Hot tubs complete guide: Turn your filtration cycle down. Your Arctic comes programmed for two four-hour cycles twice a day. If you don’t use your spa much, try two or three hours, and if you have an off-peak discount, set your filter cycles to come on during that period. But take care – proper filtration is necessary to maintain water quality.
Here are several advices on how to maintain your hot tub and also a suggestion if you live in Colorado. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but drinking and hot tubbing are not a good mix. Despite all of those movies scenes depicting characters cavorting in hot tubs with their favorite beverage in hand, physicians and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) don’t recommend it. Sports stars and politicians have been known to imbibe while entertaining in a spa, but that doesn’t mean we should follow their example. The same caution should be used with drugs-check with your doctor before soaking in extremely hot water while taking a prescription. One reason is that both alcohol and some drugs (prescription and recreational) can cause drowsiness or disorientation. Check the water temperature before entering (it should not exceed 104 degrees), observe reasonable time limits (10 to 15 minutes), and enter and exit the tub slowly in case of dizziness or to prevent falls.
Tips for buying a hot tub : Acrylic is beautiful, durable, and versatile. Molds form it into contoured shapes for comfortable, form-fitting seating in a range of sizes. Supported by a frame, a wood or synthetic cabinet surrounds the spa. The equipment is completely contained within the surround. Acrylic hot tub prices vary from a few grand to over $15,000, but high prices don’t mean high value. Skip the dealer, buy online and get more tub for less money, without skimping on quality.
If your hot tub has tiles, you’ve got an additional item on your hot tub care checklist: grout. To keep it looking its best, follow a few easy steps. Mix baking soda and water together in a bowl to form a thick paste. Apply the paste to your tiles and grout with a damp sponge. After five minutes, turn on the hot tub. Grab an old toothbrush, climb into the tub, and attack those grout lines with a circular scrubbing motion. The baking soda should have a negligible effect on your spa’s water chemistry, but be sure to check and balance it as necessary when you’re finished. You can tackle a little bit of your grout at a time, or, better yet, bribe a bunch of friends with free food and drink and host a scrubbing party. (You might want to make the bribe a substantial one if you plan on keeping them as friends.)
If your spa filter has a pressure gauge attached to it, the cartridge needs cleaned when the pressure rises 8-10 PSI higher than the freshly cleaned pressure reading, or when flow is noticeably reduced. If you have no gauge on your filter, you should clean the filter on a regular schedule. Spa and Hot Tub CareI clean my own filter cartridge every 4-8 weeks, depending on how often I use the spa. If my hot tub is being used a few times per week, I’ll clean the filter every four weeks, or monthly. Find extra info at Hot Tub Services and Repairs in Colorado.
But first let’s see the hot tub choice of the month : By far, Cal Spas has the most hot tub models available across its six hot tub product lines. Cal Spas also sells eight models of swim spas. The sheer number of Cal Spas’ available options is almost overwhelming. The manufacturer has 51 hot tub models and several color and upgrade options as well. Cal Spas is one of the only spa companies we evaluated with a salt water sanitation option, as well as UV-C and ozone options. This spa brand is a great option for different hot tub shapes as it offers oval and triangle spas in addition to the usual square options. With so many options, the website is difficult to navigate, and Cal Spas does not have pricing guidelines for its products, which makes narrowing down your options without speaking to a dealer inconvenient. However, we love the sheer amount of options at CalSpas when it comes to hot tub size, shape, color and upgrades.
Your daily maintenance tasks are all about ensuring good water quality. In a hot tub that means checking two things: PH and sanitizer levels. This is easy stuff, and can generally be accomplished by dipping a single, color-coded test strip into the water to check that everything is as it should be. If you’re diligent about maintaining your tub, most days this won’t mean doing anything more than walking out to your tub, dipping the test stick in the water, and heading back inside. If your PH or sanitizer levels need adjusting, however, you’ll need take an extra few minutes to dump the proper additive into your water to get things back their proper levels. Doing so will prevent a host of problems, including scaling, mineral buildup, corrosion, skin irritation, and cloudy and stinky water. Vacuuming the spa can be accomplished with small vacuums that are either battery powered or garden hose powered. The Pool Blaster spa vacuums are battery operated and fast to use, or you can use the Grit Getter to suck up the little grains that gather in the corners. There are also spa vacs that connect to your vacuum hose for fast removal of even large leaves. Floating debris can be removed with a skimmer net. If you left the cover off during a windstorm and the spa is full of leaves, a skimmer net can also be used to scoop up the larger leaves under the water.