Your Information Source On Spa & Hot Tub Covers
Frequently Asked Hot Tub and Spa Questions
Because of the heat and pressure of the dishwasher, you might damage the fabric pleats on the filter. Your local spa dealer will have a special filter cleaner that contains the ingredients to clean body oils, hairspray, shampoos, conditioners and lotions off of your hot tub cartridge filter. First spray down your filter with a regular garden hose with a straight flow nozzle. Hold the hose at a 45 degree angle and be sure and spray between the pleats. Soak your spa filter overnight in the solution and then wash down again with the hose. PS - even if your dishwasher was a good way to clean your hot tub filter, would you really want to wash your dishes in the same machine? ;-)
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Short answer: no. Long answer: no, no, please, don't do that. Depending on the age of your tub and how it is all wired together you could damage both the pump and the heater. The safest thing is to never turn on your spa dry. Sure, everything might work out great. On the other hand, you might find yourself paying a professional to replace some very expensive parts. I guess that really begs the question -- why would you want to do this in the first place?
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Possibly. Searching the internet will likely turn up a lower quality replacement cover but it will be new and will carry a retail price. From the way the question is asked, we're guessing you maybe want something used. There is a great online resource for finding cheap hot tub covers and you can follow the link for an article with more detail on how to use this resource for finding discount and used hot tubs, parts, and equipment.
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Ah, yes the famous spa tub vacuum stick. We'll we don't know what it is either, but we'll take a stab at it. A hot tub generally does not have a vacuuming system like a pool does. And the smaller size combined with the rapidly moving water frequently will keep things agitated so that the skimmer will remove many of the leaves and debris. However, for the meticulous housekeepers among you, there is a device called a spa wand that does resemble a stick. You operate it manually by pulling up on a plunger to suck unwanted materials into a catch basket. So the next time the salesperson mentions a spa tub vacuum stick you can put your finger to your temple and say, "oh, you must mean a spa wand". If he says "no", just ask him what the heck he's talking about. Then write back and tell us.
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Wait a minute there Bobo. Someone is laying out cash for food and booze, and letting a bunch of his friends use his hot tub, and you think it would be a funny practical joke to dump a bottle of Mr. Bubble in there? Actually -- it might be kind of funny. But that aside, it's probably not a good idea. Chances are it won't physically damage the tub, pump or heater as long as you don't overdo it. After all, every time you use a hot tub you are carrying some soap in there on your body. That's one of the things that causes the foaming you see under normal conditions. What it might damage though is your friendship. It can create a real mess and he will certainly have to drain the water and do a lot of clean-up. It will possibly put an end to the hot tub for other guests who just want to sit there in peace, drink wine and discuss the presidential race. We suggest you not do this, unless your host gives you the nod. And wait until the end of the evening when things are winding down so only the hard-core partiers are left. By then they probably won't care.
By the way, if you are curious, here is what happens when you dump bubble bath soap in a spa.... (opens new window to play video)
You'll find all kinds of conflicting opinions on this, but here is our stab at it. Big warm vats of water can be called different things. To a purist, a hot tub is made from wood and a spa is made from acrylic or fiberglass. But a spa can also be made of many other materials, and can be round like a wooden hot tub, so it can get confusing unless you specify more details. Many people (including us) use the terms hot tub and spa interchangeably to refer to any big container that is filled with hot circulating water and which will hold more than one person. We don't think anyone will laugh at you if you take the laid back approach and do the same. Now, a jacuzzi is a brand of spa or hot tub. Much like people call any facial tissue "kleenex", lots of people refer to any hot tub as a "jacuzzi". But Jacuzzi is the manufacturer's name, and you shouldn't ask your friend if you can come over and soak in their jacuzzi - unless that is the brand they own. On their website, the Jacuzzi folks refer to their acrylic spas as hot tubs. Now do you feel better? ;-)
The calcium needs to be balanced in your hot tub. Too little can be the cause of corrosion of the metal parts. Too much calcium can be the cause of scaling on the heating element or walls and sometimes it can also cause the water to be cloudy. To increase the hardness to 100-300 ppm, you can add a calcium booster.
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When you check your pH and total alkalinity one number will be higher than the other. It's usually easiest to fix the lowest number first. If the pH is low and the total alkalinity is high add a pH increaser until you bring the pH into a normal range. Then add a pH level reducer to adjust the total alkalinity.
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How many people you are trying to cram into your hot tub, and how dirty they are, will have a huge impact on how often you need to shock your water. Under normal loads your hot tub dealer will probably tell you to do this once per week. However if you have lots of parties (or a big family) and everyone likes to use your tub, or the water looks cloudy, you will have to do it more often.
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Most people who climb into your hot tub have residual soap on their bodies, detergents in their bathing suits, and who knows what hair gels and sprays in their hair. Not surprisingly these are rinsed into the water and as the water moves rapidly it can cause foam. If you can convince your guests to shower before entering it should help prevent this problem. Your spa dealer will be happy to sell you a defoaming agent which will also help. One other cause of foaming can be low calcium so make sure the calcium level stays in the 200-300 ppm range.
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