132 degrees in pump cabinet should we be worried?

[jgirvine]

My husband has been concerned that the side of the spa cabinet where the pump is located feels warm to the touch.  He put a remote temp sensor in there today and with the jets running it got up to 132 degrees.  Should we be concerned?  Has anyone ever measured the temp in the pump cavity?
Thanks

[wmccall]

Where are you?  If your in Nome Alaska maybe.  Most motors run ok in ambient conditions of 125 F I believe. (Uneducated opinion)

[gturn]

My husband has been concerned that the side of the spa cabinet where the pump is located feels warm to the touch.  He put a remote temp sensor in there today and with the jets running it got up to 118 degrees.  Should we be concerned?  Has anyone ever measured the temp in the pump cavity?
Thanks

I have a remote sensor inside my spa cabinet, I have measured 115 with the pumps running.  I don't think your 118 it is a problem unless it warms up the water above your set point.  My sensor is located midway in the cabinet and my spa is a thermal pane insulated spa, the entire cabinet area stays between 100 and 115 degrees.  My pumps have vents right by them to cool them.

[Cola]

Well I have the answer to your question but I will let everybody else chime in with their opinions before I freak you out.
Steve

[jgirvine]

correction husband said it was 132 in the cabinet.  I changed the orginal post

[Garyjr]

Wouldn't it get a LOT hotter than that in the summer months?  I know we had several days this summer where it reached triple digits here in Missouri.  I have no doubt that with 4 motors running inside my Maxxus the inside temps would have been well above 132*.
Cola, my opinion is that 132* is perfectly acceptable.

??

Jr

[MarKee]

Do you have an Arctic or a Coleman or a TP spa by any chance?

[Altazi]

The motors aren't 100% efficient.  For a reasonably efficient motor (75%), you will get about 250W of wasted heat per motor hp at full load.  With lots of big motors running all at once, you can easily get over 1kW of waste heat dumped into your motor compartment.  That's a lot of heat!

That's why some companies try to direct the "waste" heat into the water. . .

Regards,

Altazi

[Tman122]

At 132 degrees you will decrease the longevity of your motors. The cooler they are the more effiecient they run, but for it to be 120 around the mortors and a bit cooler further away is exceptable. Please give us some more information though. Where are you located and what temp was it outside when you measured? What brand of tub is it?

[jgirvine]

Please give us some more information though. Where are you located and what temp was it outside when you measured? What brand of tub is it?

We are in Texas....was 95 here yesterday.  The spa is a Triad 11 from D1.  The probe is sitting on the base of the cavity right below the pump.

Appreciate all the comments, plz keep them coming.  Don't seem to have a good feel yet from the respones on if we have a problem or not.

[Vinny]

Please give us some more information though. Where are you located and what temp was it outside when you measured? What brand of tub is it?

We are in Texas....was 95 here yesterday.  The spa is a Triad 11 from D1.  The probe is sitting on the base of the cavity right below the pump.

Appreciate all the comments, plz keep them coming.  Don't seem to have a good feel yet from the respones on if we have a problem or not.

The probe sitting right below the pump is probably the wrong place to take a temp. There's only about 2" between the floor and the pump. The correct place would be somewhere in the middle of the cavity. The position that the probe is in now is "trapped" between the pump and a heated from the pump surface possibly giving the wrong temp.

The laws of thermodynamics will dictate that the hotter surface will try to warm the cooler surface and  the pump will be cooled. I wonder what the temp is 2" above the pump, I think you'll find it's not 132º. My advice is try to suspend the probe to approximately the center of the cavity and see what the temp is.