Winter Spa Care Tips

Winter Heat Up Times:
Reminder, it will take longer for the tubs to heat up from fill/refill because of the bitter cold.
Expect a 110v tub to take up to 3 days to get up to 104 degrees.
220v tubs typically heat up at 6-8 degrees per hour but due to this extreme cold, the average is a little lower (4-6 degrees per hour).

Water Loss:
You may notice your spa’s water level dropping faster than normal. Most likely, it’s due to higher evaporation rates because of winter’s wind, drier air, and a larger difference in water temperature to ambient air—they all increase evaporation.

Floating Spa Cover (solar cover):
Our floating covers help reduce the evaporation by providing a protective cover to the water’s surface where evaporation occurs.
Increased evaporation also boosts heat loss so it’s important to try to reduce evaporation.

Old Spa Covers:
As spa covers get older, they get heavier and can sag in the middle. This sagging will lift the spa cover off the edges of the spa shell. You can see steam (evaporation) escaping from under the spa cover. Many people wait too long to replace their spa cover but the cost of owning a hot tub with an old, sagging cover is far more expensive than a replacement in the long run.

If this isn’t a good time to invest in a new cover, purchase a floating spa cover ($28) to help reduce both evaporation and heat loss.

Winterizing
Some customers want to winterize (close down for the winter) their spas, we can help. If you want the pros to do your winterizing, give us a call to schedule an appointment.

Softubbers who want to winterize their Softubs should detach the power pack and hold it so the plumbing is facing the ground in order to let all the water drain out. Once this step is complete, store the pack where it will not freeze.  After removing all the water from the tub, tip it up with plumbing facing down to drain all the water out of the plumbing. It is best to store the tub flat and out of the elements and/or enclosed in a tub guard cover—especially if it will be stored for awhile.

However, many people keep their spas open all winter since it’s the best time to use a hot bubbly spa!