If you own a spa or hot tub the spa cover is the most important aspect of energy savings you have. Unfortunately it is also the most replaced item as they tend to wear out quicker than almost any other part. Many people are enticed into buying a replacement hot tub cover over the internet due to their apparent lower price. This article is intended to show you what to look for and save you the grief of being ripped off.
A search for spa covers on Google brings up over 1.6 million results. Many of the companies listed are selling a quality product. Unfortunately, some companies are selling the lowest quality possible and enticing people in with low low prices and excellent marketing. Please remember, if a company says they're the best, or #1, THEY ARE THE ONES trying to convince you of this. Sometimes it's hard to remember that in most cases you really do "get what you pay for".
Lets look at some of the way companies may try to rip you off.
The most common way is to simply omit or hide important information. There are so many aspects to a hot tub cover that it's easy to omit telling about one or two features. The omission I see most frequently is the density of the foam. Most covers are made of 1 pound, 1.5 pound or 2 pound foam. Higher density foam is stronger, more insulating, less susceptible to water absorption, and I'm sorry to say, will cost more. To give you some idea, the difference in manufacturing cost (NOT retail cost) between using 1 pound and 1.5 pound foam can be as much as $15 per cover, yet a 1.5 pound density cover can last 50% longer than a 1 pound cover. Think about it, what's a better deal, a $300 cover that will last 4 years, or a $325 cover that will last 6 years?
The next most common omission is the qualities of the outer vinyl, specifically the "UV rating". Spa cover vinyl can have a rating of between 500 hours and 1500 hours. 1500 hour vinyl can last 3 times as long as 500 hour vinyl. But again, I'm sorry to tell you, 1500 hour vinyl costs a little bit more.
If you really want to learn about ALL the different aspects of spa covers, the best site by far is Abracadabra Hot Tub Covers and Spa Covers. I'll warn you though, if you're at all lazy there may be more information there than you can handle (this is another thing many companies are counting on to convince you to by their covers.)
Another way to "get your business (I really hate to say, "rip you off") is through "legitimate" misrepresentation. Just recently I saw a company advertising a 10 year warranty for their hot tub covers. This was on every page of their web site. But when I dug deep enough to actually find a copy of their warranty, the 10 years was for their absolute top of the line $795 cover. Their "normal" spa covers only had a 1 year warranty.
Another very common form of "legitimate misrepresentation" is to use "nominal" measurements. NOMINAL -
According to Merriam-Webster Inline, "of, being, or relating to a designated or theoretical size that may vary from the actual". The most common example of this would be that ever common building material, the 2 x 4. A "2 x 4" hasn't been a true 2" by 4" since around the 1940's. Many companies are using "nominal" figures when stating the thickness of their covers. I've seen covers as thin as 3-1/2" thick being called 4 inches. Some companies are stating the thickness of the complete cover, foam and vinyl covering, while others are stating just the thickness of the foam. Needless to say, the thicker the actual foam, the more energy efficient the cover will be. By all means, when you receive your cover, MEASURE IT. If it's not as advertised COMPLAIN. Complain to the company that sold it to you and complain to your credit card company (your credit card company will almost immediately give you your money back).
One last little "trick", and this will work with any company, go to any search engine and search for the company name followed by the word "complaint" or "sucks".
