When searching for a new or replacement cover for your spa or hot tub, you can feel more confident about your final choice if you first weigh what is most important to you in a cover.
Appearance, price, durability, energy savings and ease of use are typically most important to most consumers when selecting a new cover. However, with our worldwide Corona Virus Pandemic we are seeing a drastic increase in awareness of how we can keep things germ and virus free to prevent the spread of diseases to our loved ones, friends and family.
Here is a brief chart that illustrates the top 7 factors we should consider when selecting the best hot tub cover for your needs:
EASE OF USE
Having a hot tub cover that is easy to open and close and remain that way for life is very important. We have heard too many people say that they have “stopped using their spa because their cover was to heavy or to hard to open”.
DURABILITY
There are a lot of important factors that will determine how long a cover will last, ranging from the quality of the materials used, to the engineering and workmanship put into it.
ENERGY EFFICIENTCY
Most of the heat escapes from a hot tub through the lid and via 3 means of heat transfer – Convection, Radiation, and Conduction, with radiant heat loss being the leading contributor. “R-Values” are what most people are familiar with on this subject and this measures how efficient a cover is at reducing heat lost via Conduction only. Its best to find a cover that combats heat loss via all 3 means of heat transfer.
APPEARANCE
Appearance is very subjective course. But what is universal on this subject is how long will it stay looking new and good? Look for a cover that looks as good many years from now as when new.
SANITARY – GERM AND VIRUS FREE
Keep in mind that a “Non-Porous Surface” will always be easier to keep germ and virus free than a porous surface is. This is exactly why your kitchen counter tops are always non-porous because you can use the proper sanitizers to kill those nasty germs and virus’s as well as mold and mildew.
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY
There are many ways a spa cover can harm and/or help the environment,. From landfills, to raw material consumption, from pollution created while manufacturing, to energy savings, the list is long on how a cover manufacturer can help the environment. Find a manufacturer that openly discusses how their cover protects our environment and what they do to help.
WATER ABSORBTION
Water absorbing into the foam core of a hot tub cover is by far the #1 killer of covers. Although this subject can fall under any one of the above 6 important traits, it is listed separately here because of its extreme importance. Water soaked foam cores reduce the life expectancy, reduce energy savings, greatly limits your ease of use, directly impacts the environment, makes covers sag and look ugly, and creates unhealthy and unsanitary conditions. It is the worst, so it should be your #1 factor in selecting a good cover.
No matter what brand of cover you end of buying, we simply advise you to pick and choose wisely. Based on which of these 7 traits are most important to you, see how your cover manufacturer measures up.
At Advanced Spa Covers, we take every one of these 7 important factors very, very seriously!
#1 – We sell the only cover available that is guaranteed to never gain any water weight over the life of your cover. THIS IS HUGE!
#2 – Because we never get heavier from water weight gain, we remain easy to use and we offer various cover lift options that are NOT available anywhere else.
#3 – We come with the industries only “Lifetime Warrantee“. We can do this because we make zero compromises in the raw materials that go into our covers and take serious pride in our engineering and workmanship too.
#4 – Inch for inch, we are the most energy efficient cover available anywhere. We are the only manufacture that uses Owens Corning NGX foam insulation that has 25% higher R-values per inch than the typical EPS foam does. And unlike the traditional cover, we come standard with full perimeter gasketing to reduce convective heat losses, and a built in radiant barrier to reduce radiant heat losses too.
#5 – Advanced Spa Covers offers the only cover available in ANY COLOR OF THE RAINBOW, and the only cover available with 3D EMBELLISHED DESIGNS that you can customize to make your cover unique and to fit your décor.
#6 – The Advanced Spa Cover is the only cover that comes standard with a non-porous surface that is FDA Approved for direct food contact just like your kitchen counters are! Plus, because no water or steam can penetrate into the foam core, there are no worries about standing water inside your cover collecting and breeding grounds for germs, virus, mold and mildew.
#7 – We are simply the most environmentally friendly choice among all spa covers available for all the important reasons:
- We reduce the number of covers getting tossed into our landfills every month
- We use 25% less foam in the production of every cover reducing the impact on our natural resources.
- We use only NGX foam (Next Generation Foam) which is committed to eliminating the use of high-Global Warming Potential (GWP) HFC blowing agents. The foam used in a traditional hot tub cover is Expanded Polystyrene (EPS Foam) aka “Styrofoam”, which is getting banned in many parts of the world for its huge impact on Global Warming.
- We recycle and repurpose our scrap from the factory
- We reduce energy consumption on every hot tub that we cover by reducing heat lose via ALL 3 means of heat transfer. No other cover manufacturer makes this claim. We have the highest R-Value to reduce conductive heat loss. We have full perimeter gasketing to reduce convective heat losses. And we have the only patent protected, 100% effective, built in radiant heat reflective surface to reduce radiant heat losses too.
And lets not forget: Prices are important too!
In closing, a wise consumer can review these important traits and choose which cover best fits their needs. We fully understand that price can be equally important to many as well! Keep in mind that when you take energy savings and life expectancy into account, it all comes down to a choice of, “spend more now, or pay more latter”. And also ask yourself, how much is ease of use, having a sanitary cover, and appearance worth to you?
Thank you,
Jeff Jensen – Founder/Inventor