We have always wanted a spa, not a huge one just a 2/3 person one would suit.
Anyway what are the monthly energy costs like? From what people have said it varies a lot some have said $30 an month others $80.
Any one care to share what size they have and the costs involved please?

jojo76 - 2021-08-23 23:03:00

Our reasonably new 2- 3 person spa costs $5-$6 a day to run.
I was surprised how much it was .
Bit like a boat, if you’re going to worry about running costs, best not get one.

Edited by traykuku at 2:49 am, Tue 24 Aug

traykuku - 2021-08-24 02:49:00

traykuku wrote:

Our reasonably new 2- 3 person spa costs $5-$6 a day to run.
I was surprised how much it was .
Bit like a boat, if you’re going to worry about running costs, best not get one.

Ouch! I agree though if running costs are a huge concern best steer clear, think ours adds around $100 to the power bill but if I’m honest I haven’t really put much effort into checking, our power bill is significantly more this winter than last, but we also have an additional person in the house so who knows how much is the spa and how much is the son…

rowlf - 2021-08-24 07:56:00

How about just getting a bath tub with spa jets? I have one, mostly used to help the kids have insane bubble baths.
We don't use the water heating function on it, just the jets, and have rheem gas heating for hot water.

melagray - 2021-08-24 08:08:00

we got rid of ours. It was great at first, and we used it often. But then the novelty wore off, and we were just paying for something we weren't using.

Power would be in the vicinity of $50 - $60 a month, but our lid got water logged after a while, which affects how well it insulates, would recommend ensuring this doesnt happen, as it will cost you more to run it

phoenix22 - 2021-08-24 08:17:00

rowlf wrote:

Ouch! I agree though if running costs are a huge concern best steer clear, think ours adds around $100 to the power bill but if I’m honest I haven’t really put much effort into checking, our power bill is significantly more this winter than last, but we also have an additional person in the house so who knows how much is the spa and how much is the son…

Ours is at a bach & was easy to work out what it cost now you can get a daily graph of your electricity use . I was really surprised as I was always told it cost $1-$2 a day. We’ve had spas for years but this was the first time we’d worked out running costs.
This was i middle of winter so cost would probably go down a bit in summer as you have it at a lower temp & it’s not so cold outside.

Edited by traykuku at 8:31 am, Tue 24 Aug

traykuku - 2021-08-24 08:29:00

Spa pools are horrid. Who wants to sit in your kids superheated pee.

sparkychap - 2021-08-24 08:37:00

sparkychap wrote:

Spa pools are horrid. Who wants to sit in your kids superheated pee.

Who lets the kids use it? Ours is in a courtyard only accessible from our room, only ever used by myself and my husband, bugger sitting in half the neighborhoods water!

rowlf - 2021-08-24 09:15:00

rowlf wrote:

Who lets the kids use it? Ours is in a courtyard only accessible from our room, only ever used by myself and my husband, bugger sitting in half the neighborhoods water!

And Hubbie never leaks a sneaky one…?

Edited by sparkychap at 9:18 am, Tue 24 Aug

sparkychap - 2021-08-24 09:18:00

Ours is around $40 a month

jeffqv - 2021-08-24 09:23:00

Our's was delivered a couple of days before lockdown, from what I understand its all to do with the amount of insulation, some just have the tub sprayed with a layer, our one is full to the base with insulation, just a area big enough for the pump and electronics.

The figure we were told wa around $40 a month, so will see.

Got it under the verandah roof and going to put those plastic roll down curtains round the whole under cover deck area.

Really I am not tht worried about it, after a crap day under lockdown mending all our blocks fences its worth every dollar to just sit in there and warm up.

It does not seem to run much, just an occasional burst to move the waer around.

kenw1 - 2021-08-24 09:47:00

I’m just in the process of trying to return my one.
Was told $50-$70 month. ( from the supplier)
It’s up round $170 a month.
When it’s not being used it’s burning about $6 a day or 13 kw a day.
At a temperature of about 38-39 degrees.
There’s a lot of insulation missing from the tub it’s been ground out
To put the fittings in .
Mission is this week to do a cool down test and see how much heat it’s losing.
I found with the. Power save modes it was cooling down to much.
Please don’t ask what model it is.
You might see this on fair go at sometime.

Edited by rodeorunch at 9:54 am, Tue 24 Aug

rodeorunch - 2021-08-24 09:49:00

We've had one for 10 years. Find the cost and upkeep costs minimal. The way I see it. If you can afford an expensive spa pool then these extra costs shouldn't be a problem, especially for the joy it brings. Personally I hardly ever go in, but my hubby uses it at least daily.

molly37 - 2021-08-24 11:28:00

rodeorunch wrote:

I’m just in the process of trying to return my one.
Was told $50-$70 month. ( from the supplier)
It’s up round $170 a month.
When it’s not being used it’s burning about $6 a day or 13 kw a day.
At a temperature of about 38-39 degrees.
There’s a lot of insulation missing from the tub it’s been ground out
To put the fittings in .
Mission is this week to do a cool down test and see how much heat it’s losing.
I found with the. Power save modes it was cooling down to much.
Please don’t ask what model it is.
You might see this on fair go at sometime.

13Kw at 22c/kw is only $2.86 a day, ok 90 bux a month.

kenw1 - 2021-08-24 11:52:00

The Sales Guys lie to you and say a couple of dollars a day but as we only use it in Winter we can clearly see the difference it makes when we turn it on - its about 5-7 a day over winter in Auckland. Could be a less in Summer we dont use it then- makes a difference how sheltered it is and I found and what surface its sitting on ie on a deck vs concrete and having insulation underneath made quite a difference . But factor on at least $1-150 a month onto your bill. As someone above said, if this is a worry, best not get one. I find it totally worth it, but no point worrying it about it.

Edited by mikek at 12:57 pm, Tue 24 Aug

mikek - 2021-08-24 12:55:00

sparkychap wrote:

Spa pools are horrid. Who wants to sit in your kids superheated pee.

And their brown floaters

Edited by orphic1 at 5:50 pm, Tue 24 Aug

orphic1 - 2021-08-24 17:49:00

sparkychap wrote:

Spa pools are horrid. Who wants to sit in your kids superheated pee.

you forgot hairs and film from body lotions etc ????????????

Edited by lakeview3 at 6:03 pm, Tue 24 Aug

lakeview3 - 2021-08-24 18:03:00

lakeview3 wrote:

you forgot hairs and film from body lotions etc ????????????

That too

orphic1 - 2021-08-24 18:14:00

You can reduce the running costs of a spa pool by putting its power supply on a timer. The heating cycle also makes the circulating pump run so by restricting the power by timer to run from say 3:00pm until midnight it will still be hot enough to enjoy in the evenings.

Also consider using it as an electricity dump if you have excess PV generation. That way you're using electricity that you would otherwise only receive 6-7c/kWh for with most power suppliers.

harm_less - 2021-08-25 18:18:00

orphic1 wrote:

And their brown floaters

and the poached-eggy bits.

masturbidder - 2021-08-25 20:50:00

harm_less wrote:

You can reduce the running costs of a spa pool by putting its power supply on a timer. The heating cycle also makes the circulating pump run so by restricting the power by timer to run from say 3:00pm until midnight it will still be hot enough to enjoy in the evenings.

Also consider using it as an electricity dump if you have excess PV generation. That way you're using electricity that you would otherwise only receive 6-7c/kWh for with most power suppliers.

Wouldn't that use more power? After all from midnight to 3pm theres no heating, and the pool will cool down a lot, therefore require more power to heat up. I'd have assumed it would use less power to maintain a fairly stable temperature.

Edited by bitsnpieces2020 at 8:58 am, Thu 26 Aug

bitsnpieces2020 - 2021-08-26 08:58:00

bitsnpieces2020 wrote:

Wouldn&-
#39;t that use more power? After all from midnight to 3pm theres no heating, and the pool will cool down a lot, therefore require more power to heat up. I'd have assumed it would use less power to maintain a fairly stable temperature.

Also thinking of stuffing batts around the tub.
Will have to leave a air gap for the motor and other parts.
Any other ideas ?
Was also thinking of those bubble things that float on top of the water
Like in swimming pools

rodeorunch - 2021-08-26 10:17:00

bitsnpieces2020 wrote:

Wouldn&-
#39;t that use more power? After all from midnight to 3pm theres no heating, and the pool will cool down a lot, therefore require more power to heat up. I'd have assumed it would use less power to maintain a fairly stable temperature.

The pool will reach temperature from 3:00pm to evening use time (so long as your insulation is good enough to hold most of the previous day's heat). The same amount of gross heat loss during the timer's 'off hours' as if it was on full time but you've saved yourself a lot of circulating pump use.

We had a spa pool that held about 1500 litres at our last property and I noticed it would cycle on and off constantly during the day so put it on a timer. That took about a 1/3 off its power use from what I could ascertain. insulation-wise it was housed in a cedar 'box' and the pool itself and piping had urethane foam sprayed onto it. It also had a styrofoam cover that clipped down tight.

Edited by harm_less at 11:07 am, Thu 26 Aug

harm_less - 2021-08-26 10:57:00

You could have a solar panel to heat up the spa pool.
I am considering having one to heat my waterbed, but the panels are not cheap enough yet.

trade4us2 - 2021-08-26 11:15:00

bitsnpieces2020 wrote:

Wouldn&-
#39;t that use more power? After all from midnight to 3pm theres no heating, and the pool will cool down a lot, therefore require more power to heat up. I'd have assumed it would use less power to maintain a fairly stable temperature.

I have tried that as our model has a timer that does exactly this - it was way worse on the power than leaving it going all the time, saying that ours is pretty averagely insulated I think (its not like a top of the line model) Could work if yours was different and you can keep the heat in.

mikek - 2021-08-26 11:21:00

trade4us2 wrote:

You could have a solar panel to heat up the spa pool.
I am considering having one to heat my waterbed, but the panels are not cheap enough yet.

Woah - a waterbed!? How very retro of you.

cinderellagowns - 2021-08-26 12:02:00

masturbidder wrote:

and the poached-eggy bits.

Way too much information.

orphic1 - 2021-08-26 17:05:00

orphic1 wrote:

Way too much information.

the mind boggles with that one too doesn’t it!

lakeview3 - 2021-08-26 17:18:00

lakeview3 wrote:

the mind boggles with that one too doesn’t it!

Even I'm not going there...

sparkychap - 2021-08-26 17:41:00

trade4us2 wrote:

You could have a solar panel to heat up the spa pool.
I am considering having one to heat my waterbed, but the panels are not cheap enough yet.

I mentioned using a spa pool as a sink for excess generated power sink earlier and have seen an example of this by someone with a wind turbine set-up.

Another option is to use a variation of a hot water solar panel using black alkathene laid out on a roof or paved area for circulating the spa pool contents through. Needs some degree of control system to prevent overheating, back flowing (and acting as a cooling system) and running a small circulating pump, but overall it's probably possible to design a viable system this way.

harm_less - 2021-08-26 18:07:00

rodeorunch wrote:

Also thinking of stuffing batts around the tub.
Will have to leave a air gap for the motor and other parts.
Any other ideas ?
Was also thinking of those bubble things that float on top of the water
Like in swimming pools

Batts or sand, and leave an air gap for the motor, if housed with in.

smallwoods - 2021-08-26 18:16:00

harm_less wrote:

You can reduce the running costs of a spa pool by putting its power supply on a timer. The heating cycle also makes the circulating pump run so by restricting the power by timer to run from say 3:00pm until midnight it will still be hot enough to enjoy in the evenings.

Also consider using it as an electricity dump if you have excess PV generation. That way you're using electricity that you would otherwise only receive 6-7c/kWh for with most power suppliers.

We had ours set 12hrs apart for 2hr runs.
Maintained 36-39 degrees.
Was set at 5am and 5pm.
Would get back from the gym around 6am to a heated spa.
Or home from work, ditto.

smallwoods - 2021-08-26 18:18:00

lakeview3 wrote:

the mind boggles with that one too doesn’t it!

More like cheese strings, but the filter takes care of them anyway.
Or the bubbles blow them to bits!

smallwoods - 2021-08-26 18:21:00

smallwoods wrote:

More like cheese strings, but the filter takes care of them anyway.
Or the bubbles blow them to bits!

oh no! ????????????????????

lakeview3 - 2021-08-26 18:35:00

sparkychap wrote:

Even I'm not going there...

thats says a lot!

lakeview3 - 2021-08-26 18:36:00

I have a portable spa - purchased the extra insulation lid as well.
It costs an extra $60 month average ($1.50 day. I keep it at 34 degrees and switch up to 39 a few hours before I want it. I use it every 2nd day as I found I was heating it up and then not using it every evening. Thoroughly worth it. I dont need heating in winter . If I leave it running at 39 degrees 24/7 it creeps up to $2.50 a dat. Mine fits 6 people - 4 with legs stretch out.

fromnature - 2021-08-27 22:00:00

I agree with some other posters about the monthly costs. If that's an issue then a spa probably isn't ideal for you in the first place. If I have a spa my stress levels decrease and I feel mentally rejuvenated. Can't really put a price on that. I personally wouldn't be without one now. Sit back, look at the stars on a clear night, watch the I.S.S pass through the sky, that's a good time.

foamyone - 2021-08-28 12:03:00

bitsnpieces2020 wrote:

Wouldn&-
#39;t that use more power? After all from midnight to 3pm theres no heating, and the pool will cool down a lot, therefore require more power to heat up. I'd have assumed it would use less power to maintain a fairly stable temperature.

No, heat loss is greater with a bigger heat differential, so the hotter the spa is the more energy it requires to maintain it. As the pool cools down the heat loss is less and less. You are only replacing the heat that is lost. Just like running a bar heater in your house, you wouldn’t leave it on if you are not in that room for 20hrs a day.

daz59 - 2021-08-31 21:12:00

Double spa bath be good way to go, only pay when you use it

houseofdad - 2021-09-01 14:56:00

To hell with the cost of the electricity, just do it!
You only live once, if you’ve always wanted one, you’ll use it and love it...

We have a 2/3 person one which suits us fine because we don’t share with anyone and there aren’t any goobies floating around in it I promise!

There is a bit of maintenance needed keeping the chemicals balanced, cleaning the filters etc but I leave that to my alpha male...

Just about to have one now ???????????????? ????

lovelurking - 2021-09-01 15:57:00

Well have looked at our daily usage since getting the spa pool, reckon it uses 5 - 6 units per day, so about $1.00 to $1.40 per day.

Havent adjusted the timers or settings, just as it was delivered, gets ued 2 days out of 3 roughly.

Is it worth, hell yes.

Edited by kenw1 at 11:05 am, Sun 12 Sep

kenw1 - 2021-09-12 11:04:00

Have you tried longer showers?

amasser - 2021-09-12 12:15:00

They had a hot tub at a trade fair. All you needed was the attachment really. Made of stainless steel it ran on dry wood or brickets , It fitted over the side of the tub. it was round like a litre paint tin but half a metre long. you just feed dry fuel in and in no time it heated the water, Ingenious idea . I believe with slight modification it would fit in a spa pool.

Edited by cadmus at 5:41 pm, Sun 12 Sep

cadmus - 2021-09-12 17:39:00

amasser wrote:

Have you tried longer showers?

Or just farting in the bath?

sparkychap - 2021-09-12 17:46:00

may seem like a silly question, but how often do you empty and refill? I will be getting one - very, very excited!!! But just thinking about my 7 year old twins having all their mates around for a party . . . .

kittylittle - 2021-09-13 07:44:00

kittylittle wrote:

may seem like a silly question, but how often do you empty and refill? I will be getting one - very, very excited!!! But just thinking about my 7 year old twins having all their mates around for a party . . . .

Have you thought about making it a rule that it’s only available for your family members and/or adults to use. Blame health and safety reasons for your decision if you need a reason...Just make sure your twins and their friends know that before it arrives at your place.
(Thats what I’d be doing if I were you)

lovelurking - 2021-09-13 08:42:00

kittylittle wrote:

may seem like a silly question, but how often do you empty and refill? I will be getting one - very, very excited!!! But just thinking about my 7 year old twins having all their mates around for a party . . . .

It seemed to take a few weeks to get the hang of the dosing amount, but that is good now, we were told every 6 months? for a water change, wash the filter every 4 weeks and a new filter every 6 - 8 months and replace the silver dosing thing every 4 months.

Make sure its got a lockable cover on it, we have no children but still lock ours when we are not here.

kenw1 - 2021-09-13 12:05:00

lakeview3 wrote:

the mind boggles with that one too doesn’t it!

Indeed it does

orphic1 - 2021-09-14 17:55:00

Around $80 a month for us, reasonably new purchase, first couple of power bills have shown increase of around $80

internalwhisper - 2021-09-28 18:55:00