If you’re lucky enough to own a hot tub, you’ll also know that in-between those awesome parties and chill-out sessions there is a bit of maintenance. Cleaning your hot tub may not be the most fun you’ll have with it, but fortunately it’s relatively painless as long as you’ve got the tools and products you need and the system works well.
Clean your hot tub regularly (3-4 times per year) to avoid having to spend ages flushing out bacteria. You can just use some Jif to clean your hot tub in-between baths to keep it looking shiny and then flush the lines and clean the filters every few months.
How to clean your hot tub
You may be wondering what the best way to clean a hot tub is – in truth, the best way is to maintain your hot tub regularly, which will minimise the amount of work you’ll need to do. Here’s how to clean a hot tub and how to drain a hot tub:
Firstly, you want to flush the lines of your hot tub with hot tub line cleaner. Most of the bacteria living in your hot tub can be found hanging out in the lines of your tub under a gooey layer of biofilm. Remove the filters and flush the lines, letting the bacteria out into the tub (you’ll clean it later anyway) and then drain away with the old water.
Make sure you turn the power off, both the mains and at the circuit breaker, before you start cleaning your hot tub. You don’t want the pump accidentally turning on when there’s not enough water circulating as this might damage it
Drain the water according to the hot tub instructions using either a sump pump or a drain plug (depending on the model of your hot tub). Make sure there’s only water in the foot well – if the line flush produced a nasty-looking, brownish foam in your hot tub, you may need to first drain the tub completely and then fill the foot well with fresh water
Clean your hot tub using a hot tub cleaner (Jif will do the job in terms of cleaning the tub). You can use this opportunity to give both the filters and the jets a good clean as well. How do you clean hot tub jets and filters, then? Just use the same product you use for the rest of the hot tub and make sure you take extra care when cleaning inside and all around the jets. Rinse off the hot tub cleaner afterwards, ensuring there is no residue as this will cause both foam and a chemical imbalance in the hot tub water once it’s filled with water again
Put your hose into the filter well so that the water runs through the cleaned pipes and filters
Turn the power back on and turn the air valves off
Add a new dose of start-up chemicals, such as sanitiser, shock and pH and alkalinity increaser. Make sure you test the chemical balance of the water in your hot tub before you use it
Your hot tub is now ready for your next chill-out session or barbie get-together!
Cleaning a hot tub: general pointers
Cleaning a hot tub isn’t particularly hard work if you do it regularly to keep bacteria at bay. Drain your hot tub and give it a good clean once every 3 months and you shouldn’t have to worry about bacteria-infested hot tub lines or chemicals becoming useless after coming into contact with ammonia or nitrogen. Just as with all other cleaning, a little general maintenance goes a long way!
Remove the filters and flush the lines of your hot tub with hot tub line-flushing cleaner to remove bacteria and the biofilm they tend to live under inside the lines
Turn off the power to the hot tub both at the mains and at the circuit breaker
Drain the hot tub using either a sump pump or a drain plug, leaving only the foot well filled with water (if the water is dirty, drain the entire tub and then fill the foot well with fresh water)
Clean the hot tub, filters and jets with a hot tub cleaner and make sure you rinse the product off well afterwards
Insert your hose into the filter well, allowing the water to run through the clean filters
Add a chemical starter to the water and test the water to make sure the cleaning chemicals are at the right level