How to maintain a hot tub

How to maintain a hot tub, Town & Country Pool contractors explain

Whether you have a stand-alone hot tub or spa or if your hot tub or spa was constructed as part of your swimming pool, you probably wondered about how to maintain a hot tub. You know that slipping into the heated water is a great way to both relax and work out the kinks of the day, you do know that it needs to be properly maintained. The swimming pool contractors from Town & Country Pools in Virginia explain that hot tub maintenance, just like pool maintenance, has a need for regular and ongoing tasks to keep the water bacteria-free and the hot tub working at its peak efficiency.

How to maintain a hot tub

Regular hot tub maintenance is crucial to the health of the water in the hot tub and to assuring optimal performance. Regular maintenance will also add to the life of the hot tub and its equipment. There are tasks that need to be undertaken daily, weekly, monthly and occasionally and they include:

1. Daily.  These maintain the water quality. You or your pool contractor will test the water weekly for sanitizer levels and pH balance. This can be easily done with a water test kit that you can pick up from one of our service contractors. If the levels are out of line, you will need to add more chemicals to bring them in line — many pool and hot tub owners find it easier to have a pool service contractor do this as it is a delicate balancing act.  Testing sanitizer and pH levels helps prevent issues such as skin irritation, corrosion of the plumbing, scaling, mineral build up and other issues.
2. Weekly. We recommend a weekly “shocking” of the pool water, depending on the amount of use and the swimmer load the hot tub experiences. Shocking is also called super-chlorination. This keeps the water clear and bacteria-free. Other weekly tasks depend on how often you use the hot tub and how many people use it. You may need to add a de-scaling agent to the water once a week to prevent any build up in the hoses, pumps walls and floor of the hot tub.
3. Monthly and/or occasional. There are hot tub maintenance tasks that are performed periodically. Those depend on how often the hot tub is used. The occasional or monthly tasks include removing and thoroughly cleaning the hot tub filters. The hot tub should be drained and thoroughly cleaned as a way to ensure you’re always soaking in quality water in the spa. Cleaning the filters and draining the hot tub are typically tasks that hot tub and spa owners leave to their pool contractor. Clean the hot tub cover thoroughly throughout the season; ask us what you should use to clean it as you don’t want any chemicals to drip from the cover into the hot tub water.

We inspect your hot tub during a service visit and pay attention to any changes in the levels of operation of the hot tub equipment. We also check for structural integrity and if there are any areas of concern, we will discuss it with you before they become major issues. Remember, the heat of the water will lead to bacteria growing more quickly, you need to keep up with maintenance or leave it to a hot tub service professional. Call our office if you have questions on hot tub maintenance.