Are Hot Tubs High Maintenance?

Hot tubs are known as a place of rest and respite, it’s no surprise that those who most love the idea of hot tub relaxation are the least likely to want to spend time dealing with maintenance duties. Are hot tubs high maintenance? The fact is that hot tub manufacturers have long worked on how to allow you to spend more time enjoying your hot tub and less time working on it. Advances in manufacturing processes, water cleaning systems and water filters have reduced the amount of maintenance that a hot tub requires. That doesn’t mean you can completely neglect certain hot tub tasks. In this article we’ll show how to properly schedule your maintenance duties to keep them to a minimum.

The Importance of Scheduling

By creating an easy to follow hot tub maintenance schedule you can ensure the system remains clean and in good working condition without too much hassle. You can fit most of your maintenance duties into weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly tasks. Not only does this ensure everything is regularly looked after, it makes remembering the various steps that much easier.

Weekly Maintenance

Your weekly focus will be to keep the water chemistry balanced. If the water chemistry becomes unbalanced, you could find the water becoming cloudy, greenish tinged or starting to smell bad. By performing and acting upon simple water tests at least once a week you’ll ensure the water stays fresh and hygienic. The results of your water tests will advise what chemicals need to be added to the water to keep everything in proper balance. You’ll typically be testing for things such as pH levels, total alkalinity levels, sanitizer levels and the need for shocking the water. Even though these terms may sound foreign to begin with, they will soon become a regular and comfortable part of your vernacular.

Monthly Maintenance

Every month you’ll need to give your water filters a quick cleaning. This simply entails taking them out of their housing and spraying them down with a garden hose. This will get rid of any dirt and large particulates that they’ve filtered out of the water. This is a simple task and shouldn’t take longer than a couple of minutes per filter.

Quarterly Maintenance

Every three or four months you’ll need to give your water filters a deeper cleaning that will get rid of any oils and grease that have built up and haven’t been removed by your monthly cleanings. This simply entails spraying on a filter cleaner and degreaser and allowing it to sit for up to 30 minutes. While your filters are being deep cleaned you should do them same with the hot tub itself. This will require emptying the hot tub and scrubbing down the shell to remove any caked-on dirt and debris. Once cleaned and rinsed you can replace the cartridge filters, fill the hot tub back up again and rebalance the water chemistry.

The Importance of A Hot Tub Cover

One of your best defences when it comes to keeping your hot tub and its water clean is the judicious use of a properly fitted hot tub cover.  It will keep dirt, dust and other airborne debris out of the water. Not only will this keep the tub cleaner and reduce fluctuations in your water chemistry levels, it’ll save on your water heating bills. Save yourself the labor and use a cover whenever the hot tub isn’t being used.

To learn more about hot tub maintenance, download a free buyer’s guide today.