Nothing is worse than a hot tub heater problem during the winter. As outdoor temperatures drop below freezing, loss of your hot tub’s heating system could turn into expensive problems. Luckily, there are two inexpensive solutions you can be prepared to make.
Winter can sometimes bring Hot Tub problems
Both solutions are ways to put heat into your hot tub to prevent freezing. The first method is to put heat into the equipment cabinet underneath your water. To do this, you ‘ll need to remove one of the sides of your hot tub to put an electric space heater to warm the air pocket inside the cabinet. A full description is included in our article here.
Fish tank heaters make great hot tub emergency heaters.
A second way to prevent your hot tub from freezing is to use a fish tank heater. With this method, you don’t have to open the walls on your hot tub for a space heater. However, you should NEVER GET INTO A HOT TUB WITH AN ELECTRIC IMMERSION HEATER SUBMERGED IN THE WATER.
Obviously, with a 400 gallon hot tub, you are going to need a large fish tank heater heater. The good news is that a pair of 500 watt fish tank heaters can be purchased for well under $100. Look for them in your local pet store, or you can also order them from Amazon and other on-line sources.
If your hot tub is hard wired – in other words it uses a circuit breaker to turn it on and off, it most likely runs on 230 volts. With the exception of hot tubs that you plug into an outlet to use, almost all hot tubs in the United States are hardwired at 230 volts. The typical 230 volt hot tub uses a 4000 or 5500 watt heater. That means your two fish tank heaters probably won’t get you up to 100 degrees, but a total of 1000 watts will prevent your hot tub water from freezing.
Is the heater safe for you to use the tub? Good question. The answer is NO! This is an important safety concern when using an immersion heater: the heater is not made to be used in a hot tub. It is not built to handle the sanitizing chemicals, which will damage the heaters, and it is not intended to be used when there are living people in the water. DO NOT GET INTO THE HOT TUB WHEN THE PLUGGED IN HEATER IS IN THE WATER. The heater is not built with the proper safety measures to protect you from electrocution.
A little preparation can save you thousands of dollars in freeze damage, but you need to be responsible and intelligent. NEVER get into a hot tub when there are electric appliances anywhere in the vicinity.
