6 days with out power

[water@104]

well as many may of heard NH was and still is out of power in some locations. I was out for 6 days. nights got down in the low teens and there were 2 days that got up to about 40 and the rest of the days were in the low to mid 30's. I was really worried about my hot tub freezing up on me and.

when we lost power it was set at 104 degrees and when the ower came back on it was only at 57 degrees.... Boy was i shocked!!!!

type of tub for those who wanted to know. -- Clearwater Ultra 9100

[SerjicalStrike]

Nice, we were without power for 4 days.  The tub started at 103, and we had to use the spa water to flush our toilets.  When the power came back on, it was at 80.  

[water@104]

I didn't even dare open the cover on my hot tub during that mess. I was lucky enough that a neighbor had water so I made many trips up the street to get that.  Glad that's all over. then to be hit with over 2'-0" of snow this past weekend. what a great start to winter.

[Spatech_tuo]

Nice, we were without power for 4 days.  The tub started at 103, and we had to use the spa water to flush our toilets.  When the power came back on, it was at 80.  

Those are certainly good results. What spa do you own?

[Zep]

"Those are certainly good results. What spa do you own?"

doesn't that depend on the outside temps after the power went out?

[Bonibelle]

What happened to your domestic water pipes? OH my!!!  

[SerjicalStrike]

I own a 1998 Sundance Optima.  The outside temps were probably around the 30's during the day and in the teens at night.  

[water@104]

I own a 2005 Clearwater Ultra 9100.

for the most part the temps were in the low 30's and one night it was down to sigle digits.

[water@104]

What happened to your domestic water pipes? OH my!!!  

Lucky enough they made it through with out any problems. It would been nice if i could of got power to the well.

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

All of our customers (we seel Clearwater Spas) had no issue with freeze ups. Customers out for 4 days were at 76-80 and went from there the longer the power was out. We still have a few tubs with no power and they are still at above 50, we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Not to start a war, but the tubs were are repairing this week (we are out straight) are full foam units. The pumps and heaters being isolated from the rest of the warm body of water has caused major issues. Many broken pumps and heaters. It has stunk for many people up here. We went to a tub today, owner drained a Beachcomber not knowing to leave it full, it froze so hard, it blew all the jets out of the housings! They called needing this tub running by this afternoon....that is not going to happen!

This has been an awful storm for the NH residents.

[BauerN]

Hillbilly,

Does it seem to make a difference based on the brand of full foam spa (different insulation method - some foam to cabinet & some don't)?

I just had a couple of ours down for a few (4-5) days in zero and sub-zero (F) - without issue in the equipment compartment.  (both of my techs were out of town and I tore the @$*! out of my ankle 2 weeks ago)  

Those spas are full foam (all the way from shell to cabinet).  I wonder if the equiment being surrounded with the close proximity of the insulation helped, or if it was a matter of the proximity of the equipment to the main body of water.  I know of a few of the major FF guys who are set up this way, and I'm curious how large of a difference it makes.

Thoughts?

Btw - not suprised to hear the Clearwater Spas holding up so well.  We looked at them earlier this year as an additional line.  Were very impressed, but the powers that be decided to hold off on any changes in either store.

[SerjicalStrike]

We just told our customers to put a blanket over the vents in the equipment area on the Sundances,  And, if they had a generator running, we had them put a light or heater in the equipment area.  Worked very well.  No significant freezing issues.

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

These tubs were full foam from cabinet to shell, major manufacture. The equipment was isolated with a blaack plastic control area. The door vents were covered, but no generators for put a light, hairdryer or anything else (Why people with second homes in moutainous areas don't have generators?)

This tub actually got cold enough after 4 days that it had a skim of ice on top of the water and a thin layer on the sides of the acrylic....now the other issue.....many of these tubs the home owners turn down to 80 when they leave the home even though they are told they should not in the winter, and this gets them 20-25 degrees closer to freezing.

As a funny side note, we had a customer who had a lesser insulated dead air tub who put several candles, and that kept his tub from freezing.(another fine form of a Hillbilly Hot Tub ) It was rather funny, but worked. Note: He was there to keep an eye on the tub so it did not become firewood.

[clover]

The smallest body of water always freezes first and should be the focus of attention, not the body of water in the tub.  The heater, pump head, plumbing attachments in the EQ like pump unions etc.  Freezing time is determined by too many differing factors to be common to all situations, but attention should be given to the predictable problem areas.

Most commonly freeze damage would be: 1) plumbing unions that are easily replaced with "split-nuts" by design these unions have a weakness in the threads that will crack, 2) Heater systems, plastic heater will fracture while SS heaters will expand and bubble until it splits, 3) Flow switches fracture, 4) Filter canisters fracture in a pressurized, closed filter system.

NEVER DRAIN THE SPA, the body of water is a working tool helpful in reversing any icing problems within the plumbing.  If you drain the spa, call your dealer IN THE SPRING for repairs.  An empty Spa is more likely to have expensive freeze damage that could be hard to locate, like a "pin-hole" in PVC Flex hose caused by expansion.  Also at risk would be the jet fittings that retained water in their jet body after a "gravity drain".  Blower systems have an air manifold that distributes the air that naturally backfills with water that will also freeze

With NO POWER, put old clothing materials, paper, cardboard, rugs, etc. on the smallest bodies like the heater and pump heads to "insulate" from the cold keeping cold air out and the ambient water temp in.

FIRST THING YOU SHOULD DO, call your dealer for advice.  Our customers rarely have any freeze damage under similar conditions here in Michigan.  All of our customers have what we call a "Spa Class Booklet" that is 50 some pages that will cover all of the variable water conditions and what to do.  Our phone number is on the first page.