We’re not talking about you’ve set it for 104 and it’s only heating to 103. We’re talking about variations of more than ten degrees.
Why the hot tub heats up a little – but not to your programmed setting.
During the summer, your tub might only hit 85 or 90 degrees, and during the winter you might not be able to get it above 40 or 50. Often, the problem is that your heater has stopped functioning.
As we’ve written about in the past, there are a dozen different issues that a heater could stop working, but customers often wonder why the hot tub heats up a little, but not a lot.
Did someone fool around with the control panel, changing the programming? Did you have a power failure? Did the heater stop working yesterday, but then magically come back on again today? It would be wonderful if your heater repaired itself like that, but we haven’t seen that happen before.
Actually, your heater can do only one of two things. First, it can have electricity going through it, which causes it to heat up. Or second, it can sit in the water without any electricity going through it doing nothing. If your hot tub fails to reach the temperature you’ve programmed into it, then the heater is not working properly. It could be the heater element, it could be a temperature sensor, it could be flow switch failure or any one of a dozen other reasons.
Luckily, as long as your hot tub is powered up, even if the heater is off, your pumps can work, (unless your heater isn’t working because a pump has failed). Those pumps generate a lot of heat due to friction, and that’s why your hot tub hasn’t cooled down to the air temperature. If a circulation pump has failed, the heater will stop working and there’s no friction being generated; the water will continue to cool until it reaches air temperature. During the summer, it may not be a big problem: many people will keep their hot tubs at 80 or 90 degrees to use like a swimming pool. Just make sure you get it taken care of before winter. During the winter, when the air temperature is below freezing, your tub can turn into an actual iceberg. See our FAQ entry below, “No heat – and it’s winter.”
