Hot Tub Owners... Are they a pain in the ass? (1 Viewer)

justsomedude

justsomedude

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We take possession of our new house in a couple of weeks, and it has a fairly new/nice hot tub in the backyard. We've never owned one and have some questions/concerns:

• We understand the previous owner was known for hosting parties in his backyard.
- Is a thorough cleaning/sanitizing something we need to do?
- Or is the chlorine enough to put us at ease?

• Safety: We have 2 infants... the hot tub has a cover and the owner showed us there is a slot for a padlock - is this sufficient to keep little ones out?
- If safety is a concern, should we just sell it off entirely until kids are older?

• General maintenance: Again, as we've never owned one, what kind of equipment/chemicals are needed?
- How much do they cost?
- Is there anything specific we need to store and keep on hand?
- And how often is maintenance required?

• Do we need to drain it often? Ever?

• Any other tips/advice we need going into this?
 
Drain it completely and fill with fresh water. Other than that, just add chemicals. Go to a local pool supply store and buy a kit. The system we use requires you to add chemicals each time you use it with a weekly shock (more chemicals than single use). And you need change the water/flush the filters every few months. It’s pretty low maintenance but it’s a little work.

Congrats on the new home.
 
Everyone I know that has owned one just complains about it, but I do live in Canada where you can get maybe 4 months at most usage out of it. Pain to fill. Takes forever to heat. Constant maintenance for cleaning. Too hot in the summer to use. Too cold in the winter to use. Takes a ton of electricity to heat. Etc.

That being said, my gf nagged me to the point that we're getting one right now ;) but it's only a cheaper blowup one that you have to take down in the winter.
 
Never owned one, but did a lot of research into them (which is why I never owned one).

They can be a fair bit of maintenance, but they can also be a nice thing to have if you are into it. I would have a conversation with a reputable local pool supply store and get their advice on how to properly operate and maintain it. Maintaining a hot tub in California or Florida will probably be a bit different than maintaining a hot tub in SD. Also consider operating costs (your electric bill will be a fair bit higher than you might expect, and repairs can be a bit pricey if you are not a DIY kind of person ).

Even when you drain it, there can still be a fair bit of water remaining in the hoses and plumbing. It might be worthwhile to flush it out (drain, refill, run the pump, drain it again, refill again, add chlorine), especially if the previous owner was a "party" kind of person.

A couple of things to note - try not to run the pump when the water level is below the highest nozzle (water will go everywhere), and definitely don't run it if the water level is near or below the level of the intake (pump damage is likely).

Depending on how cold it gets in winter, you may need to keep the water heater on all the time and keep the water pump running at slow speed to keep the water in the hoses from freezing. If you drain it instead, you may need to run some anti-freeze (not the car stuff) through the pipes, because you can almost never drain it fully.

The wood trim around the tub often rots out long before the tub itself becomes a problem. Keep the wood clean, re-stain it every few years, and try to keep the wood from contacting the concrete or ground that it sits on.

Happy tubbing!
 
We just got one last summer. Depending on frequency of use, just drain and refill every 3-4 months. Give it a small treatment of chlorine and shock after each use, that will help keep it in balance. If you let it go too long between cleanings or treatments water will get cloudy and stinky.

Pull the filter and rinse/clean it every week or two. Buy "scumballs" from Amazon, they help suck up the body oils, perfumes, deodorants, etc that come off your body and keep the water cleaner.

Don't over treat it. When we first got ours, I used too many cleaning solutions for water clarity and I think I threw it way out of balance.

We kept it open all winter, it was pretty cool to sit out there while it was snowing.
 

“Hot Tub Owners... Are they a pain in the ass?”​


Yes, most of the hot tub owners I know are a pain in the ass. They complain about their hot tubs all the time, and then say stuff like “I was just digging twelve miles of post holes in the hot sun and dust, and I didn’t have any toilet paper all day. I’m getting in the hot tub, you want to jump in with me?”
 
trigs said:
Everyone I know that has owned one just complains about it, but I do live in Canada where you can get maybe 4 months at most usage out of it. Pain to fill. Takes forever to heat. Constant maintenance for cleaning. Too hot in the summer to use. Too cold in the winter to use. Takes a ton of electricity to heat. Etc.

That being said, my gf nagged me to the point that we're getting one right now ;) but it's only a cheaper blowup one that you have to take down in the winter.
Click to expand...

Would be good to put the girlfriend away for the winter, I will have to consider a blow up option as well......
 
justsomedude said:
Thanks for all the replies!!!

One more question... what's "shock"?
Click to expand...

A chemical (or probably a cocktail of chemicals). Stuff I use comes in granular form, and you just put a small amount in the tub after you've used it.

Even cleaning the filters isn't that bad. I spray them off with a hose, then toss them in the dishwasher. Pretty easy (this probably depends on what kind of filters you buy....mine are dishwasher safe).
 
IMG_3136.jpg
Built this tub this spring from a kit. That was a pain in the ass but nice to use now. Maybe I'm still in the honeymoon phase though. Our tub has an ionizer and an ozonator on it. When we do a fresh fill, we clean the filter. Then you balance the ph, hardness of the water. Finally you add bromine granules until it reaches a certain ppm. You use little papercolour strips to balance everything. After that, we just add some granules after every second or third use. The ionizer and the ozonator allow use to use less bromine.
 
“Known for parties” seems like a coded way of telling you that you’ve inherited a sex tub. I highly recommend a thorough cleaning to make sure there isn’t any stray floating DNA. I’m sure a good shock treatment will get the job done. If In doubt, drain and repeat.
 
Highli99 said:
“Known for parties” seems like a coded way of telling you that you’ve inherited a sex tub. I highly recommend a thorough cleaning to make sure there isn’t any stray floating DNA. I’m sure a good shock treatment will get the job done. If In doubt, drain and repeat.
Click to expand...

Yes. Pretty sure it was a sex tub... I was trying to be discreet. :)
 
Prabably if you drain it, change the filter, refill and get the proper chemicals from a pool store should be good to go.
 
Shock is the feeling you get when you look at your electric bill for the first time after plugging in the water heater!

Seriously, shock is a term for an extra large dose of sanitizing chemicals. Normally you use moderate amounts of the chamical (chlorine, bromine, etc.), and that kills most of the contaminants most of the time. Every now and then you need to hit it with a super strong treatment to kill all of the contaminants. Think of your hot tub water as a very large Petri dish, at just the perfect environment to grow lots and lots of bacteria. Shock treatment tries to sterilize the water. Normal treatment tries to keep the bacteria levels to an acceptable amount.
 
So we got our inflatable hot tub delivered a couple days ago. Set it up and it's pretty nice for the price. We also got a little pop up tent to go around it to keep the bugs out and such. It says it fits 4 adults, but let's just say they'd have to be pretty comfortable with each other to fit 4 in there. For the two of us, it's plenty of room.

Funny thing though: about 5 minutes ago I heard my doorbell and went to answer it. Lo and behold, there was another giant package on my doorstep. Looks like I have a second hot tub now. Immediately texted my gf to make sure she didn't accidentally purchase two, but only one charge on our account. Free hot tub! She says the second one can go in the basement :/

20210617_180901.jpg

(This picture makes it looks pretty small actually. It's about 5' diameter on the inside which is plenty of space for two people.)
 
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trigs said:
So we got our inflatable hot tub delivered a couple days ago. Set it up and it's pretty nice for the price. We also got a little pop up tent to go around it to keep the bugs out and such. It says it fits 4 adults, but let's just say they'd have to be pretty comfortable with each other to fit 4 in there. For the two of us, it's plenty of room.

Funny thing though: about 5 minutes ago I heard my doorbell and went to answer it. Low and behold, there was another giant package on my doorstep. Looks like I have a second hot tub now. Immediately texted my gf to make sure she didn't accidentally purchase two, but only one charge on our account. Free hot tub! She says the second one can go in the basement :/

View attachment 722062
(This picture makes it looks pretty small actually. It's about 5' diameter on the inside which is plenty of space for two people.)
Click to expand...
Free hot tub!!!! lol.... that's awesome
 
Hey Andrew, I thought it would be a royal pain in the ass, but I personally don't think it's that bad.

Go on Amazon and buy test strips like below

20210618_130733.jpg


Buy a deck box for safety along with the chemicals to match the strips. Buy scoopers to match the "serving size" for each chemical.
20210618_130722.jpg


Buy non-chlorine shock and do that once a week

If you are a smarthome person, get a Wi-Fi receiver so you can control it via an app. Makes a world of difference when it's 10 degrees out and you can turn up the heat remotely. Otherwise, keep the temp lower until ready to use

20210618_130839.jpg
 
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My parents got one… loved it for a few months, then because it was $475/mo to keep hot, they stopped heating it until they wanted to use it. Needing 60-90 mins to get hot before they used it really cut down how often they did. Now a couple years later they don’t use it at all.
 
cpiaaq said:
My parents got one… loved it for a few months, then because it was $475/mo to keep hot, they stopped heating it until they wanted to use it. Needing 60-90 mins to get hot before they used it really cut down how often they did. Now a couple years later they don’t use it at all.
Click to expand...
This is what I hear from most people who own one too.
 
cpiaaq said:
My parents got one… loved it for a few months, then because it was $475/mo to keep hot, they stopped heating it until they wanted to use it. Needing 60-90 mins to get hot before they used it really cut down how often they did. Now a couple years later they don’t use it at all.
Click to expand...
That sounds crazy for monthly cost just for the hot tub. Our total electric bill for our entire house before getting out tub was on average $225/month.

Since getting our hot tub along with a dry sauna and living at home for the last year during the pandemic (extra TV, Computer, Video Games, lights) all going full blast our bill has only increased to $290/month on average. And we kept our tub open all winter long in Michigan at a temp of 103 degrees.
 
got one last year as we realized with the pandemic would be great to be outside as much as possible..
built the base foundation myself- fist bump me..
have used it every week for the last year..sometimes every day of the week
easy to maintain
has been well worth the investment
here in michigan sitting outside in the hot tub while its snowing has been magical
found a picture from last year...dragged a tv outside to watch football and drink...my friend will never know I posted his picture here
lol
63321255238__1E8AD9C1-CFE9-4CAA-A307-489719A24FBA.jpeg
 

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