Every day people come in to our store and ask" How do I really take care of my hot tub?" Most information about spa care comes from the manufacturers of the chemicals which of course recommend that you use FAR too much chlorine or bromine. They say you need to dump way too much stuff than you need to keep your hot tub sanitized, safe and ready to use.
First let’s start off with water. There are all kinds of water so the first step is to determine what kind of water you have.
City water in most states is monitored and is close enough to run your spa. If you find your city water causes problems like staining of your tub, or is hard to balance you can have it tested but really all we are looking for is a balanced spa. By using the techniques we will show you balancing your spa no matter what kind of water you have will be a breeze.
Now well water is another story. It can range so much between too much calcium to not enough calcium to too much or too little of this that or the other. If you have a well and don’t have a very good filtration system use a pre-filter. It is simple just attaches to your hose and lasts about 5 fills so about a year, only costs $20.
For chemicals you need to choose chlorine or bromine to sanitize your spa. Attention to everyone that says “I don’t use anything in my hot tub and it is perfect!” As they scratch some random rash they just can’t get rid of. That rash is called Spa Folliculitis. It’s gross and is very easily prevented by treating your spa as you would ANY WATER you come in contact with! Water goes bad if you don’t sanitize and clean it. It is very simple sanitize your hot tub!
That doesn’t mean it has to smell like a public pool either. You should never smell the sanitizer! If you use a high quality sanitizer like Leisure Time you need so little to keep everything clean you barely smell anything. I use a capful total about once a week. I am very far on the sensitive side to chlorine and bromine. It dries out my skin and makes me itch like crazy. So I do er on the side of caution and use very little. The rule I tell everybody is to use a little more if you haven’t showered in 3 days and just finished 4 hours of yard work. If you are clean and sweat free don’t use any.
I like the nose test…does it stink? If it stinks you have bacteria that need to be killed.
The second step to any hot tub care regimine is to use RENEW. It is an oxidizer that takes the dead bacteria and dead chlorine or bromine and off gases them. Make sure and leave your cover off for the 15 minutes it takes to work and put your jets on high to help circulate the water. I like to add my bright and clear at this time also. My favorite tool is a butterfly net to get out the gucky foam that pulls out all of the dirt iol and soups that are in your spa water. Most of these things are so small they can’t get picked up by your filter.
After that I rinse out my filter every now and again and Your DONE! It’s that simple.
Now there are several really awesome tools that you can use to reduce the amount of chlorine or bromine needed plus there are also systems you can get (like the TSS System use by NASA to sanitize their water! We carry it!) to almost eliminate any chemicals.
For most people who already own a spa they just want to have a beautiful clean spa that they can go in whenever they want. Nobody wants to spend a ton of money on chemicals or spend all Saturday caring for the spa. My cleaning routine takes 15 minutes at most and I do it when the spa needs it! Sometime once a month, and always after a party or girls night. There are more people so more stuff gets in there.
I hope this helps everybody!