efficient, im just running 104 100% of the time.
It is a standalone tub.
The pump that runs 4 hours x 2 per day is just the low speed on one of the pumps... for the SWG.

Part of me says If i put it in standby mode (if i have that option) it might save me 25-40 bucks a month, which isnt nothing , but for the 6 months its cold, thats not a big chunk of change...

I wasnt necessarily complaining about the bill. I thought it was fairly average for its use, temp etc. If it was 200$ a month that would be panic time...

 

[jmfeyzi]

I'm in Wisconsin. Don't have a dedicated hot tub meter, but I checked my electricity usage last month and compared it to the same month a year before (no hot tub then) and found it was approx 800 kWhs more, so pretty much in the same ballpark you're seeing. I think we probably have similar weather to you in Iowa. I have a pretty thick cover, and was keeping the temp at 104 (actual temp in tub was a bit lower, though,if measured by a floating thermometer, more like 100). There is a circ pump that runs 24/7.

We are also experiencing extreme temps. I've turned the tub down to 85 and don't plan to use it for the next few days because it's going to be way too cold out. The high on Wednesday is supposed to be -15F, with overnight lows of -26. Yikes!

 

[dunginhawk]

Im keeping mine going may cost me another 20 bucks to use it for 2 days, but I love that frigid run across frozen ground I actually like making ice mohawks with wet hair too... Yep, you guessed it, im 41 years old haha