Winter power outage surprise

[girlinhotwater]

Hey all haven't posted here in a while but had to share this info. 24 hrs ago a drunk driver hit a power pole which landed on a nearby house, then knocked out the power to my entire little chicago suburban town. Luckily everyone is ok. My point for posting is I have a 2012 HS Envoy and was never worried about it freezing, but when power came back on 15 hours later I checked on the spa and it was still 102 degrees hadn't even dropped one degree!   This just speaks volumes for the energy efficiency of a high quality spa so wanted to share as this forum was a great service for me when spa shopping. My house on the other hand dropped to 46 degrees brrr!

[Nhsusan]

Wow, That's incredible.
Thanks for sharing.

[Tman122]

It's not fair to say your tub was fine even though the water in the vessel was still 102 degrees. It is very possible that water in the plumbing lines surrounding the vessel can freeze while the water in the vessel maintains temp. Be careful. 15 hours you should be fine but if it gets real cold you could have warm water in the vessel and frozen pipes and pumps.

[joelmaners]

Not surprised. My breaker went out last year and I lost power to the tub. Water stayed hot for a few days and by the time I drained it a week or so later, it was still very warm. A well built tub and a good cover do wonders.

[wmccall]

Thanks for posting.  That information will be of benefit and comfort for many.

We have not had a long power outage since I got my newer tub in 2013. My older tub was far less efficient and it lost power for 7 days in summer and dropped to 91.

[Spatech_tuo]

It's not fair to say your tub was fine even though the water in the vessel was still 102 degrees. It is very possible that water in the plumbing lines surrounding the vessel can freeze while the water in the vessel maintains temp. Be careful. 15 hours you should be fine but if it gets real cold you could have warm water in the vessel and frozen pipes and pumps.

Agreed. The spa in general is well insulated but not all area are equal and its not the main body of water you want to concentrate on. Next time if you have a generator try to run a light into the equipment compartment to let it warm up that area somewhat because while the main body stayed to temp the water in the equipment and hoses in that equipment compartment certainly dropped and had it lasted far longer you could have run into issues.

[wmccall]

It's not fair to say your tub was fine even though the water in the vessel was still 102 degrees. It is very possible that water in the plumbing lines surrounding the vessel can freeze while the water in the vessel maintains temp. Be careful. 15 hours you should be fine but if it gets real cold you could have warm water in the vessel and frozen pipes and pumps.

Agreed. The spa in general is well insulated but not all area are equal and its not the main body of water you want to concentrate on. Next time if you have a generator try to run a light into the equipment compartment to let it warm up that area somewhat because while the main body stayed to temp the water in the equipment and hoses in that equipment compartment certainly dropped and had it lasted far longer you could have run into issues.

Great point, its been a while since I have had to deal with it and I indeed have purchased a sizable generator.   

[girlinhotwater]

I didn't even think about the equipment compartment or plumbing freezing guess I was lucky the power came back on when it did! I do not have a generator but now you've got me thinking of getting one.  I think I've heard mention of some sort of winter blanket you can put in the access panel to help protect the pumps too does anyone have experience with this or know of it working?

[Tman122]

Don't panic about a generator. When you really think about power outages and when they occur. Someone hits a power pole, very rare. Someone hits a power pole during the months it's cold enough to freeze your tub, rarer still. Ice storms take out the power, rare. And ice storms happen when? early or late winter when the temp is? 30-35? Takes a tub a long time to freeze in those relatively mild temps. How often does the power go out when it is extremely cold where your tub is in danger of freezing in a day or less? Never. But if that does happen you should be prepared to survive, house plumbing and heating should take priority over your tub.

However if there is a failure of your tub that could cause freeze damage before a repair can be facilitated. You should have a contingency plan and that won't need a generator because your power will still be on.

Just something to think about.

[wmccall]

Don't panic about a generator. When you really think about power outages and when they occur. Someone hits a power pole, very rare.

Here I would disagree with you slightly, but perhaps that is just my area.  Since I have been a hot tub owner I've been with out power for 4 days at least 4 times.  Something has happened in my neighborhood that  our 2 block radius is the last to come back on.   The Christmas even ice storm of 2004 was the only time this has happened in the winter time.I did by a generator to keep the fridge running and the TV and cable going.  If it occurs during winter I'll probably throw a flood light into the equipment area unless the power outage goes into its 5day or so. I did make up a pig tail that I can run the hot tub directly if needed. A couple of hours would keep the water warm a few more days, but I shouldn't need to get to that.

[Tman122]

I have lived in Northern Minnesota for almost 50 years. It gets colder here than just about anywhere in the country and a lot of populated Canada. We have survived plenty of downed power lines because of weather or whatever. But we have never been without power in extreme cold for more than a few hours. Spring, summer, fall and early and late winter is when we have our problems. Most tubs will last for quite a while in temps from 20-40. And a simple trouble light or well placed heater can extend that to a lot of days or even weeks.

Now when you talk 20 and below that's a different story. But snow is lighter and sticky ice storms that knock out power are simply not possible. Below zero weather is dead. No snow, not much wind, clear skies. Power lines don't fail then.

[Letran]

I just recently bought a tub. The delivery of the tub is about the same time that I go for our 3-week winter vacation.

What if the power outage happens while on vacation???

1. Winters here in GTA, Ontario is generally -10 to -20 Celsius. How long in this scenario before freezing can occur. Mind you I would tend to run it in low range heat cycle (70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit) when on vacation.

2. What type of remote monitoring/notification people are using in the event this happens.

Thanks,

[PJBear]

Would it be possible to not fill your tub until you return, or have them deliver it after you return?

[Tman122]

I just recently bought a tub. The delivery of the tub is about the same time that I go for our 3-week winter vacation.

What if the power outage happens while on vacation???

1. Winters here in GTA, Ontario is generally -10 to -20 Celsius. How long in this scenario before freezing can occur. Mind you I would tend to run it in low range heat cycle (70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit) when on vacation.

2. What type of remote monitoring/notification people are using in the event this happens.

Thanks,

In this case I would wait until I returned to take delivery.

[Letran]

Would it be possible to not fill your tub until you return, or have them deliver it after you return?

I didn't think that leaving it outside in negative temperatures even unfilled is an option. (At least not for that length of timeand at -10 to 20)

Delivery after vacation or even in spring time is really what I was hoping for. When I was buying the tub and I did say I'm not in a rush wont need it till March or April. They convinced me that a.) it best to use a hot tub in the winter, b.) if they need to hold the tub till spring it will not be an issue.

Once I ordered it, as soon as it arrived extreme pressure from the dealer for me to pick it up if not storage fees of $200 per month will apply. Very annoyed, but i got that settled.

In this post was really more interested in:

1. How long of an outage in the midst of winter before it becomes a freezing issue?
2. What sort of notification program/system/software etc, that current tub users have setup for this type of situations.

I was looking at the Balboa cloud but I didn't see anything native from them for outage notifications. And I most won't likely subscribe after the year is up

In my case, what I have thinking I could do is setting up my APC Smart-UPS (Back-Up Battery) to send me an email if a power outage starts and ends. When I'm out of town and no one is home and if the outage is prolonged it might be useful. Specially I tend to skip town when its cold in T.O.