Hot Tub Covers Save You Money
Posted on April 7, 2008
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You know that feeling when you’re wallet fells particularly fat. That’s what a good quality hot tub cover can do for you.
Unfortunately, a lot of hot tub owners wait until they get that first heating bill before saying, “You know what, I think a spa cover would be a good idea.”
Not only does a hot tub cover protect friends and family, keep plants and animals out of your hot tub, and protect the interior of the tub, it also saves you money on heating costs.
A cover that insulates heat more efficiently will save you hundreds of dollars every year. More importantly, your tub will be ready to use any time you feel like jumping in. You don’t want to hop in and feel luke warm water surround you. You want your hot tub to be piping hot.
Hot tub covers are made in all shapes and sizes, so it should not be difficult to find a cover that will suffice for your situation. But if you are one of the lucky people who have an incredibly expensive, custom-built hot tub in your backyard that looks like it’s made out of rock or in the side of a cliff, you may have a more difficult time.
It may be expensive to have custom hot tub covers built, but it is well worth the expense to protect the larger investment in the hot tub itself.
Read about the ultimate hot tub covers.
Does Your Hot Tub Cover Waste Energy
Posted on April 7, 2008
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A common question for hot tub owners to ask is, “Does my hot tub cover waste more energy than it saves?”
This is very common because often during winter if you live in a locale where it snows, you will notice that the water inside your hot tub cools off.
You may notice that snow that collects on the top of your hot tub cover does not melt. This does not mean that your spa is so well insulated that none of the heat is leaving through the spa cover.
You may also notice that the water in you tub is cooling. This may lead to confusion, because if no heat is leaving your hot tub (which you assume because the snow does not melt), then why is the hot tub water cooling down.
This all goes back to the topic of insulation. Your cover may not be up to snuff in this category. Hot tub covers have a foam core generally covered in some type of nylon. The foam core of your cover is what insulates heat.
The way it works is there are air particles trapped between tiny foam balls that are bound together. The air that is trapped inside the foam stays the same temperature because it is trapped and does not move.
If you have a weak hot tub cover, the insulation may not be up to par. The reason your hot tub is cooling off is because water inside the tub evaporates and condenses on the bottom side of the jacuzzi cover. This water cools and falls back into the hot tub, cooling it off considerably.
Read how to properly maintain hot tub covers and make them last.
The Ultimate Hot Tub Cover
Posted on April 3, 2008
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If you could have the perfect hot tub cover, what would its attributes be?
Here is a list of some of the most important qualities good hot tub covers have.
First off, you want the cover to be safe. This is the most important part of all and if you are not careful, you may purchase a cover that is not childproof or is faulty in some crucial way. A hot tub cover that was built following the guidelines of the ASTM is by nature going to be more safe than one that is not.
The ASTM is a regulatory body that looks after issues concerning safety.
A strong, rugged, vinyl covering will help protect the “working parts” of a hot tub cover and will ensure that it lasts long and looks presentable for as long as possible. The chemicals in a jacuzzi or spa a very strong and can erode a cover quite quickly if it is not up to snuff.
You know that saying, don’t judge a book by its cover? It applies to hot tub covers as well as other parts of life. The most crucial element of a hot tub cover is the internal foam core. The better quality this element is, the more heat you will be able to keep in the tub, which will save you hundreds of dollars in heating bills.
A warranty is a beautiful thing. If you can find a quality spa cover and find an even better warranty–something like five years–then you are set. You definitely want one of these.
A good hot tub cover has a well-built skirt that hangs around the outside of the cover, allowing rain or other precipitation and dirt to fall off the sides and not get caught inside the cover. You can tell a good quality jacuzzi cover from a bad one by the quality of the skirt. A good one helps keep heat in the tub and dirt out.
Grommeted drain holes are an often overlooked element of a hot tub covers. These are small eyelets that allow any moisture caught inside the cover to precipitate out. This is crucial because this prevents mildew and mold from destroying the spa cover.
Read more about how to make hot tub covers last.
Hot Tub Covers and Child Safety
Posted on March 29, 2008
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Considering Safety when hot tub cover shopping
When looking for a new hot tub cover, it is important to look for a cover that has plenty of insulation. The hotter the climate you live in, the lower the insulation ratio you need. This is obvious.
You also want to make sure that the new hot tub cover you purchase you choose to buy is strong enough to keep out animals and any other creatures that may want to try to get into the warm water of the hot tub.
It is very important that the hot tub cover you choose is strong enough to support the weight of a child or children who may try to climb onto the top. Often, kids will horse around near or on a hot tub because they are unaware of the true danger they can be in if they are not supervised.
Hot tub covers should be strong enough to not break under the weight of a curious misguided child.
You also may want to consider purchasing hot tub covers with a locking mechanism that will also serve to keep kids out of the hot tub. You just want to be as safe as possible when dealing with hot tubs or pools, because activities that involve water can be very dangerous.
Hot tubs are meant to be fun. The last thing you want is for someone to get hurt.
Protecting Hot Tub Covers From Wear
Posted on January 31, 2008
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One of the biggest factors in why hot tub covers fall apart too soon is water absorption. Over time, and hopefully not too soon, water will seep into the foam core of a hot tub cover, and soon it will get heavy, moldy, and eventually, destroyed.
One way to ensure that a hot tub cover stays protected and working is buying one that has a polyethylene vapor barrier for sealing their spa covers foam cores.
The better the foam core is protected, the more effective hot tub covers will be.
A 6mil layer of polyethylene vapor barrier is enough to protect a standard spa cover, but thicker layers will be even better.
The foam core of hot tub covers are made out of expanded Polystyrene, which is made out of small plastic beads that are expanded with steam, then dried and “attached together.”
Even though the individual beads are waterproof, water can saturate between the beads and saturate the foam. This water saturation reduces the insulating ability of spa covers and adds greatly to the weight. Heavy hot tub covers sag and look ugly. Furthermore, they don’t insulate as well when they get heavy.
Foam cores of hot tub covers are usually sealed with polyethylene, a protective chemical that naturally breaks down over time when mixed with the other compounds found in hot tubs. When it starts to break down, the cover will start to take on water and the effectiveness of the spa cover will be greatly decreased.
This is one thing you definitely want to avoid. The more protective a hot tub covers coating is, the longer it will protect your hot tub. When you are shopping for a spa cover, you want to make sure the model you consider has the proper coating.
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