Taking Care of Your Hot Tub

Maintenance

Hot Tub Care and Maintenance

Keeping your hot tub crisp, clear and sanitary is not a big job as long as you know the basics.

Sanitizing

Water chemistry is important to grasp so that your hot tub is always fresh and sanitary.  The use of ozone generators on almost all hot tubs today has made a huge difference in hot tub sanitation procedures, but even hot tubs equipped ozone need a little backup sanitation.  Ozone is a very strong oxidizer and as such does a fantastic job keeping bacteria and viruses at bay. It also oxidizes any organic material as well.  But.. it only works when it is in direct contact with the contaminate!  It has no residual effect. That's why "back up" sanitation is necessary.  It doesn't take much, because ozone is very effective, so a little backup goes a long way.  The best chemical to use for this is a chlorine compound known as Sodium Dichlor.

"Dichlor" as we call it in the biz is a granular chlorine compound that you will add by tablespoons.  Since hot tub size,  use and "bather load" varies its hard to recommend what your particular hot tub needs will be. With an ozone generator you will want to maintain about 1ppm of chlorine in your hot tub.  Usually starting with a couple of tablespoons will allow your test kit to help you decide if you need more or less.  When adding, just broadcast it across the surface of the water.  Turn your pump on high for a few minutes to help it dissolve.  Test your water in about an hour and you'll know where your value is.

Don't worry if you added too much or if your value is above 1 ppm,  It's not going to hurt anything and it will eventually disipate.

For the first few weeks, you'll want to check your water at least weekly to be sure your back up sanitizer level is holding and also to get a feel for how your hot tub chemistry responds to use.  Testing is easy.. you just dip in a test strip and compare it to the values on the bottle.

Water Balance Matters!

Be sure your test strips also test for pH and Alkalinity.  Ph and alkalinity are cousins in the chemical realm. The water you fill your hot tub with will have a pH.  Low values are acidic, High values are basic.  Either extreme is detrimental. What you are aiming for is NEUTRAL

The pH scale runs for 0 to 14.  7 is dead neutral, but for hot tubs you want to be a little to the basic side. 7.2 to 7.8.The great thing about this is that city water departments strive for the same values that you do for your hot tub. So, if you have city water, you are probably close enough to perfect without having to do any adjusting.  If you have well water, you will definitely want to check it with your test strips before you add any sanitizer to your water.

Anything you add to your water will affect pH because everything has a measure of acidity or alkalinity. One of the biggest reasons we recommend Sodium Dichlor is because it has a neutral pH.  Are there other chlorine compounds?  You bet!  Liquid chlorine or bleach is a chlorine compound known as sodium hypochlorite.  The reason we don't recommend it is because it has a pH of around 13.  Using it all the time would require you to add acid to your hot tub to bring down the pH of your tub.. Conversely the chlorine tablet often used in swimming pools is a compound known as Trichlor.  Trichlor has a pH of around 2, VERY acidic.  Using trichlor would eventually erode your ph to the point that your water would become "aggressive" towards any metals in your hot tub equipment...such as..your heater element! For those who prefer to use bromine, bromine also has a very low pH

As mentioned earlier pH and alkalinity are cousins.  Total alkalinity buffers your pH against changing. Alkalinity and Ph kind of run together.  Arm and Hammer, the baking soda people say that in hot tubs, one should not correct for a low pH one should correct for a low alkalinity and the pH will follow.  It's true!  Feeding your hot tub a little baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) when your pH drifts low will correct that, and buffer it against changing.  The right value for total alkalinity in your hot tub is between 80 and 140.  Correction needs to be made near the 80 PPM value to bring it up a little.. alkalinity of around 100 to 120 should be about perfect.  Your city water alkalinity should be close to these values. Again, well water might need correction.

Basic water (high pH) is not nearly as large of a problem as an acidic problem.  If you are using neutral chemicals like Dichlor, you shouldn't have high pH issues.  If you do the symptom is scaling and cloudy water.  Scaling is easily felt on the surface of the hot tub (it feels like sandpaper)and the Ph will have to be corrected by using an acid.  White vinegar is the way to go here.  If the hot tub is severely scaled, you will have to drain the tub and use vinegar directly on the scale to remove it.

Hot Tub Filter Maintenance

Cleaning your filter should occur monthly.  It involves removing it from its compartment and blasting it with the hose.  It's satisfying to say the least.

Draining and Hot Tub Surface Cleaning

Your hot tub should be drained around 4 times per year.  More if the bather load is heavy.  If the water lacks luster and clarity, if the jets look like smoke, if foam is ruining your bathing time, it's time to drain it.

Hot Tub Draining procedure:

Turn off your breaker!

Open drain valve and let the hot tub empty.

Rinse the sides with fresh water as it drains.

Clean with baking soda on a sponge.

It is not necessary to get every drop of water out of the hot tub unless you are winterizing and planning not to fill it.  The fresh water you add will dilute the remaing water and ozone and chlorine will do their job when you fill it back up.

Close drain valve

Fill your hot tub to the fill line before turning your breaker back on.

Start up procedures are exactly the same as the first fill instructions.

Cover maintenance

Your hot tub cover can use a good cleaning every now and then too.  A mild detergent and a sponge should work well. products like vinyl conditioners can keep it gleaming.  Don't let anyone SIT on your hot tub cover. It can break!

Consult your owners manual for information!

Always be sure you are maintaining your hot tub in accordance with the manufacturer guidelines contained in your owners manual.  Guidelines here are general in nature only. It does not substitute or replace the information in your hot tub manufacturers owners manual and is provided as information only.