Anyone have a hot tub?

[Rock'n Robin]

DH has had the fever(no pun intended) to get a hottub for over a year now. His company was at a local home show last week and the Master Spa display was right across from his. Turns out he can get a (supposedly) great discount on one of them as a contractor courtesy. I'm ambivalent--wouldn't mind one of the cool ones with those shoulder massager jets, but am wondering about electricity and water cost. Anyone have any stories or advice?
BTW we live in NW Ohio, if climate is a consideration.
Robin M.

 

[figment95]

We have a hot tub because DH couldn't live without it. He loves it and I like it if it's just the right temperature outside. Our electric bill went up about $20/month. We don't have a great cover so that makes a huge difference. We winterize it for about 3 months every year because it costs too much to heat. Chemicals can get expensive. I was just at the spa store and spent about $80 but that will last us for a few months. It really doesn't affect our water bill much because you don't have to fill it too often if you keep the tub clean. Bottom line... hot tubs are great to have but they do require work. Hope this helps.

 

[tiggersmom2]

HI!
We have a HUGE Hydrospa, it seats about 12. This was the BEST purchase we ever made! It only raised our electric bill about $15.00 a month.

 

[Deb & Bill]

You need to get a good insulated top for it to keep it hot. We wound up building a deck around ours to make it more accessible. (ours was a stand alone portable by Hot Springs Spa)

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

Ours is a Hot Springs Grandee and it is inside. We made a special room (garage door that opens up looking out into our backyard) for it when we built the house. The chemicals are not a big deal and the energy costs are not bad at all.

Well worth it!!

 

[olena]

I wish...

 

[aprilgail2]

I would love one but my neighbors got one last year and said there electric was up almost 100 a month and I can't swing that....I guess if you live south then it would be cheaper but I guess trying to keep that thing hot when it is 2 degrees out takes a lot of electric!

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Thanks for the replies so far. DH has looked at the hot springs spas and also master spas. I'm glad to see two of you have hot springs spas and seem to enjoy them. Does anyone know what difference the number of jets makes? Each brand has a model around 400 gallons that seats 5-6 people, but the master spa has 73 jets and the hot springs has 31. Both have separate jet controls for each jet. I found a website that compares brands and both are pretty darn close.
Robin M.

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

I don't know what brand we have, but I do know a good cover makes all the difference in the world as far as not raising your electric bill too much. Most hottubs come with a basic cover. You actually have to spend more money to get a good insulated cover. Also, if you take the sides off the hottub you can see that there is usually LOTS of dead space around the tub in the case. DH stuff most of that dead space with insulation when we lived in NE, and the impact on our electric bill was negligible ($5-10/month). I would definitely do your research before buyng.

 

[Harley Chick]

Our electric bill went up about $30 a month (except the night we forgot to put the cover back on, it was an extra $50 ). We use it about 5 times a week. Love it.

 

[DisneyObsessed]

We have a Hot Springs Sovereign. We absolutely love it. Our electric bill only went up about $20/month, and the chemicals are not really that bad at all. Don't try and save a few bucks on cutting down on the size. Once you're using it, you want all the room you can get. Ours is on our deck about 2 steps outside the slider. We have used it all winter long. It's so cool to sit in it when it is freezing cold with snow all around you. It's only a little bit of a pain to take care of until you get used to it. Our uses Bromine instead of Chlorine. As long as you put it in after every time you use it, even if it's just one person, it's fine.

 

[lsyorke]

We have a Saratoga Spa(seats 10) and don't use it as much as I thought we would Spring and Fall its used the most. The first three years in the winter we kept it going but the electric bill was $50.00/month higher. This year we winterized it(not really hard to do) and will open it again in the spring. Ours is 6 feet from the sliding door on the deck and while sitting in the hot tub in the snow sounded wonderful you still have to get out and that six feet feels like a mile!!

Would I buy one knowing what I know now, probably not.

 

[Lanshark]

We have a very small Hot Springs spa that seats 2 on our sundeck. Electricity runs no more that $10 a month and it is always 104 degrees. Ready to go when we are. We love it.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We bought our Hot Springs Spa almost 20 years ago solely for the reason that it was the only hot tub approved as a medical device. We moved about 10 years later and left it with the house since we built the deck around it. Ours seated four.