On Tue, 07 Mar 2006 13:53:11 GMT, Mys Terry
wrote:

Well, you would think it's obvious, but if the heater is kicking on 18 times
for 10 minutes (total 180 minutes) to maintain a given temperature versus
running for 3 hours straight to come back to temperature, what's the
mathematical difference? What I'm missing here is some information about
how often and how long the heater kicks on throughout a given day to
maintain the desired temp; so for now my numbers are imaginary.


As I said, the only concept you need to consider is the AVERAGE temp
maintained over time. It really IS that simple and obvious. If your
AVERAGE temp over time is lower, your heater will be running less.

What you are "imagining" happening with your heater is not what is
happening in reality.


Our Jacuzzi spa has an Economy setting in addition to the Standard
setting. In Economy, the heater only runs when the pump is on. I.E.
only during the filter cycles. When we get in it, and turn the pump
on, the heater runs as needed. The heater never runs other than those
two conditions. If we set it to Standard, the heater would run
throughout the day to maintain the set temperature.