Best cold weather hot tun. brand and model

[DW]

Looking into buying a new hot tub but i want to get a unit that will maintain temp best in 0-10 degree temperatures.  Hard to get good information on this. 6K heater would probably assure temp hold, but it looks like those have been phased out in favor of 4k.  Local dealers have marquis,caldera, hot spring, bull frog,and signature-clearwater.  I appreciate any input on this topic.

[BullFrogSpasMN]

Stick to the first 4 brands on your list, they all offer full foam insulation, sealed bottoms (depending on model on some brands) and will all be energy efficient.  Narrow it down by budget and features you are looking for and then do a wet test if possible...4kw will be just fine for you unless you live in the Artic, I've sold hundreds of tubs with 4kw heaters in Minnesota without issue so you shouldn't have to worry about that.  Good Luck!

[Michael Russell]

Left the Lid on my Marquis open for a few days. Was -25C (-13F). Was open for about 36 hours before it was noticed. It had dropped from the set of 102f to 99f but was holding steady.Lid was half closed by my son thinking I was going back out to put chemicals in.. All said it held up fine...

It is a new Marquis Epic bought back in November... As said above any tub with full foam should be fine

Mike

[swilly1000]

Left the Lid on my Marquis open for a few days. Was -25C (-13F). Was open for about 36 hours before it was noticed. It had dropped from the set of 102f to 99f but was holding steady.Lid was half closed by my son thinking I was going back out to put chemicals in.. All said it held up fine...

It is a new Marquis Epic bought back in November... As said above any tub with full foam should be fine

Mike

That's pretty impressive performance for the heater.  Have you got your hydro bill yet?

[DW]

Thanks for the input.  HOw does the fiber core insulation compare to the full foam. Seems like it would be easier for repairs, but sounds like mice would love it.  Not sure if it has the same  r value.  Do circulation pumps only run when the jets are off? I'm new on here and havea lot of random questions.

[kies1]

we have a hotsprings flash with fibre core insulation. Was in the other night at -24 degrees celcius for about a half an hour. Had all jets going and temp dropped only 1 degree. I was totally impressed. Have not seen any major increases in our hydro bill. I would say the fibre core insulation fits the bill. Very very energy efficient.  Circulation pump runs all the time on my flash

[bud16415]

We have a Caldera Geneva and live just south of Erie Pa. It is not to uncommon in this belt to see temps very low. Have seen –34f a couple years ago. Heating and insulation were two important factors when we bought. The Fiber-Cor works really well and I liked the idea it could be pulled out and bagged while a repair is made. I’m also told water getting into it will run straight down thru it making finding a leak easier.

Any of the 4k heaters will keep the tub to temp with the cover on and frankly when it is –20f you wont be in the tub for hours if at all.

As far as I know Caldera is the only one that uses a dual GFCI breaker 30a 20a. They do that keeping the heater on its own breaker. If the heater were to go during a cold snap the tub will still be powered up and goes into emergency mode alerting you it isn’t heating. You keep the tub closed and the tub goes into survival mode slowly circulating the hot water in the tub out to the pumps and such in the equipment area. The idea being it buys you maybe a week to get someone out to fix the heater.

For those reasons and of course the model suited our desire for a therapeutic tub that also is quite social we bought the Geneva. 

The good news is we have had it 4 plus years and no major issues. 

[Michael Russell]

No bill yet.... What can do... Sometimes Pigeon, Sometimes Statue ;-)

Left the Lid on my Marquis open for a few days. Was -25C (-13F). Was open for about 36 hours before it was noticed. It had dropped from the set of 102f to 99f but was holding steady.Lid was half closed by my son thinking I was going back out to put chemicals in.. All said it held up fine...

It is a new Marquis Epic bought back in November... As said above any tub with full foam should be fine

Mike

That's pretty impressive performance for the heater.  Have you got your hydro bill yet?

[wmccall]

I did set in mine for 30 minutes the other night when it was -4F, the tub was set at 106, but it was 104 when I got out.