110 vs 220

[Anoroc]

Sorry if this is a repeat for some folks.

My HS jetsetter is wired at the 110 option and not the 220 option.  I know this means my heater and jets do not work at the same time.  Does the 110 option significantly increase the electrical bill?

I went with the 110 option because we did not want to spend the extra $500 bucks to wire for a 220 but I am debating if this is causing an unnecessary increase in my bill.

[lawdawgva]

Anoroc.....below is a copy of  a post I made a few days ago under the title Electric Usage, don't know if you saw it or not.   I have a 97 HS Sovreign which is a 355 gal tub.  I have it sitting on a deck which is approximatly 30 inches off the ground with no insulation underneath (except for what is built into the tub).  I keep my temp on about 100 in the summer and about 104 in the winter.  As you can see from the figures, I do not believe that my 110v set up has affected my electric bill adversely.  Even with averaging out my bill, I dont' think it is more than 15.00 a month for the hot tub and there are 2 fresh fills included in those 6 months.  I can't imagine it being any cheaper with 220.

My brother is a licensed electrician and he said that it didn't appreciably affect the cost by being configured for 110.  He explained it this way...would it cost more to burn a 100 watt bulb for 1 hour or a 200 watt bulb for a half hour?  The hot tub heater runs at a lower wattage (1500 i believe) on 110 and thus takes longer to heat up, but the 220 configuration while not running near as long to heat the water up at the same "rise", will consume many more watts (5000 or 6000 I think not totally sure on those figures).  You get the idea.  I think the whole thing boils down to 1. whether you want to be able to have the heater and pumps run simultaneously and 2. how fast you want to be able to heat your water from a fresh fill.  If neither of those are a problem for you, stick with 110 and not having to fork over 500+ bucks for a 220 line.

Here is the previous post I made>>>>>>>>>>>>

I just finished doing a 6 month comparison of my electric bill from this year to last, the difference being, last year during the same time period, I did not have my HS Sovreign.  (How did I get through life thus far without it??)  Anyway, here are the figures:

June $4.29 more this year
July .71 cents less this year
August 14.43 more this year
September 20.15 more this year
October .84 centes less this year
November 20.54 more this year

So, all things considered, about 9.64 more per month on average this this year.  No other big changes for me electrically this year either, so it should be an apples to apples comparison.  I can't explain the months when this year was actually less.  I have electric hot water and natural gas range and heat.  I am pleased with these results.  I would be interested in knowing how installing a hot tub has affected some other folks' elect. bills.

BTW- I added a couple of "Christmas Spatopia" pics to my site at   http://photos.yahoo.com/lawdawgva  Merry Christmas to all and best wishes in the new year!

-Sarge  

[Spatech_tuo]

Sorry if this is a repeat for some folks.

My HS jetsetter is wired at the 110 option and not the 220 option.  I know this means my heater and jets do not work at the same time.  Does the 110 option significantly increase the electrical bill?

I went with the 110 option because we did not want to spend the extra $500 bucks to wire for a 220 but I am debating if this is causing an unnecessary increase in my bill.

It won't cost you any more or less to heat with 100v. The heater will take longer to heat but it'll be pulling fewer amps to do so (the big difference is in heating up after a refill, it takes half a day or more). You already realize you can't run the pumps and heater at the same time but that's more of an issue for some than others (outside temp, amount of time you sit with pumps on vs. off, etc.). You'll know if it's an issue for YOU when you get to the coldest part of your winter.

[st18901]

I too have a 110v HS (a classic sovereign)

Since I live in Socal, it's no problem. The coldest it has been (and probably will be) is about 41 degrees. At that temp, the hot water outlasted everybody in the tub.

If you are having issues with the water getting cool while you are using the jets, then 220 might help.

However, since your tub is 110v, I'm guessing the heater is a 1.5kw... which means there would be no difference in time to heat the tub on 110 or 220.
You'd have to change the heater unit itself for an increase in speed.

[drewstar]

Anoroc.....below is a copy of  a post I made a few days ago.....
 

Lawdawgva,

That's a great post.   Perhaps I missed it, but where are you located? Are you in a cold climate?

[lawdawgva]

Drewstar,

I am in Roanoke, VA which is right at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  I am about 2 hours north of Greensboro NC, about an hour away from the WV line.  It gets fairly cold here in the winters.  We've already had two sleet/snow storms with a few inches each and for the past two weeks the temps have been in the teens to lower 20's at night.

-Sarge

[Bill_Stevenson]

I would suggest that you contact your electrical energy provider and ask them your question.  Generally for large electric loads, such as hot water heaters, stoves, clothes dryers, and electric heating, you will find that 240 V is the norm.  The reason for this is that the higher 240 voltage cuts amperage in half and consequent line losses are significantly reduced.  In laymans terms, you get more of the electricity that you pay for either way (keep in mind that you pay for electricity by the kilowatt hour) doing the work that needs to be done.  

For a hottub with water heater and pumps, the current draw is high enough to warrant consideration of 240 V although the payback needs to be weighed against how long you will live there, how much you will use your tub, the billing rate for your area and so forth.  

Florida Power and Light gave me help to determine that 240 V was the best choice for my circumstance.  Your circumstance might differ.  There is no simple answer to your excellent question, but your utility company (also DOE has a website that might help) is your best resource to help you make an informed decision.

Regards,

Bill

[Anoroc]

Thanks to all for the advice.  My bill this month more than doubled but I don't know if I can attribute it to higher costs, christmas lights or mostly just the tub.  I know we slightly more than doubled our KW usage. ( I  may have misused this term.)

I will need to take a closer look at my bill and keep track of future usage.  My electric bill was about $164 dollars and last year at this time it was about $80.

Thanks