Hot Tub Forum
Original => Hot Tub Forum => Topic started by: Bonibelle on March 31, 2006, 02:54:00 pm
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I know others have asked before on here about higher than expected electric bills. My electric company had had a rate increase and tax changes so I am not even going to talk dollars. Because my bills were so very high after getting my tub, I made a very conscious effort to eliminate any extra sources of unusual electric usage other than my tub.
these include:
I am drying my clothes on the clothes lines and only use my dryer when I really have to.
I have no outdoor lights on timers or photocells to come on when no one is using them.
I have turned off the extra refrigerator in our basement.
We don't use electric to heat our hot water and I have no space heaters.
I add my chemicals only when my tub is in a clean cycle and don't run the jets to off gass the shock, just leave the cover off for 10-15 mins during that clean cycle. So the tub has not been open an unusual amount of time.
We use the tub almost daily, for about 1 hour.
Last year usage for this same time of year Feb-Mar was
33.2kWh per day This year, same time period is 69.6 kWh per day!
Should my hot tub use as much electricity as my entire household?
I am stunned!
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The answer to that is NO. I can not see why your usage would double!
I am not sure of what my actually useage is but I know the increase in $$$ was about $25.00 at MOST and that is during the winter months only.
Perhaps the tub is not wired up correctly? I would get something checked out. That is very high.
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Mine bill only went up between $13-$17 since installed in freezing January. Perhaps you need to get your electric company a call?
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Snyper we have the same tub , I think, an Epic. If this is real my tub is out of here....
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bonne, something is not right. There is absolutely no way your tub should be using that much electricity. I agree, double check the wire hook up and also check your filter settings, maybe the tub is running 24/7.
Never get rid of the tub. a friend at work told me he hooked up his tub to 110 and he could actually see the meter spinning out of control. Maybe the electrician only hooked up 110 instead of 220. that would make sense to me.
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we had a customer who played with their control panel and had the spa filtering 23 out 24 hours in the day which also caused a problem with heat creep....once we showed them what was going on all was fine....
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Bonibelle, how much do you pay for electricity? I'll trade you bills anytime. :D
I'm paying over $.20 per Kwh in So. Cal. and I live with a house full of women...... ::)
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My bill last month was over $300. A $90 increase over the month before. Thats what I got for running my jets a couple hours a day for a week trying to get the water clear again and then ending up doing a dump/refill. I hadn't noticed a real change in the bill the 3 months prior.
I will start selling of J's personal belongings before I ever get rid of the tub. :)
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My typical pre-hot tub bill averaged around $130.00. In the summer with 3 air conditioning units running, it would peak at about $190. Since I got the tub, I have paid (including the one I got today) $1208.00. That is December through 1/2 of the month of March! That averages $340.00 a month. Something has to be wrong. My friend has a Lowes special hot tub, lousy insulation, and his only puts his bill up $60.00 a month!
I called the electrician last month and told him I was concerned that something wasnt right, but I decided to try to pay real close attention to things that would contribute to such a high bill this past month. Well in spite of my best efforts, this bill is still outrageous! He is coming next week. Bosco, is it possible to hook the tub to a 110 instead of 220 and it still run OK? Wouldn't I notice problems with the tub? And Mendo, I am sure that my tub is only performing 2, 2hour clean cycles in a 24 hour period and it is locked so that it cant be accidentally changed. I am serious about getting rid of the tub, I am that upset!
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At our store keeping 4 and sometimes 5 spas wet plus lights....comptuers....fridge....tv....stereo......just normal things in the winter is less than 200.00...about 350 in the summer when we run the air.....so I think something is not right.....
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Is it possible that they only have it on a 110 line, Mendo? This electircian works with my dealer and he has installed tons of tubs. The day he worked at my house he mainly watched and two young guys ran the wire, and hooked it into my box. I do know that somehow he switched out one of my breakers and made it into a double breaker in the electric panel. The goofy inspector that just showed up the other day didn't even want to see my hookup in the basement. He just looked for a 110 GFI near the tub and slapped on that sticker. I am just hoping that they have hooked something up wrong because, seriously, I couldn't afford to pay these kind of electric bills and it is really upsetting me.
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Gombo, from my bill it looks like our rate is $0.0657 pr. kWh. If we trade bills, we trade houses ;D Address..Please ;D
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Bonibelle, wow, something doesn't seem right. How many Kwh's did you use last month? I'm paying three times what you do for electricity per Kwh. Something's not right there. ???
I doubt it's the tub, but maybe your dealer can put a meter on the spa just to make sure. Are you sure nothing else has changed in your household? Have the bills gone up only since you had the tub installed.
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I just looked at past electric bills for Feb-mar:
2004-before hottub= 1378 kw @.066=90.98
2005-with SA Reward= 1870 kw@ .066=123.42
2006-with Epic=1966kw@.071=$139.58
of course there must have been variables but nothing unusual, just normal living.
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I am running 110, so that can't be the problem.
Perhaps your neighbors tapped into your line to grow some pot? ;D
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Boni, is it possible you've got a large appliance that's got "issues" and is on the way out? Did electric company come out and do wire work, maybe hook up another house AND yours together?? Do you have extension cords running from your home to everyone else's yards around your area?
That's scary......I'm gonna have to go check out my meter before I hop in today.....see what it looks like while it's in "idle" mode, then check "clean" and "full power" mode......man I don't wanna see that thing smoke while it's spinning......
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These are all actual meter readings, not estimates and the dramatic increase in my bill occurred along with the addition of the tub. I can't connect it to anything else. Like I said, I even tried to eliminate the dryer (because we do use more towels), Christmas decorations(although they were minimal this year), the extra refrigerator (only used it for 2 weeks around Christmas).
I just can't tie anything else electrical to the time we got the tub. I have this stupid digital meter so I can't see the dramatic "spinning" of the meter so it is harder to tell when something is really running it up. :-/ I am going to kept track of it when my tub goes through a clean cycle or the heat comes on today. Thanks everyone, I am sure there is something wrong.
The representative at the electric company was very snippy and said that is what I should expect with luxury items like a hot tub >:(
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Bonnibelle
I will comment further later with more precise information but to start, consider this.
Two pumps on full and heat running for one hour is about 10 kWh usage
One pump on low and heating for one hour is about 6 kWh usage
One pump running a flter cycle for 4 hours daily is about 6 kWh total usage.
I think that it is likely that your previous reading was an estimate and this was an actual reading. My epic heats about 2 hours per day in super cold weather. Add four hours filtering and my daily usage is about 18 kWh at $0.11 per kWh = $1.98 per day on coldest winter days. I cut down on my filtering time and considdering that it heats when filtering, the actual is closer to $1.80.
Good luck
Steve
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Steve, that does help a lot because I was wondering exactly what the expected kWh was for each of those cycles. These are actual meter readings as I have not had an estimated reading since last August. You would know if it is possible to have the tub connected wrong and it still function normally, do you think that could have happened? I wish I could just hire someone to do an energy audit of my house at this point. :-/
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The representative at the electric company was very snippy and said that is what I should expect with luxury items like a hot tub >:(
Nice....yanno, a tub CAN be a luxury....but to many, it's THERAPY.....you could call the electric company back, ask to speak to a supervisor.....mention that you don't like the other employee's attitude, and you feel your concern didn't get fair attention due to this. Maybe they can help you to straighten things out...
just a shot in the dark, but worth a try..
Good luck!!!
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Boni, The tub is likely connected properly.
As mentioned, check the filter time settings.
120 V will not run any more efficiently. The heater is 5 (or 5.5) kW and at 120 V, it would draw half the current (amps and deliver half the kW). It would take twice as long to heat. The motor would use the same kW in either voltage.
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Steve, I have my filter cycles set for 2-2hour clean cycles each day. I locked the pad so no one could mess with it and change that. I have it set to clean at 3pm, not a time we would typically use it, and 3am. I keep my temp at 101. Like I said, we use it almost every night for maybe up to an hour. My hubby will go in on the weekend sometimes 2X a day. During this last electric billing cycle however the tub was not used at all for 1 week, as we were both sick. So the only cycles that would have occurred were the set clean cycles. I am really perplexed. When I opened the tub this afternoon during the clean cycle to add shock, I noticed both pump one and two were on low. Maybe I don't know enought about what is supposed to go on and off during the clean cycles. Guess either the tub goes or I need to find a part time job, maybe at the electric company! I appreaciate your help ;)
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Turn it into a catfish pond. Then you can lock the cover and keep varmints out of your pond.
Terminator
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something is just not right....my spa is less than 20 bucks to run at my place....