New Hot Tub Fast Start Guide
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This page is a "spa school" fast start guide for hot tub owners to get their spa filled and chemically balanced so it is safe and ready to use. This information applies to all makes, brands and models of hot tubs including both portable hot tubs as well as permanent hot tubs like tile or concrete hot tubs. All of these hot tubs would follow the same protocol for how to fill and how to balance the initial chemicals so that they are safe to use. In truth there is quite a lot to know to be proficient with all aspects of hot tub ownership and maintenance, but this spa school fast start will help you to get up and running as quickly as possible.
To start at the very beginning if you are just setting up a brand new hot tub for the first time you should be aware that new spas are usually wet tested at the factory before shipping. As a result it is pretty normal to find water still within the plumbing lines. If water has been trapped stagnant in your spa for weeks or months during the shipping process it would be a good idea for you to fill the spa, heat the water and then perform a pipe flush / spa purge in order to clean out the gunk and biofilm that will develop inside the pipes. It would be really easy to want to skip this process and simply fill and use your new spa, but I think you can make a really strong argument here for taking the extra time and effort to fill and clean the hot tub before using it. It is not all that much money in water or heating costs to fill and heat the spa just for the purposes of flushing and draining the pipes but having seen what is in the pipes this is a price I am happy to pay.
Filling a hot tub - You should use a pre-filter on your fill line that you are using to fill your hot tub. This will remove impurities which will otherwise make their way into your spa water. If your spa has a skimmer where the filter is located, then put the garden hose fill line in this location to prevent air locking the filtration pump.
Chemical start up for new hot tub - You need to test your water and correct the total alkalinity, pH, calcium hardness and sanitizer (bromine or chlorine) in that order before your hot tub will be safe and ready to use. Water chemistry values change quickly in a small body of water like a hot tub so check your values often until you learn more about how your hot tub chemistry tends to work.
total alkalinity @ 120 ppm
pH @ 7.4 - 7.6
calcium hardness @ 200 - 400 ppm
bromine @ 2 - 5 ppm
How to add chemicals to a hot tub - You should only add one chemical at a time into a spa and allow a few hours minimum for the chemical to work before retesting the spa water to see the results. Leave the lid open on the spa for 15 minutes any time you add chemicals to allow for off-gassing. Every spa chemical you buy will have dosing instructions right on the bottle. Always follow the instructions as provided by the chemical manufacturer. In order to do this you will need to know the volume of your hot tub. Commonly chemicals are added to your spa by pouring them or broadcasting them onto the surface of the spa, followed by running the jets for a cycle to fully diffuse the chemicals into the water.
How to shock a hot tub - Shocking is a word that is commonly misused in pools and spas. For a bromine spa the best method for shocking is to use a non-chlorine shock (oxidizer like potassium monopersulfate) every time you are getting out of the spa. When you use the hot tub you add impurities and organic debris into the water. Instead of leaving this for the chemical sanitizer, bromine in this case, you can use a non chlorine shock to combat these contaminants. Additionally adding an oxidizer to a bromine spa will have the effect of increasing the bromine levels in the water. The oxidizer reactivates spent bromine which is then reactivated and able to kill bacteria again. In addition to adding some oxidizer when you are done in the spa you should also add a slightly larger dose once per week whether you are using the spa or not. 1 tablespoon of potassium monopersulfate per person when you get out of the spa, and also 1/2 cup per week. Be aware that this will increase your bromine levels so you should not do this if your bromine levels are already too high. Skip until bromine levels are lower again.
How often should you drain your hot tub? - Drain and refill your hot tub (after pipe flushing) once every 3 months at minimum. If your spa gets heavy use or you have experienced problems with cloudy or green water, or excessive foam, then flush, drain and refill the spa even sooner than every 4 months.
How often should you clean hot tub filters? - A big secret to hot tub care is to change your filters often. They are paper filters and they are reusable after you have soaked in a degreaser and rinsed thoroughly. The paper that the filter is made from will saturate with oils over time and this is why you need to use a degreaser to clean it, and not just a rinse with a garden hose. Here is a link to a video about how to clean hot tub filters.
This is a bare bones new hot tub fast start guide. There is a lot more to know about owning and caring for a hot tub and even the subjects discussed on this page are only touched on. This should give you enough information to safely get your hot tub up and running as fast as possible so you can start enjoying it.
For more help with your new hot tub you can check out this page of hot tub questions and answers as well as this page on hot tub chemistry.
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Swimming Pool Steve is an award winning, second generation swimming pool and spa specialist from Ontario Canada. With over 10,000,000 views on the Swimming Pool Steve YouTube Channel, winner of the 2018 Pool & Spa Industry Leadership award and author of hundreds of pool and spa articles both online and in print Steve is committed to helping pool and spa owners as well as pool and spa industry workers learn more about the technical side of building, renovating, repairing and maintaining all types of swimming pools and spas. Follow Swimming Pool Steve on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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