Quote Originally Posted by SunnyOptimism View Post
I live in Tucson, a far warmer climate than yours, so I'll put in my two cent opinion on spa's in winter time - I don't think your request to have a usable spa year-round is feasible in your geographic area. I'm not saying that it can't be done (people use hot tubs in freezing climates all the time) but it depends A LOT on the location of your pool/spa relative to your house as well as how you plan to heat it (gas, electric, etc) and how you're going to winterize your pool relative to the spa.

As far as comfort goes, when the air temp hits the low 40's, going into and out of a heated spa can be difficult. Even if you are fully submerged up to your chin, your head is going to lose a lot of heat and it will be uncomfortable. We have freezing temps down here in the desert and I rarely want to go out to the spa once the air temps are below 55F...it's just more work/effort than I care to expend.

This brings up the other point - energy to heat a spa. 1 BTU is the energy it takes to heat 1 pound of water 1 deg F (water is 8.4 lbs/gallon). I have a 400,000 BTU/hr gas heater and an attached spa of roughly the same volume as yours. In winter, to go from 40F water temps up to 90F (if that's even possible given the surface heat loss) would take 336,000 of BTU's of gas, or about 3.36 Therms (gas cost is typically measured in Therms, 1 therm = 100,000 BTU). Given local gas costs here, that's probably about $10/hr to run the spa. That doesn't even factor in the electrical energy costs of running the pumps, so if you plan to use your spa a lot in the winter, it can cost you quite a bit of money

Finally, winterization - If your spa and pool are connected on the same pump system, it will be hard to winterize your pool (close it) and keep your spa open. You'll need a chlorination method for your spa that doesn't rely on the SWCG because most cells have a cold-water cut off feature and won't run when the water temp is below 50F. Also, most automated pump control systems have an "anti-freeze" setting where the pumps run once the air temp drops close to freezing (my system is set to 38F air temp to kick on the anti-freeze option). Again, this complexity needs to be factored into winterization.

In your area, I probably would have opted for a pool with a separate hot tub or, with a pool/spa combo, then I would just winterize everything. My pool/spa stays running/open all year round because we rarely ever get any surface freezing here and day time temps in southern AZ can go into the 60's easily making winter algae a possibility.

Again, just my opinion. Folks in your area may do pool/spa combos a lot and, hopefully, your PB knows what he's doing....
Thanks for the post SunnyOptimism. There have been many concerns that have crossed our minds…my mind, and I’m fairly confident that our builder knows what he’s doing. He’s been building pools here for almost 30 years. We’ve been pretty careful to not pick a builder that was just a yes man and promised us the world. He’s proven himself several times already with suggestions/recommendations.

Prior to moving to Colorado, we lived in a dessert climate in southern California. Our temperature extremes went from 115 in the summer to sometimes 30’s in the winter. Not like they are here in Colorado, but we had some wild swings none the less. We jumped in the spa in those (good ol days) without issues. I understand the discomfort you’ve described but we love our relaxing spa and have not been bothered by the cold temps.

Right now, my main concern is more about possible damage to piping. Pipes freeze and break and I don’t want that to happen. I have sent a message to our builder to confirm that this will not be an issue.

I really appreciate the input and I know where you’re coming from. Hopefully, all will work out for the best.