A swampy spa isn’t relaxing at all.
Unless you want yours to look like a place that a frog would love, you need to stay on top of maintenance.
A spa is an investment and failing to take care of it properly is like throwing away your money.
Here’s what you need to know to keep everything sparkly clean.
Sanitize the water
The most important chemical you put in your spa is the sanitizer.
You have several options:
Chlorinating concentrate. This is a granular chlorine. You can add it directly to the water while the pump is running without having to pre-dissolve it.
Brominating concentrate. These granules have the advantage of not having any chlorine odor. It can also be added to the water in the same way as the chlorinating concentrate.
Brominating tablets. 1-inch Bromine tablets are placed in a floating dispenser and dissolve slowly to provide continuous protection.
Keep the balance
The sanitizer won’t work if the water isn’t balanced.
When you test the water in your spa, you’re looking at three different characteristics:
pH is a measurement of how acidic or basic your spa water is. The ideal range you’re going for is between 7.4 and 7.6.
Alkalinity is a stabilizing agent that keeps your pH from excessive fluctuation. The ideal range is between 100 and 150 parts per million (ppm).
Calcium hardness keeps your equipment from eroding and plaster from etching. The range to shoot for is between 100 and 200 ppm.
Cleaning the filters
There are some regular routines that you should get into the habit of performing to properly care for your spa filters.
Once a week your filters should be rinsed with fresh water. This can be done in the sink or even outside with your garden hose.
Once a month you should spray down your filter with a chemical rinse. Let it sit for about 15 minutes and then rinse it with fresh water.
Every 6 months your filter should be soaked in a special spa filter cleaning chemical. The filter needs to stay totally submerged in the chemical for 24 hours and then should be well-rinsed with fresh water.
Replacing the water
You should drain and refill your spa once every three or four months, depending on how much use it gets.
If you’d like to be exact, you can use this formula to determine precisely when you should replace the water:
The total gallons of the spa divided by 3.
That number should then be divided by the average amount of daily users.
The number you get is how many days you should go before draining and refilling the water.
Here’s the process for draining the spa:
Turn off any power going to the spa. This is an important step to prevent any risk of electrical shock.
Drain the spa. There are a couple ways you can do this. You can use a pump or the drain plug. A pump is a much faster option, but either choice will effectively drain the water.
Clean the filter or filters. You already know how to tackle this step!
When you’re ready to refill:
Replace the clean filters.
Refill the spa. The best way is with a garden hose.
Test the water. This allows you to add the proper amount of chemicals to sanitize and balance the water.
Enjoy!
Regularly maintaining your spa will maximize its life and ensure that you’ll have many years of relaxation ahead.
It’s always best to seek the help of professionals when you run into any issues.
Give us a call at Family Pools and Spas for all of your spa maintenance needs!
Do you have a method for keeping track of when routine maintenance is performed on your spa?
