Translation, hot tub covers - what's the best?
My ongoing saga of my hot tub that is too far away from our house is never ending. I have noticed at least, every other week it loses two to three inches of water. Well today my long hose is frozen and I can not get water too it. Since we just purchased this house in the fall, we became owners of this could be nice spa. I have also noticed that the old owners bought a too small cover which has become very heavy from water. I am very confused about the specifications for covers. Other than cost differences how does the 1 vs 1 1/2 inch foam... etc. really make a difference for someone in my situation? I think if I get a better cover the spa might not be such high maintance. Any wisdom and/or what has worked for you, information would be much appreciated. Note, we do not have to worry about little kids, we live in SW Ohio. Thanks! ewschott said Note, we do not have to worry about little kids, we live in SW Ohio. Are little kids all eaten in SW Ohio ?? Or maybe banned by the Government?? Sorry could not resist JBB No we just eat them... I said that because I know there is one made so people can walk on it, thus protecting children as a safety cover. I can't believe there is no one to help me with this! Thickness and foam density are directly related to thermal efficency. Tops of the same thickness can either be made to walk on or not. For maximum safety get a top that you can walk on and is lockable. You know what they say.... you get what you pay for....most of the time Hi Ewschott , the thicker covers do a better job of holding the heat in, if you don't need a safety cover, by all means don't buy one as they are quite a bit more $ steve JBB I did enjoy your humor don't have one of these but heard they are great http://www.rhtubs.com/store/insulate.htm but if you read thru the message board http://www.rhtubs.com/cgi-bin/bbs/config.pl you can see some testamonials. when my cover wears out i'm considering getting one of them JBB I just re-read what I wrote and it did sound a bit off! I did get your humor too, I hope you got mine! Luckydriver thanks for the link. I visited the site and really can't make out the cover you like - it looks like it is almost concave? Here is what I ended up with : Hot Tub Works I have purchased chemicals from them and when they put up the free shipping on covers I grabbed one. I went ahead and ordered the 2 foam. Their customer service is awesome, a fella named Chris really went the extra mile to help me. (sorry Mr./Ms. Moderator if I am not allowed to say this, just remove if it's a problem.) I think the previous owner of our house just bought a square cover and that is why I am having so many evaporation problems. I didn't realize it was 2 longer one way, thus this cover really doesn't fit well. It is also water logged. Spending money on a spa cover was like putting on a new roof. You finally realize you have to have one but you hate spending the money. I hope this makes life easier. Thanks again! Well that link is right so here it is without the name embedded: http://www.hottubworks.com/cgi-bin/c...actionkey=CVR Hi, I just came across a cover at www.spacap.com. I just bought my hot tub and am going to tell my dealer that I don't want their cover or lift anymore knowing all the issues and problems with the foam covers. You have to check out this site. It is a very cool cover system!!!! Hope this helps. Mike I also just saw the spacap cover for the first time the other day. They do a very good job of marketing it. I did however start to wonder about their credibility when the showed the video of the two young men barely able to remove the old foam cover. I decided to get an unbiased opinion and just did a google search for spacap. The results from the search were very enlightening. I recommend that anyone considering this product research it beyond spacap's website. I recently just ordered a SpaCap. I can't tell you how I like it yet because I just received it the other day. My power pack went on my tub so I'm waiting for that to return, then I'll fill the tub and put the SpaCap on. So, I will report back as to how I like it. Why did I buy the spa cap. My original cover was a piece of crap. It kept getting water logged, like they all do, and the styrofoam cracked. Based on what I read about the spacap and how it worked, I decided to give it a try. Albeit an expensive try, I figured I didn't want to have to buy another foam cover in two-years anyway. The spacap has easy on/off capability which was important to me. The r-value is supposed to be better than the foam covers. We'll see about that. The quality of the cover seems pretty good. The underside is similar to that of a rubber raft, the heavy duty whitewater rafting type. The top side is like an umbrella and looks pretty good. As far as finding information other than what SpaCap provides, I couldn't find much. I'd be curious to know where such information/reviews exist. I found my information by doing a google seach spacap forum. I found discussions on www.poolsearch.org/forum and www.handymanwire.com/ubbthreads/showflat. Please keep me posted because I do need a new cover and would like to believe the spacap is everything it claims to be. hi i had to take the plunge and buy a new cover since the dog finished off the last one. i also ended at www.hottubworks.com . i was a little concerned ordering over the web but it worked out better than i could hoped for. love the new cover and the service was very good. they went the extra mile to make me feel comfortable. i thought about the inflatable type cover but with kids and a dog didnt seem like the safe choice. i could see my six year old trying to bounce on it. i also bought a lift for the cover which turned out to be the best deal ever. i can now use the spa without dragging the cover off. yeah. now i hope my dog does not eat this one. thanks for the advice it helped. jhopper Well sense we are off to bigger and better things this time of year... the swimming pool! I thought I would let you know the cover we did purchase is working great, plus I broke down a bought a cover valet, it makes such a difference in taking the cover off and then back on. Just be warned a degree from MIT can only be helpful to a limited tools woman kind of like DIYer....when you put it on the spa! Do your research BEFORE ordering a Hot tub Cover. I dealt with a place called The Cover Guy Supposidly these covers were made in Canada...NOT!! They are made in MExico. It took 27 phone calls to finally get my cover. Then I had to track it down myself, and pick it up from a wrong delivery address. Buy at your own risk! The owners do not return calls and they consistantly tell tales about the progress and shipment, where it is coming from, the status etc. etc. etc. . Email me for more info I will be glad to fill you in. I think they train their people with the appropriate lie of the hour. I will keep you informed if the owner makes good on his promise to compensate! Originally Posted by ewschott My ongoing saga of my hot tub that is too far away from our house is never ending. I have noticed at least, every other week it loses two to three inches of water. Well today my long hose is frozen and I can not get water too it. Since we just purchased this house in the fall, we became owners of this could be nice spa. I have also noticed that the old owners bought a too small cover which has become very heavy from water. I am very confused about the specifications for covers. Other than cost differences how does the 1 vs 1 1/2 inch foam... etc. really make a difference for someone in my situation? I think if I get a better cover the spa might not be such high maintance. Any wisdom and/or what has worked for you, information would be much appreciated. Note, we do not have to worry about little kids, we live in SW Ohio. Thanks! spa covers in general are a pain in the rump. In northern lattitudes you will want a cover that is at least 4 thick in the center tapered to 3 or so inches on the long ends. For strength you should have 2# foam inserts. One thing to keep in mind, is that once a cover starts to get heavy, it's r-value is going south in a hury. The cover is your primary insulator, so you will want to keep it in tip-top shape. Because of freight concerns I always recomend that covers be bought localy whenever possible. I purchased my spa cover from The Cover Guy in 09. The cover has been great since then, its still as light as the day it came. I purchased their 6-4 taper cover as it has an R value of 24 which is great for my climate. That is something we were told to look for is the insulation value. They also used a 1.5lb foam which is better than the standard 1lb foam everyone else seems to offer. They knew my model of spa and had helped me with the dimensions as well. I would definitely recommend The Cover Guy! They know what they are doing when it comes to their covers.
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