Hot tub maintenance advices: If your hot tub has tiles, you’ve got an additional item on your hot tub care checklist: grout. To keep it looking its best, follow a few easy steps. Mix baking soda and water together in a bowl to form a thick paste. Apply the paste to your tiles and grout with a damp sponge. After five minutes, turn on the hot tub. Grab an old toothbrush, climb into the tub, and attack those grout lines with a circular scrubbing motion. The baking soda should have a negligible effect on your spa’s water chemistry, but be sure to check and balance it as necessary when you’re finished. You can tackle a little bit of your grout at a time, or, better yet, bribe a bunch of friends with free food and drink and host a scrubbing party. (You might want to make the bribe a substantial one if you plan on keeping them as friends.)

Advices for purchasing a hot tub : The vinyl hot tub is a low cost option with very few features. There are two types of vinyl spa: the cheap inflatable and the more expensive soft-sided spa. Inflatable hot tubs are a short-term option for those looking to have a hot tub for one to two seasons. With just bubbles and no real massage action, don’t expect much more than a blow-up kiddy pool.

Here are several advices on how to maintain your hot tub and also a suggestion if you live in Colorado. If a spa is indoors and inadequately ventilated, some users may experience slight throat and eye irritation. Ventilate it naturally or mechanically with an exhaust fan. Find another place rather than the spa’s equipment compartment to store chemicals. Despite all of those stereotypes and hijinx we see in movies and hear about with celebrities, hot tubs and drinking don’t go hand-in-hand. Refrain from drinking alcoholic beverages before or during spa use. Alcohol can make you drowsy and lead to drowning. Anyone taking prescription or certain over-the-counter medications should consult their physician before using a hot tub. Enjoy the soak in the tub, don your toasty terry cloth robe, and enjoy your glass of pinot grigio while sitting by the fire pit.

If you plan to be away from home a week or longer, call your local dealer for more tips on winterizing your spa, or check your Owner’s Manual for additional instructions.

Tap water is pretty good spa water in most areas. But in some areas (and you know where you are), you can run into issues of soft or hard water, high alkalinity, pH imbalance, or high levels of chloramines, metals and minerals. You can test your tap water with your test kit, or when testing after a drain and refill, you can measure the suitability of your tap water as spa water. Using a spa pre-filter removes metals, odors and the finest silt from your spa fill water.

Besides performing regular maintenance tasks, it also doesn’t hurt to perform regular inspections of your hot tub’s inner workings in order to catch small problems before they become big ones. Primarily, look for obvious leaks or wet areas beneath the tub. Catching these problems early can be the difference between replacing a $10 pump seal and needing a new $250 part. Also, pay attention to your hot tub’s functioning, and call in a repairman if you notice any major problems, such as failure to heat, pump, or filter the water. Catching an obvious problem like a failed heater during the dead of winter can mean the difference between replacing the heater with a new unit, and having to replace just about everything on your tub, or replace the tub completely, after you thaw it out. Vacuuming the spa can be accomplished with small vacuums that are either battery powered or garden hose powered. The Pool Blaster spa vacuums are battery operated and fast to use, or you can use the Grit Getter to suck up the little grains that gather in the corners. There are also spa vacs that connect to your vacuum hose for fast removal of even large leaves. Floating debris can be removed with a skimmer net. If you left the cover off during a windstorm and the spa is full of leaves, a skimmer net can also be used to scoop up the larger leaves under the water.

But first let’s view the hot tub choice of the month : HotSpring has 20 hot tub models, five of which are built for two or three people. Most of the hot tub manufacturers we evaluated have only three models, so HotSpring offers a better selection of small spas. Three of these spas are part of the brand’s Hot Spot collection, which fall into the value price range and have 10-17 jets. The other two are premium-priced spas from HotSpring’s top tier Highlife collection and have 14 or 22 jets. HotSpring also has 10 medium spas and five large spas with various price ranges, all of which come equipped with energy-saving features and are certified by the California Energy Commission. With five small hot tub models, Hot Spring has the best selection of two- and three-person hot tubs of the brands we reviewed. Discover even more info at Regular Water heater maintenance Colorado.