There are many different kinds of spa pools and pumps, but whichever type you have, most manufacturers recommend running them continuously if you’re a daily user as it’s actually more energy-efficient to keep them warm than to heat them up from scratch daily.
However, if you only use your spa pool on weekends, the best way to reduce your power bill is to turn off the heater during the week. This way, you’ll only need to heat it up once, and for the next two days you can just maintain the temperature. For example, you can start the heater on a Friday evening and keep it at your desired temperature throughout the weekend, then turn off the heater once you’ve finished using it but keep the circulation pump running. You still need to run the circulation pump for at least 4 hours, twice a day to ensure that the water doesn’t stagnate.
“In most situations, 2 x 4 hour filtration cycles is more than enough to keep the spa clean” Daryl Carruthers, owner of Spa Depot, says. “And if you use the spa at the same time most days, you can set the filtration cycles around when you are most likely to use the spa. For example, if you use the spa at 7pm every night, have one of the filtration cycles set to run from 3-7pm that way the spa will be up to the set temperature ready to go at 7pm.”
If you own a spa, our MoveMaster plan is a great choice for you because it rewards our customers for using electricity at off-peak times, including half price rates overnight (11pm-7am). This is a great way to use less power and save cash whenever you want to heat your spa pool. This can also be the time when you run the second 4-hour circulation pump for the day.
The difference between some all-inclusive power rates (where you're charged the same rates all day) and our half price overnight rates on MoveMaster can be huge. We encourage customers to shift as much energy usage off-peak as possible to reduce their overall bills, but the savings are especially appealing when you specifically look at the cost of running your spa.
The more times you heat up your spa pool overnight, the bigger savings you can get with Movemaster.
Spa pool circulation and heat pump power usage can vary significantly depending on the type and size, as well as the pump's energy-efficiency, but we think this is a reasonable guide. You can replicate these calcs yourself if you know your spa pump’s annual kWh consumption (it’s simply x kWh multiplied by the rate).
Rethinking the time you heat your spa could also save you a bundle.
How long should you run your spa circulation and heat pump?
Many spa pool manufacturers actually recommend running the heat pump consistently if you use it frequently. The main reason for this is because it’s more energy-efficient to keep the water warm than to heat it up daily. For this reason, we recommend heating the spa during our half-price rates (which is 11pm-7am for our MoveMaster plan) and maintaining the temperature afterwards by keeping the pump on and by using a high quality spa cover when not in use. You’ll be using less energy once the pump’s just maintaining the temperature of the water in the spa pool.
As for the circulation pump, it’s usually recommended to run them every 4 hours, twice a day even if you’re not using it daily to prevent bacteria, algae and insects from breeding in your spa.
The guides above are the most recommended advice from spa pool companies, but we’d still advise you to run these past your spa pool supplier to ensure that these settings apply to your own spa as well.
Master your pool pump with MoveMaster
If you have a spa pool, the cost of heating is likely going to be one of the most costly activities at your home. So, it’s worth limiting the impact it has on your overall power bill as much as possible. One way is by paying a decent rate for the energy consumption and heating the spa at the cheapest times. That’s where we recommend our MoveMaster plan.
MoveMaster is a great plan to choose if you have the luxury of owning a spa pool - the half price overnight rates could give you large savings per year. Who would have thought that ‘luxury’ and ‘savings’ can end up in the same sentence?
Have you got a swimming pool? Learn how to save on swimming pool costs with Movemaster.
For further reading on spa pool energy usage, we suggest the following sites:
MoveMaster
Cheaper off-peak power and half price overnight (11pm-7am). Plus an epic solar buyback.
Moving power off-peak can reduce your impact on the environment, so it helps your wallet and the planet.