Just like cars, keeping your hot tub regularly maintained is vital to keep it running smoothly. It takes time to create an effective cleaning schedule that will keep your tub in peak condition and avoid any water issue or breakages.
With this in mind, here’s Aqua Spa Supplies guide to servicing your hot tub.
The Basics
Try to think of your hot tub as a tiny swimming pool. Sure, it might not have a diving board or fit a lilo, but it does require the same basic care. That’s why it’s important to learn the three C’s of hot tub maintenance:
Circulation
Cleaning
Chemistry
Hot Tub Circulation
Keeping your spa water circulated helps prevent the build up of contaminants by passing it through your hot tubs cartridge filters. Your spa may have an automatic circulation schedule that runs once or twice a day for 15-20 minutes to ensure all the water in your tub passes through the filters.
For tubs without an automatic cycle, make sure you turn on your spa twice a day for 15-20 minutes to ensure your water has been refreshed. Remember, the more you run your hot tub, the cleaner it will be.
Hot Tub Cleaning
Cleaning is a vital part of an effective hot tub maintenance regime. Whether your hot tub is inside or outdoors, spas are prone to developing scum and building up harmful bacteria if they are not correctly maintained.
A weekly chemical top up of your spa water is vital for increasing its longevity. However, you should also plan to drain your spa for a thorough clean every three to four months - especially if you’ve had a lot of guests in it.
Hot Tub Water Chemistry
A sparkling clean spa doesn’t just make your spa look nicer. Its also a core component of balancing your water chemistry. Just like a swimming pool, it’s vital to keep your hot tubs water in perfect balance. But due to the smaller size, this can be slightly trickier.
To keep your spas water chemistry balanced, you’ll need to regularly test your water every week and target three main elements; pH, alkalinity and sanitizer levels. Here are the best hot tub chemicals we recommend to keep your hot tub clean and in peak condition.
Yourspa Spa Sparkle: Compatible with all filtration systems, Yourspa Spa Sparkle is a fast acting liquid clarifier which is used to make spa water crystal clear. This is added directly to the spa water while the pump is running and collects small particles together to make it easier for the filter to remove.
Yourspa Test Strips: Yourspa test strips provide a quick and easy way to test your hot tub water for chlorine, bromine, pH and total alkalinity. Simply dip the strip in the water and remove immediately. Hold horizontally for 15 seconds without shaking excess water from the strip and compare the colour pads with the chart on the bottle.
Yourspa Chlorine Granules: Yourspa Stabilised Chlorine Granules are ideal for daily dosing of your spa, to produce free active chlorine which kills bacteria and other potentially harmful organisms. They are rapid dissolving and have minimal impact on pH.
Blue Horizons Granular Shock: If you’re using your spa after a long period of inactivity, we recommend using Blue Horizons Granular Shock to make sure it’s completely sanitized. Make sure to use shocking a regular part of your hot tub maintenance to ensure your water is kept safe and clean.
But before you add anything to your spa, you’ll need to test your water to determine the pH and alkalinity levels. For pH, we recommend aiming for 7.4 and 7.6. But be careful. Anything too low will irritate your skin and eyes and values above this will reduce your sanitizers effectiveness.
For alkalinity, shoot for 125 parts per million (ppm) to150 ppm. If alkalinity gets too high, it can cause scaling and cloudiness. We also recommend adding a sanitizer according to the directions on the package and test the spa water again to ensure pH and alkalinity are within optimal ranges.
Don’t Forget Your Spa Filters
With your filters constantly working to keep your spa consistently clean and refreshed, it’s important to keep them maintained in order to work properly. There are three methods to clean them, including
Spray - we recommend spraying your filters every week with a hot tub filter cleaner such as our Aqua Filter Cleaner to provide a deeper clean.
Rinse - make sure to rinse your hot tub filters with warm water as often as possible, especially after heavy usage or a spray with chemicals.
Soak - to keep them in working condition, we recommend soaking your filters in our Your Spa Filter Cleaner every time you drain and refill your hot tub.
Once your filters reach a point where a chemical soak doesn’t clean them, it’s time to invest in new filters. At Aqua Spa Supplies, we sell a variety of hot tub filters, including regular and EGO3 filters. If you would like more information about our products or how you can maintain your hot tub, get in touch with our team today.
