Basic Tips for Spa Maintenance

Chances are you have received a wealth of conflicting information on how to take care of your hot tub. Friends and family offer helpful tips, your owner’s manual comes with a long list of prescriptions and your chemical testing kit probably has its own suggestions. With all of this information available, how do you know what is useful?

There are a few basic rules that all hot tub owners ought to follow in order to ensure a safe and pleasant spa experience for everyone, including maintaining your water and chemicals, and ensuring that all parts are operating correctly. Taking time to maintain your hot tub can save you time and money down the road as you will not need to replace parts or drain the water as often!

1. Change Your Water Every 3, 4, or 6 months

This depends on frequency of usage and whether your hot tub is well maintained. Hot tubs that have efficiently working spa parts and whose water is treated may last longer, but remember, no amount of chemical additives can protect you completely in water that is old and dirty. To be on the safe side, change the water quarterly.

2. Daily Duties

Some hot tub maintenance tasks need to be completed daily to make sure you hot tub runs smoothly and to avoid larger, more serious problems down the road. These tasks take a few minutes a day:

• Check your pH levels: should be between 7.2 and 7.6.


• Check chlorine levels: should be between 1-3 mg/l (ppm). Use Hot Tub pH Plus or Minus according to instructions to recalibrate.


• Bromine is more common in hot tubs and bromine should be between 2-4 ppm.


• Check for foam

3. Weekly Duties

It is important to do the following on a weekly basis so as to not let dirt or grime pile up as this will results in more work in the future, as well as potentially damaging your equipment:

• Shock hot tub


• Clean your spa filter: make sure the filter is placed correctly in the canister to ensure that the water is filtered and to maximize jet pressure.


• Replace filters every twelve months as degraded filters will cause cloudy water. If your filter is under a year old, make sure to clean it on a monthly basis and soak it in filter cleaner. Always have a spare 2nd filter as filters have to be allowed to dry first so that the fibers can bind together after cleaning.


• Check your water: how often you need to check your water depends on a variety of factors – your frequency of usage, whether you use a hot tub cover, whether the spa part are functioning correctly, etc. In general, it is a good idea to check your water twice a week, just to be on the safe side.

4. Clean Your Hot Tub Cover

Every 6 months, clean your hot tub cover with a diluted chlorine solution that includes UV protection

Ashley Olson, Hot Tub Warehouse. Hot Tub Warehouse is a supplier of quality hot tub parts and accessories, including fitted spa covers and hot tub covers. For a wide selection of hot tub chemicals, testing supplies, filters and more, please visit Hot Tub Warehouse.