Lay-Z-Spa were to plug in

loncell

TK Veteran
Wife bought a hot tub over the lockdown and I thought, easy enough I'll send it to the double socket that only has the fridge on it. The hot tub is plugged into a not too old outdoor socket (not rcd) then that 2.5mm cable travels from the outdoor in trunking under flags and into the house which in turn plugs into double socket on the wall. I would normally only use it for say working on the car or mowing.
So yesterday hot tub stops it trips out its own rcd. I takes a look at the double socket with the fridge on and its hot, not mad hot but hot enough. then I noticed the on/off button on the socket for the hot tub has seased. I cant say the sockets that were bought some years ago brushed chrome are the worlds best so,
Will it be shit plug and socket or will it be because the socket cant take 2 items on it on 24/7 ?. If I replace the socket and plug will it be better or should I move the hot tub to a socket on it's own ?
 
we got a lazyspa tub over lock down as well but we have an outdoor socket on the wall of the house and so far we've had no issues but we don't leave it on 24/7, ours cuts out after 72 hours automatically anyway if left on for that long and watching the smart meter I have no intention of leaving it on 24/7.

A suggestion, rather than plugging it into the socket, can't you run a spur off the back of the socket? I'm not an electrician so don't know if running it as a spur from the back of the socket is any safer than basically having it plugged in as a heavy duty extension lead.

Nothing to do with your electric issue but I have found leaving it on for about 5 hours it gets up to a nice temperature. If we think we are going to use it then we turn it on about 8am for a few hours. Also what we have done this weekend is installed a hot outside tap next to our existing cold tap. So when you empty/clean/refill the hot tub, use the hot tap AS WELL AS the cold, heating it with central heating system is cheaper and quicker than filling it with cold and using the tub heater to heat the water up although you need to be careful when using hot water to fill it as too hot can cause damage (google it).
 
I'm no sparky you could run a spur for the lazy spar so it has its own socket. Grog has a point about them been on 24/7 and electric it probably eats(lol) but got a feeling you maybe overloading the circuit breaker by leaving it on 24/7 has it just started to do it? Some would probably say use the cooker socket as it's a higher amp and on its own circuit if you have those old style cooker sockets
 
Your better running it on a rcd fused spur
Come off a socket to the fused spare then wire hot tub into the rcd spur ,I bet your meter is spinning like a 45 record wouldn't like to pay your electricity bill
Cheaper to eat a tin of beans then have a bath
 
Ok thanks, its about £7-£8 a week. You can leave it on but it doesn't constantly heat up bubbling away 24/7. We lower the temp to about 25 when not needed and it simmers over in and around the desired temp only heating every so often.
We found this is far far economical than heating from cold as we monitored it the cost hot from cold to ticking over on 25 degrees then heating.
Anyway, I've changed the actual in door socket to an MK socket and a heavy duty plug and plugged it into another new MK socket that only doesnt have much on the ring and it's working fine.

One other question regarding RCD. The unit itself has a RCD unit plus the consumer panel in the house so why would you need one on the outdoor socket as well ?. Surely 3 rcd protections on one item is overkill. The outdoor socket is now designated solely for the hot tub
 
Ok thanks, its about £7-£8 a week. You can leave it on but it doesn't constantly heat up bubbling away 24/7. We lower the temp to about 25 when not needed and it simmers over in and around the desired temp only heating every so often.
We found when it's actually heating it's costing about 30p an hour, like yours, ours cut out when it hits the desired temp and then kicks in when its a couple of degrees below desire temp, it makes sense probably to leave it on if using it every day. When we first got ours we left it on and it cost us £3 initially to heat up from cold and then about £1/day after that, it doesn't sound much but that's an extra £40/£50/month on leccy bill.

I filled mine up yesterday after giving it a clean, put some cold in and then filled with hot, temp when full was 36 degrees, usable. it cost me pennies, about 50p, didn't have heater on at all and temp dropped to 27 overnight, I've not seen it drop below 20 since having it even if we haven't used it for a couple of days. Turned heater on an hour ago just to bring it back up to temp. As you say can leave on as it cuts out when hits temp and turn off when we know we wont use it again.

I suppose it's the same as with central heatiing, Do you leave your house heating on 24/7 and just have it controlled by the thermostat? or do you have it on a timer with a thermostat? Some believe it's cheaper leaving it on constant while others know it's cheaper on timer.
 
I have a fuse spur above the worktop that in turn feeds an under counter socket that only has the washer plugged in it. I might use that for the hot tub and plug the washer in elsewhere. Would I need to hard wire the outdoor socket in to a blank box or use the decent heavy duty 13a plug I currently say into a single MK socket ?
 
It tripped out the rcd on the pump unit itself sometime last.
Just so I'm clear,
The hottub is plugged into a ip66 screwfix outdoor socket.
The cable runs into the house under the units.
There is a double socket at the back of the washer. This double socket in turn is fed from a fuse spur, nothing else is plugged into the double socket bar a heavy duty plug that's from the outdoor socket.
I thought of connecting the outdoor socket directly to the fuse spur but its plastered in behind tiles and a splash back, 1 nightmare.
So,
Could I remove the 13a plug that feeds the outdoor socket and remove the double socket from the wall and join the cables directly fuse spur using say a cooker type junction box I have spare here so the outdoor socket is in theory joined directly to the fuse spur via the 60a junction box ?.
Another question, lay-z-spar website recommends the outdoor socket should be a rcd socket.
A friend I know said that would mean e rcd
Pump unit
Outdoor socket
Consumer unit
This is turn might make more problems. I'm not so sure or why would they say it.
Lastly, the outdoor socket cost £10 Screwfix, are they actually any good ? Could if be this ?. The cable I'm using outdoor to in is 1.5mm H07RN-F
 
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Morning,

Could I please ask the following please?

We've a Lay z Spa Vegas Hot tub at the bottom of the garden and am using the following items from screwfix as a way of power.

PRYSMIAN 6943X BLACK 3-CORE 1.5MM² ARMOURED CABLE 25M COIL (53747)

BRITISH GENERAL IP66 13A 2-GANG DP WEATHERPROOF OUTDOOR SWITCHED SOCKET (67928)

13A FUSED TOUGH PLUG BLACK (68744)

The start of the Armoured cable has the 13A plug wired with it. The plug goes into an outdoor plug socket attached to the house which is spurred off a double plug socket on the other side inside the house.
The cable then runs under the patio/ground for around 20 metres and is wired into the double outdoor plug socket.
The hot tub then is plugged into the socket.
The Hot tub wire itself has a RCD box attached to it.

Specs as follows for my hot tub:-
Voltage: 220-240 V~50 Hz, 2,050 W at 20 C, Class II Actual Water Flow: 1,325 L/h (350 Gal/h)Rapid Heating System: Approx. 1.5 - 2.0 C/h (3-4 F/h) Maximum. Heat Capability: 40 C (104 F) Certification: CE/GS approved Box Dimensions and Weight: 1 Colour Box (Size:) 84 cm x 51 cm x 63 cm and (Weight:) 40.4 kg / 89.1 lbs.

Does what I've used appear ok? Its been on for a number of days, i've yet to have to call the fire service and its not tripped out as of yet...

Cheers!

 
Any heating appliance over 2000w should be hard wired, ie: not plugged in.
Also, you may possibly need an earth rod at the bottom of your garden, hard to say without actually seeing it, but I'd be 99% sure you need it.
I'd also be fairly sure that the armoured cable has been terminated wrong at your outside socket, and, it is 100% impossible to terminate a SWA cable into a normal plug, so that is definitely wrong.
Both your outdoor sockets need RCD protection, not just on the lead going to your hot-tub
 
How I got mine working ,
decent cable (not amoured) from a safesure 30amp trip current RCD in the house which is basically now on its own then this goes to a double outdoor socket. My cable goes to it through conduit but luckily most of the distance it travels is under flags I lifted them. The hottub plugs directly into the outdoor socket. The hottub has it's own RCD just before the plug. Since I did it this way I've never had a problem. A friend who's clued said, "If the appliance has it's own RCD then that would suffice, no need for a indoor one just bang it on a fuse spur to the outdoor socekt".
 
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I was doing similar just last week, but rather than pluging into the existing out door socket I was spuring off of it. That was until I realised it was a spur itself. I had to change my plans, I have now spured from an indoor ring socket, although I am now considering putting a fused switch inline so that I can turn the power to the socket/hot tub off from indoors, i'm not using armoured cable as it's not far from house and not hidden nor in a possition where you are likely to cut into it, but it is in conduit.

2 things to note:

1. you mustn't spur of a spur
2. You are likely to see in the hot tub instructions, do not plug into an extension lead, this is for a reason

I'm not a sparky, but I have put a RCD protected outdoor socket up and the hottub itself has rcd inline and my consumer unit has an RCD. I have read that you don't need all 3 as only one will ever be effective, how true that is I don't know
 
How I got mine working ,
decent cable (not amoured) from a safesure 30amp trip current RCD in the house which is basically now on its own then this goes to a double outdoor socket. My cable goes to it through conduit but luckily most of the distance it travels is under flags I lifted them. The hottub plugs directly into the outdoor socket. The hottub has it's own RCD just before the plug. Since I did it this way I've never had a problem. A friend who's clued said, "If the appliance has it's own RCD then that would suffice, no need for a indoor one just bang it on a fuse spur to the outdoor socekt".
Your friend isn't as clues up as they think they are, a little knowledge and all that,
Any socket outdoors, or likely to supply an appliance outdoors, must have 30mA RCD protection
 
saw a post on tiktok about the lay z spa. some fella had bought one a lay z spa fuji from tesco for £325 and then sold it on ebay for a £100 profit he reckons.
he went back to tesco in his van and bought another 5 so he reckons its a £500 profit. think hes forgotten ebay fess though and paypal lol
 
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