How do I lower the temperature?

[ProfMark]

My Coleman was installed over the winter.  Works great.

Now that summer is here, the unit gets about 4 hours of direct sunlight during the day.  I have it set for 98 degrees.  However, it still is about 103 in the evening due to the heat of the sun.  By the next morning, it is back down to the setting.

My dealer told me that the combination of the heat from the pumps and the direct sun will cause the temp to rise.  He suggested I only run the pumps two hours during the night and two in the afternoon during the hot months.  (It was set on 4 hours at night and 6 hours in the afternoon)

I just changed the settings today so I will see if this works.  

Any other ideas?  Was I given proper advice?

Thanks.

[Brewman]

I think that some just prop the cover up a few inches to allow some heat to escape.  
Brewman

[shabba34]

30lb block of ice.  Just don't drop it in.

[East_TX_Spa]

One of my customers does this:  He takes two 2-litre soda pop bottles and fills them with water and sticks them in the freezer.  When he gets home from work, he drops them in the spa.  They act like a couple of ice cubes, cooling off the water.  When he gets out, he puts them back in the freezer.  Works great!

Terminator

[windsurfdog]

I've tried both the cover prop and the frozen gallon water jug trick.....the cover prop is more effective for me.  My spa here in Florida gets direct sun for at least 10-11 hrs./day so I have to prop it up during the summer.  I use 2 16 oz. water bottles with coozies on tops and bottoms of bottles as my props--work great.

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

Man am I bored...........

4 liters weighs 8.45 pounds.

1 btu raises 1 pound of water 1 degree.

assume the temp of the ice is at 0f

to raise it to 103 will requires 870 btu's

for 300 gallons of water (weighing 2490 pounds) at 103 degrees to warm the ice to 103 degrees the water will have to "give up" 870 btu's

The spa will have to "give up" 2490 BTU's to drop in temp 1 degree.... from the above, 840 BTU's will raise the ice to 103.

By my calculations, the 2 two liters of ice should drop the temp of a 300 gallon spa at 103 degrees by only 1/3 of a degree.

[shabba34]

Man am I bored...........

4 liters weighs 8.45 pounds.

1 btu raises 1 pound of water 1 degree.

assume the temp of the ice is at 0f

to raise it to 103 will requires 870 btu's

for 300 gallons of water (weighing 2490 pounds) at 103 degrees to warm the ice to 103 degrees the water will have to "give up" 870 btu's

The spa will have to "give up" 2490 BTU's to drop in temp 1 degree.... from the above, 840 BTU's will raise the ice to 103.

By my calculations, the 2 two liters of ice should drop the temp of a 300 gallon spa at 103 degrees by only 1/3 of a degree.

But isn't 102 2/3 deg so much more refreshing then 103 deg.

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

Ok. so maybe I'm really bored...

Evaporative cooling.......... for every gallon of water that is evaporated, approximately 8000 BTU is taken with the water vapor.

I'm guessing it'll take about 30 minutes for the 2 two liter bottles of ice to warm up close to the temp of the spa. Can we assume the cover is left open during this time? Unfortunately the rate of evaporation is a bit complicated, taking into consideration the differences in temperature, the ambient humidity and air pressure, and I'm just not really REALLY bored right now and will to try and figure it out  

HOWEVER, 13.44 oz. of evaporation will equal the same heat loss as the 2 bottles of ice. If the pump(s) is on it would cause additional evaporation. If the blower is running, well, as long as the spa didn't come from Colorado, if would lose even more heat.

OK, I'm off to go put in a couple of job application and find me a second job.

[spahappy]

Adjust your filter times to filter late in the evening and again early in the morning.

Put your spa in the sleep mode.

[spa]

if the heat from the pump is attributing to the heat of the tub. take the door off . expose the pump. the heat will escape outside instead of staying in.

[saz]

this might sound really stupid, but why don't you just drop it down to 93 degs, then when the sun heats it up the 5 degs, you'll have it at 98 deg? Surely it's that easy??
Saz