Every November and December a windstorm takes down lines across the north end, the Eastside and the south county, and hot tub owners ask the same two questions: will it freeze, and why did it not come back on when the power did?
During the outage
Keep the cover on and closed. A full tub at 100°F in a good cover loses a few degrees a day; even at 25°F outside it will not freeze for two or three days. Do not drain it in a panic — a half-drained tub with water trapped in the pump and heater is the one that freezes.
If the outage runs past two days in a hard freeze, call us. We can drain the equipment bay — pumps, heater and the low plumbing — in under an hour and leave the shell full, which protects the parts that cost money.
When the power comes back
This is where most of the damage happens. The return of power on an older service is not clean, and the spa pack is the most sensitive thing on the circuit. If the display is dark after the power is back, do not keep flipping the breaker. The transformer, a fuse or the main board has usually taken the surge.
We test from the breaker in — transformer output, fuses, sensors, relays — and only then condemn a board. When a board is the casualty, a surge protector goes in at the disconnect with the new one. It is the cheapest insurance in the yard.
Which neighbourhoods see this most
Hilltop and bluff lots — Magnolia, Queen Anne, Broadview, West Seattle, Somerset in Bellevue, the Renton Highlands — lose power more often and take the hardest wind. Lakefront lots stay warmer but damper. Anywhere with a pre-war electrical service is more likely to pass a surge to the pack.
Questions
Should I turn the breaker off during an outage?
How long will a covered tub stay above freezing?
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Next note: Seattle's soft water and your hot tub: the chemistry that saves the heater