Hot Tub Forum
Original => Hot Tub Forum => Topic started by: uncommonlytasty on April 01, 2007, 12:29:44 pm
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Has anyone heard of a “super heater” that allows you to keep your water temp lower for efficiency, and then quickly raise it for use? A coworker swears they exist but I can’t find any information for anything like this. It does sound like a good idea though.
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This is what I use to super heat my water.
(http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r165/tileman_photos/jessica_alba_good_luck_chuck.jpg)
Seriously though I haven't heard of such a thing but that's not saying much.
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That would be a gas heater that does not apply to commonly bought self contained spas.
I am sure you could modify most spas for such an application. However, it is not an efficiency issue. We used to modify Hot Spring spas for people who had amperage issues. They could run their jets with 110v and heat with a gas heater.
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Some spas have an economy mode which keeps the water temperature lower until you use the spa.
Electric heaters like the ones in spas are probably as "speedy" as it gets- it's not a matter of efficiency- it's more a matter of watts. More watts = more heat. Currently we get maybe 6 degrees pre hour temperature rise with heaters rated around 5K watts. You'd need to go WAY higher than that to do what you'd want. Then you run into all sorts of issues- like needing to supply your spa with a 100+ amp power service or something- not practical and the cost would be high, I'd expect.
Many homes have 100 amp or less serving the entire dewlling.
Adding gas heat adds it's own issues- like needing gas lines run, cost of heater and installation, etc....
How much would this feature be worth to you? Probably double the cost of the spa.
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You could run a heat exchanger off your boiler.
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You could run a heat exchanger off your boiler.
What's a boiler? :)
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An old tough chicken you cant broil, bake, fry or BBQ.
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What's a boiler? :)
Your probably joking but here goes, a boiler can serve several purposes. It may heat water through a heat exchanger and pump that hot water throughout your house for heat and hot water. They are fired by wood, oil, coal, natural gas or anything else that will burn. Or in an industrial application it may do all of that and also create steam to run a turbine generator to supply electricity, or be used in the manufacturing process.
In several manufacturing processes the byproduct of the procces is burned to create the hot water/steam.
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Thanks for the replies everyone, especially you Why Not! Shwing! I doubt my electrical system would support the load required for such a heater if it did exist. My house is heated by a furnace, so I could not use a heat exchanger. I’m happy with how the tub heats now, but the “super heater” concept sounded like a neat idea.