Common Questions about Spa Covers | Hot Tub Covers

What are these Spa Covers made out of?

SpaCap Hot Tub Covers are made from top quality marine materials. Our Deluxe SpaCap Spa Covers in Sunbrella fabric use the same materials t used on the most expensive yachts in the world. Sunbrella is quite literally the world standard in outdoor fabric. All vinyl including the top of the line Marine grade is rated by HOURS outdoors and Sunbrella is rated by years. The underside of the SpaCap Hot Tub Covers are a vinyl-coated fabric similar to that used for Achilles and Zodiac inflatable boats. It has a base polyester fabric that is then coated with vinyl on both sides. It is the same fabric used in commercial fertilizer bin tarps. That means the material can handle some of the harshest chemical environments. The stitching is the same weight thread used to make truck tarps. In twenty years, we have yet to see a SpaCap Spa Cover come apart at the stitching. All in all, we build every SpaCap Hot Tub Cover as if it were going on our own spa. They are truly built to last and to look good for years to come!

Can these Spa Covers handle a snow load?

SpaCap Hot Tub Covers handle snow better than any rigid foam filled spa cover. When covered in snow, the typical rigid foam Spa Covers act like a frozen bridge. When the snow gets too heavy, the rigid foam Hot Tub Cover will sag or break. The SpaCap Spa Covers rest right on the surface of the water, so no matter how much snow accumulates the SpaCap hot tub covers transfer all the weight evenly to the water. We have been selling the SpaCap Spa Covers in snow country for years. These Hot Tub Covers have gone through world record snowfalls and to date with thousands sold around the world there has not been even one crushed by a snow load.

Checking the Spa Cover for the proper inflation

My last Spa Cover is "Gone With The Wind." Can SpaCap Hot Tub Covers handle the wind?

"Gone With the Wind" you say? Spa Cap Hot Tub Covers do quite well at staying in the on the spa, basically because it makes a lousy wing. Also, because the Spa Cap rests directly on the water's surface, there is no negative pressure, caused by airflow, to allow the Hot Tub Cover to lift off of the spa. Even a heavy foam hot tub cover can fly. As the wind moves over the flat foam spa cover it creates lift, once it does more air rushes into the space between the water surface and the bottom of the foam hot tub cover. This increases the lift and makes the spa cover fly. A customer in Kansas told us they saw a SpaCap on their local news. In a shot showing the devastation caused by a toronado the camera panned past a SpaCap Hot Tub Cover still sitting on top of its owners spa despite the fact that most of the neighborhood was destroyed.

The video below was shot driving down the freeway at seventy miles per hour. Please don't try this with a rigid Hot Tub Cover. If your spa cover can stay on your spa at 70mph it should stay on your spa in the back yard. We get a lot of people that ask if SpaCap Hot Tub Covers will stay on in the wind, so we put it to the test.

This a Spa Cover being wind tested
We would have shown a traditional spa cover being tested the same way however Washington State has extremely strict laws regarding debris from a moving vehicle.

 

Can I fold it in half like I did my old Spa Cover?

To expose only a portion of the hot tub we recommend that you only remove the SpaCap Spa Cover as much as you want. Leave the hot tub cover partially on the spa. You can fold it back, but it's different then the hard foam hot tub cover. That's why SpaCap Hot Tub Covers work.

Will my cat puncture this Spa Cover?

I used to say animals cannot damage this Hot Tub Cover. Then one very persistent Bellevue raccoon and a bear in Whistler, managed to prove me wrong. Now I say, as a rule animals will not damage the spa cover. I guess the real question should be "How big is your cat?". Most animals leave the SpaCap alone because being an air chamber it is not that comfortable to walk on. There are animals that master it, my own cats included, do not damage the SpaCap Hot Tub Cover at all as a rule. Let's just say that if they didn't hurt your hard foam spa cover they for sure won't hurt a SpaCap Hot Tub Cover. If you're replacing your hot tub cover because of pet damage... you should probably restrict your pets spa privileges.

What if something falls on the Spa Cover?

The SpaCap Hot Tub Covers are made from the same types of materials used on Zodiac and Achilles inflatible boats and commercial truck tarps. This is not some pool toy type material. The SpaCap Spa Covers can typically handle far more abuse than any rigid foam Hot Tub Covers ever could. Mr David L of White Bear, Minnesota recently sent us an email that said a tree fell on his spa and caused $600.00 damage to his spa but his SpaCap Hot Tub Cover was not damaged. Just about every year I get a report like this from one of our customers. Everything from trees to patio roofs collapse on the SpaCap Hot Tub Covers and they always hold up better then any regular foam Spa Covers.

A SpaCap Hot Tub Cover after a direct hit from a treefall.
The Spa Cover was undamaged.

We have children. Will they be safe with this Spa Cover?

We firmly believe the Spa Cap hot tub covers are the safest on the market, however, just because they are the safest, it is no substitute for diligent supervision. We recommend that you use the same precautionary action that you would take in any other situation.
We recommend that turnpost fasteners be used for customers with small children and if requested we can install the same locks on our Hot Tub Covers that are used at large in the spa cover industry. However because of the design of this Hot Tub Cover, the locks will not be in the same places as a rigid foam spa cover would be.

A Deck mounted Spa Cover in Cadet Gray and Burgundy

I like how the hard spa cover looks. Could you make me one of those?

Yes we could, but no we won't. Please take time to look over our history. This would be like asking the Ford Motor Company to build you an Edsel. If there was a way to build a foam cover that would work as well and last as long as the SpaCap, we would make it. No matter how much you pay for it, a hard foam hot tub cover won't do the job that SpaCap Hot Tub Covers will do.

A Deck mount Spa Cover in Hemlock Tweed

What about the Spa Cover warranty?

We cover workmanship and material defects for three years from the date of purchase. We do not cover damage due to abuse. We also reserve the right to repair or replace the cover at our option. We have customers that are still using the Hot Tub Covers we made almost twenty years ago! The spa covers still insulate the same, they don't weigh any more then they did when purchased. They look older but then again so do we. We have yet to see any standard foam hot tub cover come anywhere near it. Have you?

Why can't I see one at my local spa dealer?

First, Every SpaCap Spa Cover is custom made, out of the best quality materials available, here in the USA. In order to do that and be price competitive with foam Hot Tub Covers we sell direct to you the spa owner. Spa dealers make a lot of money selling foam Hot Tub Covers. If they were to sell the SpaCap Spa Covers they would have to mark it up as much as they do the foam hot tub covers and it would cost you a lot more to get one. It also would make it very difficult to make a custom hot tub cover with someone else between you the customer and us the manufacturer. Finally, if we sold spa covers through dealers and you ever needed to have warranty work done on the hot tub cover you would not be able to deal with us directly.

A deck mounted Spa Cover in a Spa and Oyster color combination