There should be literally no difference in energy cost going to 4kW. The reason is because it takes 1 BTU to raise 1 pound of water 1 degree. 1 watt= 3.412 BTU. It takes the same amount of heat to maintain the water temp regardless of the voltage or watts. The difference is that the 4KW heater will heat the water much fast. So you will draw more watts when you run the heater, but you will be running it for a shorter period of time. Your overall electric bill should not change, either way. 220V is also not more efficient. Electric heat has a power factor of 1, so it is essentially 100% efficient (100% of the heat goes into the water). Changing the voltage does not change the efficiency. Thanks for the video!
Thanks. This is something I've been trying to figure out myself and been going back and forth on. Only thing I can think of with 220 being more efficient, is that you can keep the water temp relatively low most of the time, which will save energy. And then bump it up before going to use the tub. If I lower the temp wired at 110, it takes hours to get back up to temp. In my tests It raises about 2 degrees every hour. So If I set the temp to 80 to save energy. It would take 10 hours for it to come back up to 100 degrees. Where if I set it at 80 at 220v and want to bring it back to 100, it will come back much faster. How much faster I don't know. But I'm guessing thats where the cost savings would be. But I can't confirm. Thanks for your explanation
hey fellow longilander here (Massapequa). Thanks for the test bud, Im going to put a hot tub in my Vacation Rental and wanted rough numbers on electric. One advice, KWPH should be measured with delivery and taxes, so for us on the lsland its actually .20 Per KW. Take the full bill divided by KW used that month and you'll get the actual number.
So glad you made this video… We have a inflatable hot tub and it really sucks taking it down as soon as the outside temp gets below 50. I was glad to see a video of how one works in 30° plug and play seems like a great deal! And $40 a month in the winter is way cheaper than getting a membership to a gym with a hot tub LOL
I'm not sure how well the inflatable tubs will hold heat in cold climates. They are not insulated with foam like this tub, and the bottom lies flat against the cold earth. These types of tubs are molded and elevated, and have foam inbetween the air spaces. Plus they have a foam insulated cover. But since I don't own one, I can't speak from experience. But I did consider one of the inflatables but was concerned how well it would do in the winter. Good luck, and report back if you get one and it works well in the winter. It may cost a little more in electric due to less insulation, but I'm sure it will work fine
Thank you for the info. I have an inflatable and while I do like it, it loses the temperature when you use it. Going to upgrade and get a “real hot tub” but didn’t know what the price of energy would be. Thanks bro
Yes..that would be a good video..I just spoke with the manufacturer and they said that econo mode should work all year in our climate..it would not be good if you are consistently at several degrees below zero temperatures..which we are not..I think I will try it and turn temp up a wee bit..we have a plan!
Thanks for the info. You have me looking through my manual now and see there’s all kinds of modes. I’m going to try some others out as well and see if can save some $$ on electric!
The problem with 110 is, is that you cannot continuously run the Jets & the heater simultaneously, you have to choose one or the other. 220v you are able to run both jets & heater at the same time. PS, also you're putting more strain on the components running at 110v= heater has to work harder by running longer intervals.
The heater will still work with the jets on, but not if you put the jets on high setting, then it cuts power to the heater. I personally never put the jets on high as I find it to be too much pressure. There's no doubt switching to 240 is better performance and probably less wear on the heater. And I do find if we are having a party and you have people using the tub constantly throughout the night, the temp will drop as it can't keep up with the loss of heat. But so far, going on 2 years with this tub running 24/7/365 at 120v and no issues (knock on wood). If the heater were to go bad, or I ever upgrade to a bigger tub, I would probably run a 240 line. But for now, the tub works great for what we're using it for.
Thanks for doing this video! I thought my 110v tub was broken cuz it took all day to heat a few degrees. Apparently 110 is just that slow. I’m in a hot climate so sticking w 110 may prove cheaper. But I’m considering 220 just because I’m impatient. We’ll see.
I'm actually in the middle of testing how much power it uses during the summer as we speak. I just plugged the meter in this afternoon and will let it run 24 hours and the new video should be up by end of this week. I've been happy with it at 110v. But I drained it in the Spring and filled with fresh water and it took a full day to get to temp. That's the downside. But if you don't mind waiting a day for it to heat up, 110 works great!
Just bought a Tuff Spa TT650 and what I noticed is if I heat it to 104 degrees and then turn the jets on while I am in it loses temperature not a lot but definitely goes down to 100 degrees within a half hour of use..so thinking about getting it converted to 220v as the cord also is stretched across to the outlet so if I get the electrical box installed near the hot tub that will also help...hoping I can get this done for under $1000...but I love love this hot tub!
Thanks. Yeah, it will lose some temp depending on how cold the ambient temperate is. But I'm usually done after 20-30 minutes in the tub anyway so if it drops a couple of degrees by then, I'm not worried. But yeah, bumping it up to 220v and it will stay at temp no matter how long you're in it
$40 a month at 32 degree weather. Not horrible. I wonder if you only use it weekly would it be cheaper to refill it with hose water and heat it to 102 again or just keep the water hot all week?
Yeah, I've thought about converting it to 220v to be more efficient, but for the cost of materials and work to do it, I'll just keep it at 110v. I guess its the price you pay for the benefit of using the tub in the winter. Which I have to say is well worth it!
One day I hope to if I ever feel the need to bump it up to 220v. But so far it’s doing fine at 110v. But yeah it would be nice to show it running at both
Good to know and considering you mentioned pseg I’m assuming your on Longisland like me. I’m also researching full foam vs skirt insulation. Leeks on those full foams are a nightmare
I just bought a 120volt plug n play. Anxious to test it out. Thanks for the vid but BTW be careful with your terminology. It's kilowatt-hours not kilowatts per hour. I think you used the terms interchangeably. Its the product of KiloWatts TIMES hours. Thanks for the vid Also BTW, its a pet peeve of mine to not use "110 volts" and "220volts" its really 120 and 240. (+ or - 5%)
Thanks. Yeah I tend to mess up the terminology when talking about it. It's been 30 years since I last worked as an electrical apprentice and even though I know its 120 and 240, for some reason I still catch myself saying 110/220. I dont think I'll ever say it right :) Thanks for correcting me
Hey Joe, I have a similar hot tub as yours..Costco evolution (aka strong spa in USA). It’s a little bigger (300 gallon) with a 50 sq/ft filter..my question is, how many hours a day do you have the filtering set (4,6,8 etc.)? Do you have the tub on standard heating or econo heating? Standard meaning the tub keeps the temperature at level all the time and econo means the heating is only done while filtering..those two things apparently can make up to a 40% electricity savings..I currently am running the heating on standard and doing a 10 hour split filtering cycle..our climate and power costs are similar to yours in winter..but I am paying about $70.00 a month?? So I must be doing something wrong! Oh yeah, my tub is also 110 volt.. Regards, Mark
Hi Mark. Thanks for watching. I keep the tub in standard so it’s always at 102 degrees in the winter or whatever I set it at. The filtration I have set to the 12 hour cycle which means it filters for 2 hours and idle for 10. But the heater will still run to keep temp at 102 as needed. It does have an economy mode but I never tried it. There have been times when I dropped them temp in the tub by like 10 degrees if I knew I wasn’t going to use it for a while, but then it would take a good 5-6 hours to get back up to temp when I wanted to use it. I might try econo mode this summer as they say it works better in warmer months
It’s worth a try. I’m going to experiment in the warmer weather myself with the econo mode and see if that saves electric. I’ll put the kilowatt in it to measure when I do
5:06 is your plug (aside from Kill A Watt) connected to a GFCI outlet? If so, have you had any issues with the electrical tripping? Or did you have an electrician run a non GFCI 110v outlet?
Good catch. Yes, even though the tub cord has it's own built in GFCI, I am plugging the cord into the GFCI outlet on my house. The manual for the tub says that you shouldn't plug it into another GFCI outlet, but I figured instead of swapping my outlet, I would just try it out first and if it gave me a problem, I would change the outlet to a non-GFCI. So far I've had it for 11 months and it never tripped either the GFCI on the cord or the outlet itself.
@@Mudslidex1 I have the Adelaide and I changed my outlet outside to non-gfci, interesting that you haven't had a problem, now wishing I didn't go through all the grief of changing our the outlet, although it did help me determine how much is on that circuit. I have a 20 amp circuit and no power problems so far, did switch to led for patio just in case though.
@@davidjanuskiYeah I wasn't sure if I was going to have to change mine either but I figured I may as well try it out first before swapping it. So far it''s been a year and a half and no issues. Thanks for watching.
That’s interesting..I am in the same filter cycling as you but I am doing 5 hours (total 10 every 24 hour period)..that is probably why I am using so much more power?? What do you think? I’m going to cut the filtering time and see if that makes a difference..I think it will..
I think it will to. Now that the weather is warming up here, I think I'm going to change my filter cycle as well and put it in econo mode to see if it keeps the tub hot and clean and reduce power as well
@@Mudslidex1 yes. I’m going to close mine out at the end of May..not much of a summertime hottuber..I will restart again in October.I like it in the wintertime much more..
Do not get plug and play, on high speed which is what you want it on when soaking it DOES NOT HEAT it only heats on low which is basically the cleaning cycle
Jay McGinnis - Not sure which model you are referring to but the TT450 Platinum we just bought is only 1 kw heat on 115V but is 4 kw of heat on 220V. Still works on 115V but takes longer to heat up. Also the platinum model has 2 pumps for super circulation/pressure but on 115V I believe only 1 pump will work.
I have the Adelaide I got off Amazon, cord is about 10 feet on mine there is no hole to get the plug outside the casing, ended up taking off a syrofoam plug on a corner to get the plug out. instructions were pretty vague on this so kinda had to wing it. Also, instructions say no extension cords so plan ahead!
@@ShooterMedic1818 honestly I can probably lower it. But I like having it ready whenever I want to jump in. That’s an advantage that wiring 220 has. You can keep the temp lower and it will heat up quicker when you bump up the temp to use it. With 110v I found this tub heats in the winter an average of 2 degrees per hour. So if I take it down 10 degrees, it would take about 5 hours to bring it back up 10
There should be literally no difference in energy cost going to 4kW. The reason is because it takes 1 BTU to raise 1 pound of water 1 degree. 1 watt= 3.412 BTU. It takes the same amount of heat to maintain the water temp regardless of the voltage or watts. The difference is that the 4KW heater will heat the water much fast. So you will draw more watts when you run the heater, but you will be running it for a shorter period of time. Your overall electric bill should not change, either way. 220V is also not more efficient. Electric heat has a power factor of 1, so it is essentially 100% efficient (100% of the heat goes into the water). Changing the voltage does not change the efficiency.
Thanks for the video!
Thanks. This is something I've been trying to figure out myself and been going back and forth on. Only thing I can think of with 220 being more efficient, is that you can keep the water temp relatively low most of the time, which will save energy. And then bump it up before going to use the tub. If I lower the temp wired at 110, it takes hours to get back up to temp. In my tests It raises about 2 degrees every hour. So If I set the temp to 80 to save energy. It would take 10 hours for it to come back up to 100 degrees. Where if I set it at 80 at 220v and want to bring it back to 100, it will come back much faster. How much faster I don't know. But I'm guessing thats where the cost savings would be. But I can't confirm. Thanks for your explanation
hey fellow longilander here (Massapequa). Thanks for the test bud, Im going to put a hot tub in my Vacation Rental and wanted rough numbers on electric. One advice, KWPH should be measured with delivery and taxes, so for us on the lsland its actually .20 Per KW. Take the full bill divided by KW used that month and you'll get the actual number.
So glad you made this video… We have a inflatable hot tub and it really sucks taking it down as soon as the outside temp gets below 50. I was glad to see a video of how one works in 30° plug and play seems like a great deal! And $40 a month in the winter is way cheaper than getting a membership to a gym with a hot tub LOL
I'm not sure how well the inflatable tubs will hold heat in cold climates. They are not insulated with foam like this tub, and the bottom lies flat against the cold earth. These types of tubs are molded and elevated, and have foam inbetween the air spaces. Plus they have a foam insulated cover. But since I don't own one, I can't speak from experience. But I did consider one of the inflatables but was concerned how well it would do in the winter. Good luck, and report back if you get one and it works well in the winter. It may cost a little more in electric due to less insulation, but I'm sure it will work fine
Thank you for the info. I have an inflatable and while I do like it, it loses the temperature when you use it. Going to upgrade and get a “real hot tub” but didn’t know what the price of energy would be. Thanks bro
Glad it was helpful!
Yes..that would be a good video..I just spoke with the manufacturer and they said that econo mode should work all year in our climate..it would not be good if you are consistently at several degrees below zero temperatures..which we are not..I think I will try it and turn temp up a wee bit..we have a plan!
Thanks for the info. You have me looking through my manual now and see there’s all kinds of modes. I’m going to try some others out as well and see if can save some $$ on electric!
Great! Let’s hear about it on one of your videos down the road! Hot tub power optimization video! I’ll keep an eye out for it!
Definitely will do. Thanks for watching
The problem with 110 is, is that you cannot continuously run the Jets & the heater simultaneously, you have to choose one or the other. 220v you are able to run both jets & heater at the same time. PS, also you're putting more strain on the components running at 110v= heater has to work harder by running longer intervals.
The heater will still work with the jets on, but not if you put the jets on high setting, then it cuts power to the heater. I personally never put the jets on high as I find it to be too much pressure. There's no doubt switching to 240 is better performance and probably less wear on the heater. And I do find if we are having a party and you have people using the tub constantly throughout the night, the temp will drop as it can't keep up with the loss of heat. But so far, going on 2 years with this tub running 24/7/365 at 120v and no issues (knock on wood). If the heater were to go bad, or I ever upgrade to a bigger tub, I would probably run a 240 line. But for now, the tub works great for what we're using it for.
Thanks for doing this video! I thought my 110v tub was broken cuz it took all day to heat a few degrees. Apparently 110 is just that slow. I’m in a hot climate so sticking w 110 may prove cheaper. But I’m considering 220 just because I’m impatient. We’ll see.
I'm actually in the middle of testing how much power it uses during the summer as we speak. I just plugged the meter in this afternoon and will let it run 24 hours and the new video should be up by end of this week. I've been happy with it at 110v. But I drained it in the Spring and filled with fresh water and it took a full day to get to temp. That's the downside. But if you don't mind waiting a day for it to heat up, 110 works great!
Just bought a Tuff Spa TT650 and what I noticed is if I heat it to 104 degrees and then turn the jets on while I am in it loses temperature not a lot but definitely goes down to 100 degrees within a half hour of use..so thinking about getting it converted to 220v as the cord also is stretched across to the outlet so if I get the electrical box installed near the hot tub that will also help...hoping I can get this done for under $1000...but I love love this hot tub!
Thanks. Yeah, it will lose some temp depending on how cold the ambient temperate is. But I'm usually done after 20-30 minutes in the tub anyway so if it drops a couple of degrees by then, I'm not worried. But yeah, bumping it up to 220v and it will stay at temp no matter how long you're in it
$40 a month at 32 degree weather. Not horrible. I wonder if you only use it weekly would it be cheaper to refill it with hose water and heat it to 102 again or just keep the water hot all week?
Yeah, I've thought about converting it to 220v to be more efficient, but for the cost of materials and work to do it, I'll just keep it at 110v. I guess its the price you pay for the benefit of using the tub in the winter. Which I have to say is well worth it!
dang i thought you were going to show both results what a bummer
One day I hope to if I ever feel the need to bump it up to 220v. But so far it’s doing fine at 110v. But yeah it would be nice to show it running at both
Has anyone found the answer to the question this video was intended to answer? $41 per month on 110v, how much on 220v???
@@AdamFohrman $41 on 110 and $41 on 220, only difference is the speed it heats and on 220 you can run in high speed with the heater on.
Good video
watts divided by volts equals amps..110 is at 9 to 14 amps.230 is at 15 to 18 amps..sooo....kw is kw no matter the voltage..
Good to know and considering you mentioned pseg I’m assuming your on Longisland like me. I’m also researching full foam vs skirt insulation. Leeks on those full foams are a nightmare
I just bought a 120volt plug n play. Anxious to test it out. Thanks for the vid but BTW be careful with your terminology. It's kilowatt-hours not kilowatts per hour. I think you used the terms interchangeably. Its the product of KiloWatts TIMES hours. Thanks for the vid
Also BTW, its a pet peeve of mine to not use "110 volts" and "220volts" its really 120 and 240. (+ or - 5%)
Thanks. Yeah I tend to mess up the terminology when talking about it. It's been 30 years since I last worked as an electrical apprentice and even though I know its 120 and 240, for some reason I still catch myself saying 110/220. I dont think I'll ever say it right :) Thanks for correcting me
Was the 325 watts on low with or without the heater running?
Great info 👍🏼😎
Glad it was helpful!
Great video 👍
Thanks 👍
Hey Joe, I have a similar hot tub as yours..Costco evolution (aka strong spa in USA). It’s a little bigger (300 gallon) with a 50 sq/ft filter..my question is, how many hours a day do you have the filtering set (4,6,8 etc.)? Do you have the tub on standard heating or econo heating? Standard meaning the tub keeps the temperature at level all the time and econo means the heating is only done while filtering..those two things apparently can make up to a 40% electricity savings..I currently am running the heating on standard and doing a 10 hour split filtering cycle..our climate and power costs are similar to yours in winter..but I am paying about $70.00 a month?? So I must be doing something wrong! Oh yeah, my tub is also 110 volt..
Regards,
Mark
Hi Mark. Thanks for watching. I keep the tub in standard so it’s always at 102 degrees in the winter or whatever I set it at. The filtration I have set to the 12 hour cycle which means it filters for 2 hours and idle for 10. But the heater will still run to keep temp at 102 as needed. It does have an economy mode but I never tried it. There have been times when I dropped them temp in the tub by like 10 degrees if I knew I wasn’t going to use it for a while, but then it would take a good 5-6 hours to get back up to temp when I wanted to use it. I might try econo mode this summer as they say it works better in warmer months
It’s worth a try. I’m going to experiment in the warmer weather myself with the econo mode and see if that saves electric. I’ll put the kilowatt in it to measure when I do
5:06 is your plug (aside from Kill A Watt) connected to a GFCI outlet? If so, have you had any issues with the electrical tripping? Or did you have an electrician run a non GFCI 110v outlet?
Good catch. Yes, even though the tub cord has it's own built in GFCI, I am plugging the cord into the GFCI outlet on my house. The manual for the tub says that you shouldn't plug it into another GFCI outlet, but I figured instead of swapping my outlet, I would just try it out first and if it gave me a problem, I would change the outlet to a non-GFCI. So far I've had it for 11 months and it never tripped either the GFCI on the cord or the outlet itself.
@@Mudslidex1 I have the Adelaide and I changed my outlet outside to non-gfci, interesting that you haven't had a problem, now wishing I didn't go through all the grief of changing our the outlet, although it did help me determine how much is on that circuit. I have a 20 amp circuit and no power problems so far, did switch to led for patio just in case though.
@@davidjanuskiYeah I wasn't sure if I was going to have to change mine either but I figured I may as well try it out first before swapping it. So far it''s been a year and a half and no issues. Thanks for watching.
That’s interesting..I am in the same filter cycling as you but I am doing 5 hours (total 10 every 24 hour period)..that is probably why I am using so much more power?? What do you think? I’m going to cut the filtering time and see if that makes a difference..I think it will..
I think it will to. Now that the weather is warming up here, I think I'm going to change my filter cycle as well and put it in econo mode to see if it keeps the tub hot and clean and reduce power as well
@@Mudslidex1 yes. I’m going to close mine out at the end of May..not much of a summertime hottuber..I will restart again in October.I like it in the wintertime much more..
@@littlemanbb7330 I agree. I get more use out of mine from Fall-Spring. However I do like to use it on Summer nights
What type of 220v outlet is needed for this hot tub?
It wouldn’t plug into a 220 outlet. For 220 it has to be hard wired directly to the control box of the spa
Hey Joe, what’s the verdict after w proper winter? I’m in Catskills...thinking about adding a 110v to the cabin...can it keep up?
How long is the cord of hot tub Thanks for great videos...?
Do not get plug and play, on high speed which is what you want it on when soaking it DOES NOT HEAT it only heats on low which is basically the cleaning cycle
BIGWOOD3160 Not true if you purchase the Tuff Spa brand - heats on high speed also on 110vac.
Jay McGinnis - Not sure which model you are referring to but the TT450 Platinum we just bought is only 1 kw heat on 115V but is 4 kw of heat on 220V. Still works on 115V but takes longer to heat up. Also the platinum model has 2 pumps for super circulation/pressure but on 115V I believe only 1 pump will work.
@@backwoods_legit7066 Your Platinum will only run on 240 because of the 2 motors but that being said you got one of the best hot tubs on the market
I have the Adelaide I got off Amazon, cord is about 10 feet on mine there is no hole to get the plug outside the casing, ended up taking off a syrofoam plug on a corner to get the plug out. instructions were pretty vague on this so kinda had to wing it.
Also, instructions say no extension cords so plan ahead!
What temp do you keep it at when not using
I usually keep it at 102 all the time for the winters, and in the summer I set it around 99 full time
@@Mudslidex1 why so hot all the time?
@@ShooterMedic1818 honestly I can probably lower it. But I like having it ready whenever I want to jump in. That’s an advantage that wiring 220 has. You can keep the temp lower and it will heat up quicker when you bump up the temp to use it. With 110v I found this tub heats in the winter an average of 2 degrees per hour. So if I take it down 10 degrees, it would take about 5 hours to bring it back up 10
@@Mudslidex1 awesome thanks for the reply.
@@ShooterMedic1818 You're welcome.
answer without the blah blahblah... 41.00 per month thank you
You're welcome
Using it how often?