4 Common Hot Tub Mistakes to Avoid

You finally got that hot tub for the backyard! If this is your first time owning your own hot tub, chances are that you aren’t quite sure how to handle certain maintenance tasks or parts of basic usage. You’ll probably be making a lot of service calls to your contractor. But with a little practice and avoiding a few common mistakes, you can keep your hot tub in pretty good shape by yourself.

Are you making these mistakes with your new hot tub? Here’s what to avoid to keep your spa in good shape. Share on X

What Not to Do

Many service calls to spa builders can be traced back to one of several simple mistakes. If you’re the proud owner of a brand new hot tub, here’s what to avoid during your routine maintenance and usage:

1. Don’t treat the spa like a bathtub
2. Don’t ignore the motor
3. Don’t let the water get gross
4. Don’t disconnect the power

1) Don’t Treat the Spa Like a Bathtub

After you take a bath, the water–along with all the sweat, dirt, and oils from your bath–is washed down the drain afterward. But in a hot tub, the same water and any contaminants stay for quite a while. Generally, this isn’t a problem. However, if you start climbing into the hot tub immediately after you’ve done some intense exercise or gotten dirty from working outside, you’ll notice the water becoming cloudy and unpleasant quickly. Plus, the gunk will clog your filters and could cause damage to the water circulation system. Don’t damage your hot tub this way! If you’re particularly dirty or sweaty, take a shower to clean off before using your spa.

Pro Tip: A lot of public swimming pools require a shower before you enter to keep the water clean. The same applies to your hot tub! Take a shower before using it for a more pleasant experience.

2) Don’t Ignore the Motor

Checking your spa motor periodically helps you find and deal with problems, such as leaks, before they get too serious and start causing damage. Check the pumps, filters, and electrical components for anything that looks off. For particularly severe issues, don’t risk injury or further damage by attempting to fix it yourself. Call your hot tub contractor to come take a look and get things back on track.

3) Don’t Let the Water Get Gross

Your hot tub experience becomes far less pleasant when the water is cloudy or smelly. To prevent things from getting to that point, clean your filters every month and replace them annually. And while your filters are out, NEVER use your spa! Using your spa without the filters in place allows sweat and dirt to flow freely and clog up the motors.

Watch the water itself as well. Set aside some time every month to check your chemical balance and restore the proper pH. If the water begins to look cloudy or unpleasant in spite of routine filter maintenance, it’s time to change it. Even if the water looks fine, change it every three months to prevent bacteria from taking hold.

4) Don’t Disconnect the Power

If you disconnect the power from your spa, the automatic filtering and temperature maintenance come to a halt. In the hot Houston climate, water stagnation will cause the hot tub gaskets to dry out and the water quality to decrease over time. Even if you don’t use your hot tub for a while, you could end up with cloudy water from simple neglect. The slight additional charge on your power bill is worth it to keep your hot tub from deteriorating.

Enjoy Your Hot Tub!

As long as you take care to avoid these common hot tub mistakes as you use and maintain your new spa, you can rely on your hot tub lasting a long time and providing you with endless hours of entertainment. If you haven’t purchased a hot tub yet, why wait? Upgrade your backyard today!

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