Hot tubs offer an abundance of relaxation, soothing weary muscles and creating a personal oasis right outside your back door.
The key to ensuring your continued enjoyment is your hot tub care.
Routine maintenance can help to keep the water clean, create a safe soaking experience and help your spa to last for many years to come.
A vital part of every maintenance routine is changing your hot tub water.
In this article, we’re going to cover everything you need to know about changing your hot tub water, so that you can care for your spa like a pro!
Let’s dive in!
The Importance of Changing Your Hot Tub Water
If your hot tub chemicals are keeping your hot tub water clean, then why would you need o change the water?
Honestly, it’s because of those chemicals!
Each time you add your treatment chemicals, you slightly increase your “total dissolved solids.”
As this increases, your water can become challenging to keep balanced, resulting in more and more chemicals being needed, and more frequent treatments!
This makes changing your hot tub water critical to maintaining the overall health of your spa, and keeping maintenance costs to a minimum.
Regular water changes can help you provide your hot tub with a fresh start, keeping your water easier to manage, and ensuring it’s safe to soak in.
Water changes also provide the perfect opportunity to give your spa a deeper cleaning and inspection!
How Often Should I Change My Hot Tub Water?
Ideally, you should aim to drain, clean, and refill your hot tub once every season.
This can fluctuate based on how often the hot tub is used and how well it is maintained throughout the months in between.
If you use your spa often, you may find you need to change your water more frequently.
However, even if you’re a weekend warrior, you should be changing your water every three months, regardless.
Additionally, you may discover some water issues arising that may require you to drain your spa and start fresh again.
This could include your water going murky, foam floating along its surface, or green algae blooms beginning to form in the water.
In these cases, you’ll want to begin by testing your hot tub water and treating it with the appropriate chemicals.
However, if the water still hasn’t cleared up, you should definitely drain, clean, and refill the spa.
Supplies You’ll Need to Drain Your Spa
When it comes time to change your hot tub water, you’ll want to ensure you have the right supplies on hand to make it as effortless as possible.
You’ll want to ensure you have the following items:
- Garden hose
- Quickdrain™️ hose (optional)
- Hose Filter
- Line cleaner
- Shell cleaner
While you could certainly change your hot tub water without a quick drain hose or a filter attachment, they are valuable additions that can make the process much easier.
How to Change Your Hot Tub Water
Now that you know what tools you’ll need to make your water change as simple as possible, let’s learn how to drain and refill your spa!
Step 1: Add Line Cleaner
Before you drain your spa, you want to give your pipes and jet lines the support they need to continue functioning smoothly.
While your water circulates through your system, add your line cleaner to the tub of your spa.
Let it run for 15 minutes to ensure the cleaner has fully moved throughout your circulation system.
This will help break down any build-up in your pipes, keeping them clean for the next few months.
Step 2: Turn Off Your Hot Tub
Anytime you’re doing any work on your hot tub, you’ll want to ensure it’s turned off.
To do this, go to your circuit breaker, and power down your spa.
Step 3: Drain The Spa
To access your drain valve, you’ll need to remove your cabinet panel.
Many models have a quick-release latch, ensuring you can quickly open your cabinet and access the drain.
Then, unscrew the cover of the drain valve, and attach your garden hose. If you have the Quickdrain™️ hose, you can attach this instead to make draining your spa faster.
Unravel the hose and ensure you have the water drain in a low-traffic, inconspicuous area.
Once you’re ready, simply open the drain valve and wait!
Step 4: Clean Your Shell
Your quarterly drain provides the perfect opportunity to thoroughly inspect and clean your spa.
After the water has been drained, go over your shell to ensure there are no cracks, and check your jets for any mineral build-up.
Then, use your shell cleaner to wipe down the inside of your tub, washing away any grime that may have built up on its surface over since your last clean.
Once it’s clean, use your garden hose to thoroughly rinse off the cleaner.
Step 5: Refill Your Spa
Now that your hot tub is freshly cleaned, it’s time to refill it!
Start by closing the drain valve, removing the drain hose, and putting your cabinet panel back on.
Then, use your garden hose to refill your spa.
If you’re using a hose filter, make sure you attach it to your garden hose before you begin filling your spa again.
This filter will help pre-filter the water going into your tub, providing you with the cleanest starting point.
Once it’s one or two inches above your skimmer or filter opening, you can remove your garden hose and turn your hot tub back on.
Step 6: Test and Treat
Now that you have fresh hot tub water, you’ll need to balance it again.
Using your pH test strips, test your water, and treat it with the appropriate chemicals to bring your alkalinity, pH, and sanitizer back into their expected range.
If you’re a visual learner, watch this short video!
Hot Tub Service in The Bay Area
Congratulations! You’re now a master at changing your hot tub water!
While you can certainly DIY your water care, if you’re short on time, or would simply prefer to have the professionals do your water change, the experts at Paradise Valley Spas are your go-to team!
With over eight locations throughout the San Fransico Bay Area, professional service is just around the corner.
No matter your need, our experts at your local Paradise Valley Spas showroom are happy to help. We offer a range of hot tub service solutions, ranging from but not limited to:
- Water changes
- Water testing
- Water cleaning
- Inspections
- Repairs
- Part ordering
- Cover maintenance
To request spa service, get in touch with your local Paradise Valley Spas hot tub store today.
For more information about our hot tubs for sale or bringing your very own hot tub installation to life, our experts are happy to help.
