How To Clean An Empty Hot Tub
In some ways, your spa is like a big bathtub, except you don't drain it later on every use, and you soak in the same water as a bunch of other people. Though maybe you soak in your bathtub with a bunch of other people, besides. We're not judging. The point is, if you don't already know how to drain a hot tub, it'due south time to learn.
Why? Well, then you can properly clean it, a process that is besides different from caring for your bathtub. If you're not certain you know how to clean a hot tub, you're in the right place. There's more to information technology than wiping it downwardly with a cleaning solution. Get it wrong, and you lot could be in for some nasty surprises.
Eliminating buildup while treating your spa surfaces with care is easier than it sounds, and you don't need a degree in chemistry to do it. Earlier you change your hot tub h2o for the showtime—or fiftieth—fourth dimension, larn how to drain and clean your hot tub the correct way.
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Why Should You lot Know How to Drain Your Hot Tub?
Think about it. The same water sits in your hot tub for weeks or months at a time. Sure, you're treating it with a sanitizer and shocking information technology on a regular ground (right?), but it'southward however the same water, twenty-four hour period after 24-hour interval. Eventually, it volition need to be changed, regardless of how vigilant you are about h2o maintenance.
Every time you use your hot tub, organic contaminants are introduced into the water, such equally:
- body oils
- lotions
- cosmetics
- hair products
- sweat
- urine and carrion
That concluding i doesn't mean anyone is really relieving themselves in your hot tub. At least, we desperately hope that'southward the case. But every human being carries around residue on their bodies, fifty-fifty if they're careful about, uh, managing those areas. In one case they (and you) enter the spa water, that residue does too.
Simply it doesn't just stay in the water. Oh, no. It passes through the filter and plumbing as well. The filter does its job and grabs nearly of it, but it can just practice so much, especially if it'southward a petty dingy already. And equally those contaminants and leaner pass through the pipes, they starting time to build up and create a layer of biofilm, which is as gross as information technology sounds.
What is Biofilm?
You might've thought you already knew how to clean a hot tub. Simply so biofilm came along and ruined everything.
$.25 of leaner and fungi are trucking downward your hot tub's pipes. They make up one's mind it'south squeamish and cozy in there, and they want to stick effectually for a while. And so that's what they do—they stick themselves to the interior surface of the plumbing.
But they know their mortal enemy, chlorine, volition be forth whatsoever minute to banish them, so they build a barrier effectually themselves that's impervious even to chlorine.
More of their buddies come along and bring together the party, sticking themselves to the pipes, waving and laughing at chlorine as it goes by. They're digging in for the long haul until you do something almost information technology.
The longer that biofilm stays stuck to the plumbing, the more than contaminants stay in the water, as well. Let it build up too long, and it will start to impede water flow and affect filter efficiency every bit well.
Draining and cleaning your hot tub and using a special plumbing cleaning agent is the only way to get rid of it.
When Should You Do Information technology?
How tin you tell information technology'due south time to drain and clean your hot tub? Wait for a few clear signs and circumstances.
- Your hot tub is giving off foul odors.
- The water won't clear, no matter what you do to it.
- You've been using your spa more frequently than usual.
- You've had more guests in the hot tub, more frequently than usual.
- The hot tub has saturday unused for a long time.
If any of those conditions apply, information technology's time to act.
How Ofttimes Should You lot Practise Information technology?
Aside from any specific signs or weather condition that tell you your spa needs some attending, it'southward a skillful idea to drain and make clean your hot tub quarterly, whether it looks like it needs it or not.
Prevention is always preferable to correction. Keep the biofilm from building up in the first place, and you lot're protecting your filter and plumbing organisation. You're besides maintaining a cleaner, safer soaking environs.
For this reason, it's always a good idea to keep instructions for how to bleed the hot tub nearby to ensure you lot follow all the steps every time.
How to Drain a Hot Tub
Whoa, not so fast! Don't pull the plug only however. You have some work to do earlier you become rid of the water in your spa.
Flush Those Lines
Even if your sanitizer levels are right on target, your hot tub tin develop biofilm. Bacteria feed on it, while also using it as shelter from your sanitizer.
That same bacteria ends up in your water, eating up chlorine and exposing you lot and other bathers to contaminants, such as Legionella, which causes Legionnaires' Disease, Staphylococcus aureus, which commonly causes hot tub folliculitis, and E. coli, which can cause intense gastrointestinal distress.
When this goo forms inside your lines, it can't exist removed through normal spa water circulation, filtration, or even by adding more sanitizer or shock.
So before you lot bleed and clean your hot tub, add a plumbing cleaner, also called a line flush product. This special cleaner is particularly formulated to intermission down biofilm. Follow the packet directions to ensure you use the right amount for your hot tub's book. Once you've added it, let information technology circulate for a minimum of twenty minutes.
But if this isn't your outset fourth dimension cleaning your spa, but you haven't been using a hot tub line affluent, or if the hot tub has been sitting unused for quite some time, you lot tin—and actually should—allow the plumbing cleaner circulate for a few hours, or even overnight.
Plumbing cleaner may crusade gross-looking foam to grade on the surface of the h2o as it circulates through your spa. That just means it's working and pulling all that nasty biofilm out of the pipes. Y'all'll be draining and cleaning your hot tub next anyway, so don't worry almost the cream.
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The Power of Gravity
The everyman-toll option for draining your hot tub is to connect a hose to the spa drain and let gravity to work its magic. This is besides the almost time-consuming selection, commonly taking hours to completely empty your spa. But that doesn't have to be a bad thing.
It actually gives you time to move your hose and then tuckered h2o doesn't pool in one area, which you might desire to exercise if you'll be draining your spa water into your g or garden.
Of import: Before you drain your spa, flip the hot tub breaker to cut all power and eliminate adventure of electrical stupor.
The Ability of … Ability
Possibly you're in a hurry, or you just don't take the patience to expect on gravity. No problem. You can use a sump pump to empty your hot tub in minutes rather than hours. Open your spa drains at the aforementioned time, and empty the tub even more speedily.
Considering a sump pump volition bleed the hot tub quickly, plan to stay nearby to proceed an eye on the h2o level. If the pump continues to run one time the water is gone, it can fire up the motor, so plow off the pump as soon as information technology stops pumping water.
Some pumps will get the h2o downwardly to a fraction of an inch, while others will need to exist shut off with a few inches of water remaining. Your hot tub drains will take intendance of the rest.
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Where To Bleed Hot Tub H2o
A lot of cities accept laws that crave you to drain your hot tub water into the sewer system. Those cities typically provide sewer access through a special bleed somewhere on your belongings.
This is not to be confused with a storm drain, where you should never dispose of hot tub water because those drains atomic number 82 to natural bodies of water. Drained spa water can harm fish and other wildlife.
If you don't have direct sewer admission, you can run a hose into the drain in a utility sink in your abode, or h2o your backyard or gardens with the erstwhile spa water, provided yous've allowed chemical levels to dissipate. Plants don't exactly thrive on chlorine.
Important: Before you drain your hot tub, cheque your city's ordinances to ensure you lot're adhering to the law, and preventing whatsoever damage to the environment.
How to Clean a Hot Tub
Now that your hot tub is empty, you're halfway to the finish line. Go ready to expend a little elbow grease. Just don't get that grease in your spa. Ew.
Clean or Replace the Filter
While the water is draining from your spa, you accept enough of time to make clean your filter. A special filter cleaning spray is proficient for this job.
Better yet, take a little more than time and deep clean the filter. Grab a 5-gallon (xx-litre) bucket, and fill it virtually to the brim with water. Add the dose of hot tub filter soak indicated in the product instructions, requite the h2o a classy to dilute the cleaner, and submerge the filter. Leave it to soak for 24 hours.
If you remove the filter, and it's so dirty no amount of cleaner is going to make a departure, first, replace it. Second, clean your filter more than frequently!
Important: Anytime y'all clean your filter with a cleaning product, exist sure to rinse the filter thoroughly with make clean water before placing information technology back in your hot tub. Any residual cleaner might crusade foaming when you restart your spa, and then y'all'll accept to beginning this entire process over again.
Clean the Spa Shell
In one case it's empty and you've removed the sump pump, your spa is ready for surface cleaning.
- Spray your hot tub beat out with hot tub cleaner, diluted white vinegar, or diluted bleach. Pay special attention to nooks and crannies where mildew, algae, or bacteria could exist hiding.
- Employ a soft cloth or non-scratch nylon scrubber to remove residue.
- Rinse all the surfaces well, and bleed all the rinse water to prevent foaming when you refill your spa.
- Double-cheque that all your jets are open after yous've finished cleaning and rinsing. This reduces the chance of water force per unit area problems from trapped air.
Tip: Between quarterly draining and cleaning, you can clean the portion of the beat out that's above the waterline. Whatsoever cleaner you utilise may end up in the water, and so we recommend using a melamine sponge (also chosen a Magic Eraser).
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Don't allow your hot tub fill with difficult-to-remove gunk. Articulate out the gunk and go along your hot tub h2o fresh. It removes gunk in your pipes caused past lotions, sunscreens, cosmetics, etc.
Kills bacteria within the pipes for maximum event.
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How to Refill a Hot Tub
Ah, look at that squeaky clean hot tub! It's then pretty, you lot almost don't want to fill it back up, correct? But it's no fun to sit in an empty spa, so close the drains, and intermission out that hose.
Important: Before y'all start adding freshwater, double-check to ensure the breaker is yet off. Meliorate safe than sorry.
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Tip: When refilling your hot tub, apply a hose filter to reduce impurities such every bit calcium and copper that may impact your h2o chemical science and overall spa health. You lot'll start out with higher-quality water in your spa and reduce the risk of staining and mineral deposit buildup.
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Set aside some time for refilling the spa. You don't desire to leave it unattended and stop upwards with a flooding situation, especially if your hot tub is indoors.
- Insert the hose into the filter compartment, and turn on the spigot. This helps to force whatsoever trapped air out of your circulation system, preventing hot tub air lock. Avert overfilling as it may cause serious problems, such equally backflow into your heater, when yous start up your spa. If you practice accidentally overfill, drain the excess h2o immediately.
- Turn your spa breaker dorsum on.
- Kickoff the hot tub, which includes adding sanitizer and other start-up chemicals.
- Turn off air valves if yous have them, and so they don't disrupt chemical distribution.
- Add together a metal sequestrant, if necessary. This is specially important if you have well water, or even metropolis water that merely has a high metallic content, to help forbid stains in your spa. Using the hose filter reduces the adventure of stains, but if you lot've had metal-related staining bug in the by, it's worth adding a dose of sequestrant during refills.
- Examination the water. Adjust pH, alkalinity, and calcium hardness if necessary.
- Comprehend your spa for 24 hours to allow the chemicals to broadcast, and the water to estrus up to at to the lowest degree 80°F (27°C), but no college than 104°F (xl°C).
- Retest the water when the spa reaches your desired temperature to ostend the h2o is counterbalanced before anyone uses the spa. If it'due south not, brand the necessary adjustments.
While You lot're At Information technology …
As you wait for your hot tub to drain and refill, you can accept on a few other tasks to get a fully clean hot tub.
Clean the Spa Embrace
If you're using a hot tub embrace, now is the perfect time to make clean that, as well. If your spa resides outside, you may also want to apply a protectant to the comprehend to help avoid sunday harm.
And if you're non using a embrace, you're losing coin in water, chemicals, and energy costs via evaporation, so become a cover!
Make clean the Spa Cabinet
Don't go then focused on the inside of the hot tub that yous forget the outside! Your spa chiffonier puts up with a lot of abuse in the form of splashout, humidity, and sun if it's outside. Take some time to care for it, and it'll last a lot longer.
Depending on what your cabinet is made from, clean it with an appropriate product. Most cabinets are made from wood, and then use a gentle wood cleaner and a soft fabric.
Apply a wood protectant as well, whether your hot tub is indoors or out. And if information technology'due south outside, use a protectant with a UV shield.
Worry-Complimentary Soaking
Now that y'all know both how to drain your hot tub and how to clean your hot tub, there'southward no excuse to let your spa descend into swamp territory. Continue the h2o balanced, test it regularly, and keep your filter make clean, and you should only have to exercise a full bleed and clean every quarter.
In the meantime, you can relax and enjoy your squeaky make clean tub full of sparkling, clear, biofilm-free h2o.
Happy Soaking!
Matt Giovanisci is the founder of Swim Academy® and has been in the pool and spa industry since 1995. Since then, his mission is to make pool and hot tub care easy for everyone. And each year, he continues to help more people with water chemistry, cleaning, and troubleshooting.
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Source: https://www.swimuniversity.com/drain-clean-hot-tub/
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