Here Are The Top Ways To Take Care Of Your Hot Tub
Owning a spa should be an enjoyable and trouble-free experience. Right? However, if you just bought a new hot tub or have an existing one in your backyard or indoor patio, taking care of it is important.
But don’t worry, it isn’t a hard thing to do. Today, we will learn how to take care of your hot tub and keep your spa in the best of their shape.
Hot Tub Maintenance
With the latest technological upgrades in spas and everything that goes into their care, it has become a lot easier to take care of your hot tub. All you need are a few minutes every week and a proper maintenance checklist.
You can do this on the weekends after enjoying a spa session with your loved ones. Regular maintenance will ensure optimal performance of your hot tub and also increase its lifespan.
So, without further ado, here is a quick maintenance checklist to follow:
1. Ensuring Good Water Quality
One of the most important things to take care of in your hot tub is ensuring good water quality. For this, you have to check two things. Firstly, the PH and secondly, sanitizer levels. This is pretty easy to do and all you really need are the color-coded test strips that you can grab from the market.
The PH levels tell you how acidic or basic the water in the hot tub is. When it is not in balance, it results in damaged heating elements, pump seals and other internal equipment of your lovely spa.
Though it is technically a chemical experiment, this process only takes a few seconds. All you need to do is walk to your tub, dip the test strip and check the PH. If you find that the levels require adjustment, you’ll want to spend a few extra minutes to add the proper additive to get the levels back to normal.
At the end of the day, a spa is only as good as its water quality. Routinely monitoring your water quality helps prevent some common spa problems like corrosion, skin irritation, cloudy and stinky water, scaling and mineral buildup.
2. Spa Shocking
You should also be sure to maintain bacteria-free water. Adding sanitizers will help keep bacteria from growing. The shocking process includes shocking the water with sanitizers. You can choose both chlorine or bromine. Shocking the tub water once a week will keep it crystal clear and clean from bacteria and viruses.
3. Knowing What Kind Of Water You Have
Depending on where you are, you’ll likely have certain precautions that need for the kind of water you have. The water supply in most of Phoenix is “hard.” To prevent scaling, especially if you are living in an area where there is high calcium and mineral content, you must pour a de-scaling agent in tub water once a week. If neglected, minerals will slowly build up in the tub’s hoses, walls and pumps, resulting in costly repairs and maintenance issues.
Similarly, foaming can be a major problem but it can be prevented by using foam reducer once a week.
4. Cleaning The Tub
Other than understanding the water chemistry, it is important that you also clean the tub once or twice every two months. If you use it regularly, you may want to clean it once each month.
It may sound a little gross, but majority of the spa owners wouldn’t bother cleaning it throughout the year. Got an entire family using the same water over and over? This may expose every person using the hot tub to skin infections and other conditions.
When the tub is not cleaned for long, scum and debris will start accumulating on the seats, waterline and even on the outside of the tub.
It is important that both the inside and outside of your hot tub are clear of debris. The best practice is to drain the tub every 3 or 4 months and then refill it. If using it often, consider draining, cleaning and refilling it every 2 months.
Recommended: Use a hot tub cleaning agent for this purpose and a scrubber to remove the debris.
Moreover, cleaning the cartridge filters with a spa filter soak is also important. It is pretty simple: rinse, spray and soak. There are a lot of chemical sprays available on the market that can be used to clean the filters. Regular cleaning of filters will ensure longevity and optimal performance.
Now, 3 Things You Should Never Do To Your Hot Tub
Another important part of taking care of your hot tub includes some don’ts that people often neglect and end up with costly repairs and severe damage to their spa.
1. Power Off & Hot Tub Full
Leaving your hot tub full of water with power off is the worst thing you can do, especially during the winter season. A frozen hot tub is too expensive to repair. Don’t worry about leaving the power on because hot tubs are designed to run at lowest energy, saving you on the bills.
2. Removing Filter Compartment & Not Cleaning It
Quite often it happens that spa owners remove the filter compartment but don’t clean it and it usually dries out. If that happens, you’ll need to buy new tub filters that aren’t cheap.
3. Not Covering the Hot Tub
Feeling too lazy after a good soak to cover your expensive spa with a cover? Whether indoor or outdoor, it is important to always cover your hot tub to keep the water clean and to prevent any unwanted materials from entering it.
Other than all the above-mentioned maintenance tips, you should thoroughly inspect your hot tub once a week to catch those small problems before they turn into costly repairs. Keep a check of your spa’s functioning like heat, pump, filter etc.
Unlike other parts of your home, your hot tub requires dynamic care and proactive attention. If you think your tub or any part needs repair, do it ASAP.
And of course, if your hot tub needs proper inspection or repair, Arizona Spa Tech offers quality spa repair, installation and maintenance services at the most affordable rates. We have been serving the entire valley since 1980 and take pride in the quality of our work.
