Spa Covers and ASTM

ASTM International, originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), was first formed by a forward-thinking group of engineers and scientists got together to address frequent occurrence of rail breakage in the quickly expanding railroad industry. Imagine riding in a railroad car only to have the end of a steel rail break and pierce the car as it hurtled down the tracks. The result was horrific accidents and many deaths costing a heavy toll not only in lives and materials but a severe lack of confidence in the safety of traveling by rail. The Organizations work led to a standardization of the materials used in rail construction, vastly improving railroad safety for the public. As the century progressed and new industrial, governmental and environmental developments created new standardization requirements, ASTM answered the call with consensus standards that have made products and services safer, better and more cost-effective. The proud tradition and forward vision that started in 1898 is still the hallmark of ASTM International.

Today, ASTM continues to play a leadership role in addressing the standardization needs of the global marketplace.

How does this relate to Spa Covers? Well in order to compare the effectiveness of different designs of specific products it is helpful to attempt to test the products using some form of uniform methods.

When it comes to a direct ASTM test specifically for spa covers, there really is no perfect method that exactly applies. The one we used (find the results here) is the best option for testing the insulation, or heat loss over time.

However the true test is a comparison of how well a rigid foam spa cover insulates hot spa water verses how well a SpaCap spa cover does the same. For that, it is not an ASTM test but a strait side by side comparison. In a straight head to head comparison, the SpaCap wins every time.