cold weather

[beth]

I will be a first time hot tub owner.  I wanted to know which hot tub was best in cold weather.  I live in WI so our winters are extremely cold...I don't want to be paying a ton to run the tub in the winter.  Currently I am trying to decide between the Caspian, Tiger River Spa($6,595) or Nuage, Vita Spa (6,995).

The Hot Springs dealer said that the full foam insullation was a lot better than the blown insullation in the Vita Spa.  Is this true?

I like the Jet options better in the Vita Spa, but I'm concerned that it will cost a lot more to run in the winter. Do you know what either of these spas are costing to heat during the winter?

I don't recall if either of the spas have an ozonator.  Do we need this?

There is a Beachcomber dealer in our area too, is this spa insulated better?... cost?  We also visited CAL Spa, any opinons?

We will be wet testing the first 2 spas this weekend.
Thanks for your help.  Is there anything else I should be considering?

[Brewman]

Good for you for realizing the importance of wet testing.
All of the premium brands of spa will be very close to each other regarding operating costs.  The lesser known brands are more of a crap shoot, as are the really inexpensive models sold out of warehouse club or home improvement stores.  Skimping on insulation is one way to get the prices down, but you could be killed on power bills in the long run.  
You don't need an ozonator, but you may want one.  
A good dealer can walk you thru that question.  
Cal Spas get a lot a negative press here for poor warranty service.  
Brewman

[Gary]

I agree with Brewman about the cost. Most higher end brands are all going to cost about the same. You should not have any concern on that issue.

Same goes for the ozonator you do not need but they are nice to have if the spa is engineered for them (the spa must have a contact chamber).


Gary

[Rich]

Beth I own a Tiger river Siberian and live in NY. We had a pretty cold winter and my tub stayed at set temp all witer no problem. It is hard to say the dollar amount that increased because when it is really cold your furnace also runns alot adding to the electric bill. The Tiger River tub does seem to be insulated very well. During the summer from circulation pump running and sun I don't think my heater comes on hardly at all except when I changed the water the temperature was always around 97 degrees and I had it set for 94 so the insulation will probably save you money in the warmer moths also.  The place where you probably lose the most heat is through the pump area panel door and ventilation strip at the bottom of the door. I blocked off about 2/3 of the ventilation strip during the coldest part of the winter and the pump and heater area ambient temperature did come up significantly. I believe Tiger river has a winterizing kit to help keep heat in this area warmer you may want to ask the dealer. I remember reading something in the manual about it but didn't have time to look into it yet and I believe it has to be removed in warmer months. What I did do is purchase a remote temp indicator see http://www.nu-temp.com/. It came with 2 transmitters so I place one in the pump compartment and other near the heater pipe outlet. Worked good to monitor the tub. even if I didn't get a chance to go in everyday I was always checking tub to make sure nothing happened to it in cold weather. With this you can leave monitor on counter and set it to alarm if temp drops giving you plenty of time to correct it. I have had no problems with my tub at all and would definately recommend the Tiger river.