I have a Caldera Spas "pre-Watkins" Tahitian Paradise spa (mfg June 1997).
The energy cost to run it in Hawaii is killing me.
With the highest electric rates in the country -- 6x times the national average -- I believe it's costing me $150/month to run the spa in "Economy" mode with the spa temperature set to the minimum 80-degrees! (Before I hooked up the spa, my electric bill was ~$300/month. With the spa, it's about ~$450/month)
The ambient air temperature is 75-85 degrees so the spa heater doesn't even come on.
I only use the spa 1 or 2 days a week for 30 minutes.
What's running up the bill is the pre-programmed filter cycles. These filter cycles run for 5 hours twice a day. The filter cycles run Pump 1 in low speed (there's only (1) 2-speed 2.0 HP pump, no secondary pump, no circulation pump, no blower) and the ozone generator.
I'm considering shutting off the spa at the GFCI circuit every-other week, or during the week and turn it on only during weekends. Of course this means the water won't be filtered and ozoned while it's off.
Questions:- Is there a way to program the filter cycles to be shorter? I couldn't find an operator's manual for this control board, maybe it can't be programmed.
- Is there a more modern programmable control board I can get to replace the one I have? Which one?
- What other ways can I reduce my energy cost of running this spa? It's set to Economy mode and the temperature is set to the minimum already so the heater doesn't come on.
The control board is a
Caldera Spas ST-9715-DCA (Balboa 51413-03)
