Spa maintenance

A common misconception among novices is that a hot tub needs to be drained after each use. This is not the case. Depending on the size of your filter vs. the size of the hot tub you will need to drain and refill the hot tub 3 or 4 times a year. The filter also needs to be maintained as per the manufacturer's instructions.

The amount of maintenance required also depends heavily on the method by which you decide to keep your hot tub clean. There are now electronic methods to purify the water in your hot tub as well as the traditional chemical methods.

There are many different ways to clean your hot tub that vary with the type of hot tub you have. Different surfaces require different methods so be sure to read your owner's manual. Using the wrong type of cleanser on some surfaces can cause significant damage.

Other things you should be concerned with when maintaining your hot tub:

Cleaning the Filter: Filters in portable spas are designed to be rinsed and reused. Check to see how easy it is to remove and replace the filter in any spa you are taking into consideration. Smaller filters do need to be cleaned more frequently but larger filters take up more of the spa's useable interior space.

Automatic Filtering & Heating: Hot tub?s today feature small circulation pumps that continuously filter the water and provide the necessary flow to allow the heater to constantly maintain the set temperature. This continuous operation also means that ozone is always being mixed with the water. The reason this is important is because ozone dissolves rapidly and does not remain in the water after the system turns off. Hot tub?s without circulation pumps rely on the low speed of a two-speed pump turning on periodically to provide filtration, ozone injection and the flow required for heating. For these hot tubs, periodic operation is typically controlled by a built-in programmable timer, by the spa's thermostat or both.

Water Quality: You will use chemicals and other additives recommended by your spa dealer to keep the water sanitized and chemically balanced. Ozone generators can be installed to reduce the amount of chemical sanitizers needed. However, Corona Discharge (CD) ozone generators are more expensive than ultraviolet (UV) ozone generators, yield higher concentrations of ozone for greater effectiveness and are less costly to maintain. For example, with UV systems, you will need to buy a new lamp and have it installed every two to three years, while the CD system will simply require cell cleaning at the same frequency.