Heating can make up over a quarter of your total power consumption. As such, many people are reluctant to buy hot tubs since — in addition to the already-high unit cost — they’ll have to deal with a huge increase in their electric bill.
What if we told you that you could get the luxurious comfort of a hot tub without having to worry about paying through the roof on electricity? Thanks to solar technology, that’s now a possibility.
Read on to learn how the sun can foot the bill for your hot tub usage!
Read Also:
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- Home Improvement: Why Invest in a Hot Tub?
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- Reasons Why a Bathtub Is a Necessity
Conversion Process
One of the best things about going solar with your hot tub is that you won’t even need to buy a new model to do it.
If you already have a hot tub then you can just convert it into a solar-powered unit by making a few easy changes.
If you don’t have a hot tub then you could always pick up a secondhand unit to reduce your starting costs.
Just be sure to test it thoroughly to ensure that there are no defects or leaks that the seller may be trying to conceal.
The simplest way to leverage the sun’s energy for your tub is through the use of a heat exchanging panel.
You’ll only need roughly six hours of strong sunshine per day to keep your tub going when using a heat exchanging panel to capitalize on solar power.
Water that has gone cold will exit your hot tub through the bottom and go through the heat exchanger.
As it passes through the small tubes, it’ll soak up the heat and get cycled back into your hot tub — ensuring you get a steady supply of heat.
This works very well since the sun can effectively heat the small tubes without breaking a sweat and the cold water automatically drops lower in the hot tub due to its temperature, making the tub a fully automatic system.
Those with small children or puppies living with you, then we’d recommend installing a fence around your hot tub to maximize safety.
You can’t put a price on life, so the marginal amount of money it costs to get a hot tub fence is well worth it.
Relocating Your Tub
One thing you might want to do before actually converting your hot tub into a solar-powered unit is to move it to a new location.
While a shaded porch may have been fine back when it was using grid power, there are strict criteria that should be met when choosing a spot for solar tubs.
You’ll want to find a location that gets a lot of sun on a regular basis. This will ensure that your hot tub can make the most out of the solar energy that comes down on your property.
In-ground tubs can’t be moved so choose wisely when buying a hot tub in the first place.
Be sure to fully drain the tub before you attempt to move it. First of all, this will make it lighter and thus easier to transport to its final resting place.
Secondly, it also reduces the risk of structural failure since the tub won’t be under as much weight while being moved.
You should also clear out any obstacles that may obstruct the path between where your hot tub currently sits and where it’s supposed to go.
Do this before you start the moving process to optimize efficiency and reduce the risk of any accidents happening.
There’s no shame in asking for help. We wouldn’t advise going it alone since you could damage the tub or injure yourself. You could ask for help from friends and family, or even hire some people to help with the move.
Benefits of Solar Tubs
Save Money
The first benefit is the most obvious. Since you won’t have to rely on local power companies to keep your hot tub running, you’ll save a lot of money that you would otherwise have wasted on the electric bill.
Sure, you might spend a bit more to get a solar-powered hot tub initially, but that extra cost will pay off really quickly with the money saved on electricity consumption.
Think of solar-powered hot tubs as a long-term investment that brings a giant return.
Environmental Impact
Going for a solar-powered hot tub will also benefit the environment since you’ll be relying on clean and renewable energy rather than increasing the consumption of the local power grid.
This is key since fossil fuels make up the majority of US electricity.
In fact, 39% of all power in the US is generated through coal. Whenever you plug a new appliance into the grid, you’re contributing to the carbon emissions that the nation has through its use of fossil fuels.
Why not go green if it ends up cheaper for you anyway?
Maintenance
Much like other luxury purchases — such as boats or sports cars — hot tubs take a fair amount of money to maintain.
Standard power supplies tend to fail as well. Whether it’s due to a surge or factory defects, you could find yourself switching the power supply out multiple times.
On solar-powered hot tubs, you don’t have to worry about such issues since your power supply is literally the sun. This means that you’ll save money on electricity as well as on maintenance, making it a double win.
Conclusion
As you can see, getting the sun to power your hot tub is not just possible but actually easier than you think. With myriad benefits and better results across the board, there’s really no reason to not go for it.
If you enjoyed reading our article then be sure to share it with a friend so that they too can reap the benefits of solar-powered hot tubs.
They’ll be thanking you later when they get to run hot tub parties without breaking the bank on electric bills.
That’s all for now but stay safe and go get your solar on!
