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  • Hot tub

    Well I guess this is an interesting story about how to do careful research before jumping into solar.

    I have signed up for a 18.36kw system based on my latest annual electricity bill which was $4500.

    What I didn't do was research past years bills which were in fact closer to $3000.

    The difference was my new hot tub I believe. I keep in running throughout the freezing winter. Apparently it's costing me $1500 a year to run!!

    I just bought a watt meter to check but I'm pretty sure.

    The only upside is I just installed two 5 ton heat pumps so if I get a hold on the hot tub usage I will have ample electricity to run it. Probably a couple of EVs as well. I'm just blown away at how wasteful a hot tub is.




  • #2
    Originally posted by Cshama View Post
    Well I guess this is an interesting story about how to do careful research before jumping into solar.

    I have signed up for a 18.36kw system based on my latest annual electricity bill which was $4500.

    What I didn't do was research past years bills which were in fact closer to $3000.

    The difference was my new hot tub I believe. I keep in running throughout the freezing winter. Apparently it's costing me $1500 a year to run!!

    I just bought a watt meter to check but I'm pretty sure.

    The only upside is I just installed two 5 ton heat pumps so if I get a hold on the hot tub usage I will have ample electricity to run it. Probably a couple of EVs as well. I'm just blown away at how wasteful a hot tub is.


    We ran an air filter in our home for about a week to remove any mold spores due to the floor being torn up. My electric bill went to $250 when it should be only $175 at this time of year. You would be amazed as to what some appliances consume in kWh daily.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Cshama View Post
      ... The difference was my new hot tub I believe. I keep in running throughout the freezing winter. Apparently it's costing me $1500 a year to run!!
      We have had hot tubs in a few of our previous homes. Make sure that you mention this to your doctor and get him to write a note recommending that you soak in a hot tub. Tha tmakes your hot tub a medical device and a tax write-off.


      4400w, Midnite Classic 150 charge-controller.

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      • #4
        There are two components to hot tub consumption: pumps and heater. My tub is indoors and the combination of pump and heater is roughly 100kWh per month.

        If your tub is outdoors, it will use much more energy. You can reduce the consumption by adding more insulation and lowering the temperature when not in use. I looked at my tub with a thermal camera, and it seems that they insulated the sides well, but not the corners, so there is probably opportunity to improve on the side insulation. If you are losing heat out the cover, you might also consider adding a second cover over the main one.

        You could also reduce the time that the pumps are running, but they are typically engineered for the correct pump time to keep the tub clean and sanitary, so changing that is not a good idea.
        7kW Roof PV, APsystems QS1 micros, Nissan Leaf EV

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        • #5
          Originally posted by SunEagle View Post

          We ran an air filter in our home for about a week to remove any mold spores due to the floor being torn up. My electric bill went to $250 when it should be only $175 at this time of year. You would be amazed as to what some appliances consume in kWh daily.
          That's why the good Lord made Kill-A-Watt meters.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by J.P.M. View Post

            That's why the good Lord made Kill-A-Watt meters.
            I wasn't thinking what it would use. The problem was getting rid of the mold. I just didn't think the unit would draw so much power. Live and learn.

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            • #7
              Duke energy doesn’t pay me back for excess production. Once a year in may they settle up and if I gave them a net balance of free solar energy they say thanks sucker


              over producing is rarely profitable!

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              • #8
                Most all homes in the USA have 200amp electric service. That is 48kW of power. That is 1,152kWh per day and over 420,000kWh per year. At a conservative 12 cents per kWh, that is over $50,000 a year of power available to your home.....
                BSEE, R11, NABCEP, Chevy BoltEV, >3000kW installed

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                • #9
                  I recently read of a heat pump that in air conditioning mode, could have an
                  extra heat exchanger added to the freon path to pre warm your water with
                  wasted energy. Probably worked in heating mode too, except now input
                  electric energy to the HP are multiplied to do the preheating. Beats using
                  resistance heating, by a considerable COP.

                  Still waiting for the HP product to do that for my water heater. Bruce Roe

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                  • #10
                    get a heat pump for your hot tub. heating anything with resistance heating elements is a HUGE electrical draw. if you only use during the spring/summer/fall water heating panels would also do well.

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                    • #11
                      I ran the watt meter and at the same time installed a solar blanket. Even with the blanket the electric it is using equates to $3/day. Obviously it's winter here so I would expect a slightly lower average over the year. But the temperature does get colder in the middle of Winter also.

                      I've just installed 10 tons of heat pump in 2 units. And in addition I am getting the solar panels installed in a month. So everything is a little up in the air. In addition I have installed a lot of insulation in the attic which made a massive difference.

                      So it's about of a complicated situation. My plan is to become electricity neutral hopefully.

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                      • #12
                        That seems like too much electricity, unless your tub is extremely large. Very likely something is wrong. It could be that a pump is seized or otherwise defective.
                        https://www.directenergy.com/learnin...-a-hot-tub-use
                        "Modern manufacturers advertise the cost to run their hot tubs at about one dollar per day, with $50 per month at the high end."
                        7kW Roof PV, APsystems QS1 micros, Nissan Leaf EV

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Cshama View Post
                          I ran the watt meter and at the same time installed a solar blanket. Even with the blanket the electric it is using equates to $3/day. Obviously it's winter here so I would expect a slightly lower average over the year. But the temperature does get colder in the middle of Winter also.

                          I've just installed 10 tons of heat pump in 2 units. And in addition I am getting the solar panels installed in a month.

                          So it's about of a complicated situation. My plan is to become electricity neutral hopefully.
                          But your heat pumps do not involve the hot tub, right? Not a simple problem, but the reward
                          is huge. Am electrically neutral here, but still working to efficiently get hot water without propane.
                          Bruce Roe

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                          • #14
                            Well, if adding the hot tub raised your electric bill by $1,500/yr., from $3,000/yr. to $4,500/yr. as stated in your opening post, ~ $3.00/day*365 days/yr. = ~ $1,100/yr. so it looks like a SWAG 1st approx. might be that the blanket saved something like $400/yr. in electricity costs, maybe more depending on how cold it's been lately. Don/t know what type of blanket you used but a tight fitting cover will also slow evaporative heat loss better than a loose fit.

                            What's the breakdown/split of tub energy use for the pump and for heating ?
                            Also, what do you pay for electricity for the last kWh purchased ?

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                            • #15
                              We pay a flat rate of 21 cents per kw.

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