I just bought this hot tub (I live in Las Vegas) - and the temperature reached 104 degrees in approx 16 hours. It's November here. In the Summer time, I expect it to get to 104 within a few hours.
You should totally insulate the sides like you did the bottum and actually get a tent for it. That way it keeps the heat inside.. Just make sure after you do the chemicals you air out the tent first before closing it up LOL. But putting it inside of a tent is the best way to go outside when you have snow good luck
I know I should insulate the sides better, I’m looking into purchasing an insulated tarp as well to cover it better. As for the tent it would be nice but I’m too much of a star gazer to sacrifice that nights sky. I also like when it snows. But who knows you may see it have a tent over it sometime just to try it out
I'm in MI also and got this exact same hot tub. Looking at the smart meter readings, it costs about $4-5/day to heat from filling it (started at 42 I think)--took about 44 hours to reach 104 degrees when it was in the 40s outside. Seems to cost about $2-3/day to maintain a temp set to 85-95 and then real planning to get it back to 104 before using it. Do recommend putting pipe insulation with zip ties on the water tubes to the pump instead of a blanket. I'm planning to get some foam panels over the top also when I find the right price, but trying to come up with ideas about insulating the pump. Maybe it will use less energy if the heat generated to warm the water can stay around the pump? I put a blanket + the box it came in over it for now. Some videos online show the perimeter wrapped in thin silver insulation but I'm skeptical about that one doing much.
Yea I’m seeing similar cost per day, I think I figured 2-3$ but we’re keeping it at 99, (our electric company bills out at .125 kWh) when going in I’ll bump the temp up 4-5 hours in advance. Usually works. I don’t need it overly hot. I have since pipe wrapped the two water lines and excess foam board around with towel over it. I’ve seen the thin Mylar like bubble wrap people are using too. I’m unsure and think it would make it look excessively worse aesthetically. Or even building it into a framed out box filled with insulation would be nice too. Have you watched the people spray foam filling the air compartment of the tub? I’m tempted to try that when the thing pops.
We must be at .159/kWh after all the fees. Looks like it was only a 75 cent cost when I let it fall to 85 degrees for a day while it was in the 30s, but it took 22 hours to climb back up to 102. I'm still in testing about raising the temps with different ambient conditions. Last night it was 20 out so I only dropped it to 98 and this morning it has gained 4 degrees in only 2 hours. I have an old sleeping bag and comforter on top of the cover and that has raised the cover's temp by 40 degrees. I'm wondering if R5 panels on top will be enough. I also put a thermal grocery bag over the pump, wrapped it with an old unused Columbia winter jacket, and kept the box over top during this test. My thermal gun shows 50 on the outer walls so maybe if there's something reasonable looking I'll wrap it. Framing depends on how much you may move it. Same with that spray foam...think the video said 22 cans (!) only to use after it was leaking. I anticipate shutting it down during the summer and putting it away to be replaced with our inflatable pool that goes further out in the yard to catch the sun. This guy has a few videos about his setup/experience also ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SxiyHxNaQMk.html
@@bryanerdely4399 thanks man I’ll check his page out, I had to put a tarp over the top cover I made I found it to be taking on water, hoping the tarp helps as an additional layer! I’ll probably upgrade in a few years but for now I’m very pleased with it.
Mine is taking awhile to heat to from first open and fill. I live in Colorado and right now we’re experiencing 30-40 degree weather. I’ve had it heating for almost 2 days and currently at 96 degrees
And a quick way to raise the temp fast is turning your water heater up for a few and not using any hot water that day just for the hot tub we'll probably cut a few Hours or days for some people. Mine's in an outdoor screen porch and it's Massachusetts and 40° ish. Keep it at a steady temperature changing it actually makes sure energy go up and Bill.
I would be careful doing that, your water heater is likely set to 120F and turning the heat up further would be very hot water and could possibly damage the liner. Also many residential water heaters are only 40 gals. After filling the tub with 20 gals, the temp will be significantly lower. Also having to string a garden hose(s) through the house to fill a tub outside seems like asking for trouble. My tub heated in 2-3 days and was 50F to start directly off the well.
Great video and I appreciate your content! Just curious what is the lowest temperature at night that you saw while using it for the last couple of winters? I just bought one from Sam’s Club. It came with an insulated blanket. I’m just wondering what to do with the pipes and the pump. I think the insulated pipe and zip tie idea is good for the tubes but I was wondering about the pump itself. I figure I could just wrap some insulation around it. Like a fiberglass Owens Corning insulation that’s in your walls. Mine is under the covered deck so moisture is not an issue. Just curious for your thoughts?
its hard to say the lowest temperature it saw i would guess low teens, possibly single digits once in a blue moon, this year i will do a better job documenting those nights. I've also seen some cool saluspa pump insulated covers: amzn.to/3H9HeB8 I would stray away from the fiberglass i just think it could end up making a mess or irritating someone. Always read and follow all instructions and warnings in your owners manual.
That’s good advice actually… Thank you so much! I think I might try some of the foam board insulation stuff and see if that helps. I live in Wichita Kansas and we’re supposed to get temperatures down to 2° in the next few days. Gotta love winter. I was thinking Michigan was a lot colder than down here.
Mine will reach 104, it says I haven’t verified with thermometer but, quickly loses heat, within 30min-40min it will be 99. If you run bubbles it maybe sooner as you’re bubbling the warm water with cold outside air. I don’t get out of the tub over heated though so I find it nice.
I have a frost, free outside faucet so it turns the water off inside of the house where it’s warm and anything left in the silcock then drains out. so I was able to use it to fill the hot tub usually running water doesn’t freeze but I know Minnesota can get really cold. 🥶 I’ve seen a couple other guys on RU-vid doing it in their garage. Seems like it would hold heat better in there as well.
it was cool to see how long it takes to heat in freezing temps. one thing i did was cut up an old pool solar blanket and use that too.... bubble side down. if one person is using it you just flip the solar blanket over in half and it stays warmer longer. air is neat but it cools the water quicker.
We’ll I’m sure there’s possibility’s for damage to occur but in my case the tub is still up and running into the summer time. It also voids the warranty I believe
I did rest two inch thick foam board over top held securely with rocks so it wouldn’t blow away. I’m not sure it was pictured in the video, an pipe insulation around the tubes. It could probably have been more insulated but it held up pretty good
I just bought one of these for my wife and my neighbor said, they don’t do well in the winter. His last pump froze up, how do I prevent that from happening and how is yours doing now?
My pump hasn’t froze yet. As long as I have power the unit has been keeping temp. I guess if my pump/heater ever malfunctioned it would likely freeze, also a loss of power for extended days could cause a freeze as well. But that will happen to nicer tubs as well. I’ll keep you posted if it ever does malfunction or freeze
I’ve had it for this will be the second winter, I will add some pipe insulation around the inlet and outlet pipes. If you look at my other video it shows the insulation used
Yes still going strong no issues to report at this time, there is a 9 month follow up video I did that goes over somethings additional. But no we actually were in it an hour ago and the snow was beginning fall.
Okay are you setting up your tub right now in the cold weather? I had the “E02” and then the “E03” when making this video. In my situation I had to use a blow dryer to heat the pump/heat unit for 10/15mins and then it went away. My thought was without water in the tub the heater recognized the air temp that was below freezing and shut down throwing error codes. Possibly filling the tub would make the code go away as your water from well or municipality should be 50F+-. Hard to say for sure what it’s going on in your situation. Hopefully that is all that’s going on with your tub. Good luck
Did you have a problem with the water evaporating? Mine fully evaporated over the course of a few days even with the cover on and not sure how to prevent that
@@michigantreetops that would make the most sense. There’s a little bit of water on the ground around the pump but doesn’t look super serious 😭 I’ll do some research on that though. Thank you!
@@bradhendrickson7067 it was definitely a leak lol but I will say I’m in MN and this was in the dead of winter so it was around 0 degrees and seemed possible at the time 🤣
Yeah when it is really cold out it is noticeable that if you want to soak long it’s probably better to not run bubbles a lot. However it’s still nice and I’ll use them sparingly depending on how long I wish to stay in the tub
Yeah i linda figured.. iwonder though if there's a way to make a box for the pump and have a heater blowing warm air in toward the intake so the bubbles aren't pure cold air...
it’s honestly not that bad and I don’t desire modifying the tub (other than maybe adding insulation). The bubble jet’s still feel great. Enjoy your new tub!
The bottom is not inflated but has a cushioned membrane, the walls are the only thing inflated. There’s not really seats you kind of leaning against a sturdy inflated wall and resting you bottom on a cushioned membrane
It’s heated so it’s ready to go when the cover is off and your enjoying the tub, in the cold sun freezing temps heat goes quick. Expect to get out within 40 min at the latest. Unless you like 97F or less soaks then you could probably go longer. I enjoy going inside at that temp tho because I’m not over heating inside.
I just got one of these (Saluspa Grenada) and am trying to figure out how to keep the chemical levels in the correct spot. Any recommendations? I bought a Walmart spa chemical kit but it doesn’t have bromine or ph/alkaline stuff. It was 70$ too, does the temp fall quick in like 35 degree weather?
Congrats on the new hot tub, when selecting chemicals for our tub we decided to use bromine. bromine seems to be a better product for spas for man reasons. it works better at hot temps and at a wider range of ph, also its been said to be gentler on your skin and lungs. For me i maintain a good chemical level by keeping the saluspa chem connect full with bromine tabs on a setting of two of three. i use bromine shock often to re-energize the sanitizer. The PH sometimes needs adjustment it can run a little high some times for what ever reason and ill add some pH down. Alkalinity has not ran too far away from me yet, if it gets high usually my PH down helps remediate that. in the 35F weather it maintains heat well. I was in it just the other morning for an hour and it was maintaining temp really well. As we get more into deep winter ill keep you updated. I think the windy 15F nights it may lose heat faster. but the other morning it was 35F and still and held just great. maybe look into different test strips or chemicals? good luck.
I suppose in theory it would be possible, but most homes have only 40 gal water heaters unless you got a on demand heater. I believe the tub is maybe 200gal I probably should know that info. Probably more of a head ache personally for me to do it, I have to connect hoses and run it up stairs my luck the hoses would leak. Lol
Thinking about this again I would refrain from using hot water to fill it, everyone’s hot water heater is set I wouldn’t want to fill it with too hot of water and cause some damage to the liner
That’s a good question, this model doesn’t have a heater that is separate from the pump. I guess it’s some sort of friction heater, heats with friction from the pump? I’m not entirely sure how it works. The pump is constantly circulating water. But it does reach temp and the heater icon turns green indicating it has reached the set temp. In the winter I’m sure the heater runs more but as for how long and how much I’m not sure. The electric bill in the in the winter bumped up probably 70$ a month give or take. I hope that’s somewhat helpful..
@@michigantreetops It is helpful. Thank you. $70 is a big bump, but I'm not surprised. There's a lot of heat loss when it's that cold. Have you considered insulating the hot tub?
@@Andy-df5fj yeah I’m the winter I’m place two inch foam board over the top with a tarp, I would like side insulation but if I try it I want it to look good, I don’t want it to be an eyesore you know
@@michigantreetops That's understandable. Have you ever seen the foil backed thin foam underlayment sold in rolls? That should be able to wrap around nicely with each later giving you a bit more insulation. Then do a final wrap with some decorative vinyl wrap to look nice.
It’s 2 pieces of 1” thick foam board stacked on top of each other. If I did it again I might put like a blanket in between the tub and foam boards because it tends to stick to the foam boards. I think the hot water constantly being above it causes it to stick. Would be nice to have some sort of separation there to stop that.
I had it occur while setting up unit I’d suspect that it registers the air temp without water in the tub, and if the air temp is below 32F the e02 error occurs?. I think adding water to the unit at 50degrees may resolve issue. Is your tub dry and giving you that error code or does it have water in it.
