5 Important Facts about Hot Tub Running Costs
Hot Tub running costs have been a concern for many of our customers over the last few years and understandably so! With the huge increase in energy prices it is certainly a good idea to do your research and look into how much your hot tub will actually cost to run once it is bubbling away in your garden. So, if you are thinking about buying a hot tub and would like to find out more about hot tub running costs first then read on!
How much does it actually cost to run a hot tub?
The honest answer to this is: It depends. It depends on how much power your hot tub draws, how well it is insulated, how decent your hot tub lid is and how often you actually sit in your spa. Other factors that will affect your bottom line are the obvious things such as the energy tariff you pay, whether you have solar panels, whether you have an eco mode on your hot tub that can reduce your running costs and even the temperature you set your spa to.
So let us break this down and look at each contributing factor individually!
1. How much energy does my hot tub consume?
This one is a pretty straightforward question that you should be able to answer relatively easily. Most hot tubs will have a heater that runs on 2kWh or 3kWh as well as at least one pump that tends to be around 2-3 HP which equates to approximately 1.5 – 2 kWh. So add that together and you know what your tub would consume if it needs to heat and filter. Most tubs will need to heat and filter for at least 2 hours a day (and that is without you actually using the tub!) so the running costs for your tub to just sit idle will be around 6kWh – 10kwH per day which depending on your tariff might be around £2 – £5 per day.
Inflatable hot tubs will cost a LOT more than that because they have no insulation whatsoever and therefore need to heat pretty much all of the time whereas Softub hot tubs will cost a lot less to run because they are made of pure insulation and have some very clever heat recovery technology that is unique to the Softub brand. However, your classic acrylic hot tub is likely to use between 6kWh – 10kWh per day for just ticking over and this is going to increase if you are actually going to sit in your hot tub with all the jets on full blast.
Some hot tub dealers might try to tell you that a hot tub will only cost you £1 per day to run but those prices are probably based on energy prices from 1995 and assume that you are not actually ever going to use your tub but rather leave the lid on at all times.
The only exception to this, again, is the Softub brand. They really do only cost around £1.50 per day to run – any acrylic hot tub will be more than that and an inflatable will cost you around £10 per day!
But are there things you can look out for to ensure that your hot tub running costs are kept as low as possible?
Absolutely! So let us take a look at what to watch out for when you are hot tub shopping or trying to reduce the running costs on your existing hot tub.
2. Hot Tub Insulation
It makes perfect sense that your hot tub will be more energy efficient if it is better insulated – the more insulation there is the less heat and thereby energy is wasted.
Inflatable hot tubs have no insulation whatsoever (well, apart from a bit of air of course), which is why they are incredibly inefficient and very costly to run – cheap to buy but this might come back to bite you in the long run.
The best possible insulation you can buy is that of fully foam filled hot tub. Softub hot tubs are not just foam filled but foam built and made from pure insulation foam which is why they are so incredibly energy efficient but many other brands also offer fully foam filled spas. Some, such as Villeroy and Boch and Jacuzzi offer only foam filled spas whereas others such as Artesian or Wellis may offer some ranges that are fully foam filled but others that are not, so do read up on the finer detail of the hot tub you are interested in.
In the case of Villeroy & Boch their unique JetPak system also improves their engineering and plumbing leading to less waste heat and therefore placing them at the top end of the fully foam filled market offering a reduction of running costs of up to 59% compared to other acrylic hot tubs.
As a rule of thumb the cheaper hot tubs on the market are less likely to be fully foam filled but will instead use a combination of insulation foam, reflective foil (a bit like the foil you might find in a first aid kit which is designed to reflect heat back), or rolls of insulation material similar to that used in loft insulation.
These systems will still do a reasonably good job to keep your hot tub running costs manageable but do make sure to ask if the base of the spa is also insulated! If not, you might be losing a lot of that lovely heat to a cold floor underneath your spa!
3. Thermal Cover
Speaking of bottoms brings us to tops: your hot tub should always come with a thermal cover to lock the heat in while your spa is not in use. This is an absolute must and if the manufacturer of the spa you are considering is trying to charge you extra for this then our advice would be to buy elsewhere. After all, if your hot tub dealer is not including something as essential as a thermal cover, what else is your hot tub missing?
4. Hot Tub Running Time
Another factor that will influence your hot tub running costs is the actual time your hot tub is running for every day. Your running time will be influenced by various factors such as the level of insulation (an inflatable will need to heat all of the time because heat will be lost straight away whereas a well insulated spa will only need to “top up” every now and then).
Another factor is the temperature your tub is set to – your tub will need to work harder and run for longer to maintain water at 41 degrees than a water temperature of 38 degrees, especially in cold weather. This leads to the next factor: outside temperature. It will cost more to keep your tub at 38 degrees if it is minus 5 outside than if it is a balmy 20 degrees outside, especially if your tub is not well insulated. However, even a fully insulated tub will lose heat once you take the lid off and get in so outside temperature will definitely always have an impact.
And finally, the amount of time you sit in your spa and enjoy it will impact the hot tub running time and hot tub running costs. If you are only enjoying a quick 15 minute dip once a week the tub will only need to top up what little heat was lost in those 15 minutes. If you soak in your spa for an hour every night this will increase the running time and running costs of your spa.
But using your spa and enjoying it is surely the whole point of having a hot tub and worrying about running costs and counting the minutes whilst you are trying to relax for fear or making things too expensive would really take the shine off things – so do your research and make sure you are comfortable with the running costs of your hot tub before you buy!
Are there any ways to reduce my hot tub running costs?
Yes, there absolutely are ways to keep your hot tub running costs as low as possible. The obvious approach is to choose an energy efficient brand and to make sure the tub is well insulated.
Other ways to keep your hot tub running costs down are to choose a model that has an eco mode or energy saving mode and to set the spa so it only heats and filters during certain times of the day or at night when you can take advantage of a cheaper energy tariff.
Additional measures to manage your hot tub running costs would be to add an air source heat pump, solar panels or additional layers of insulation to your spa.
Are hot tubs expensive to run?
Only you can answer what you consider to be expensive or worth your time and money. Buying an inflatable hot tub and burning through £10 a day might not be the best choice but choosing a decent acrylic hot tub and spending £5 per day might seem more achievable. Spending £1.20 per day on running a Softub is definitely your cheapest option in terms of hot tub running costs but they are not the cheapest brand to buy, so there is an element of weighing up the cost of purchase versus the cost of ownership and finding an option that works for you.
If you are in the process of researching the market and trying to find the right hot tub for you then our team is here to help; be this by answering any questions you might have, working out the running costs you can expect based on your energy tariff or by creating a like for like comparison between different brands and models for you. Simply get in touch and let us know how we can help😊
