Changing out your hot tub water is one of the important pieces of spa and water maintenance. Sometimes the process may seem long and arduous, thus many people neglect this important part of spa ownership, which can damage the spa components in the long term. By following these steps, you can take of much of the guesswork, refill your spa with fresh, clean water, and relax again in the spa with piece-of-mind and comfort.

1. While most hot tubs will have drains located somewhere at the bottom on the kickplate, usually on one of the corners, it will be faster to drain the spa using a submergible pump. Many hardware stores and specialty hot tub stores offer these pumps for an affordable price. They will make draining the spa much faster.

2. Having a wet and dry vac will greatly assist in sucking up excess water, dirt, residue, and other products in the water. Often after draining a spa, there is still some residue left over. Instead of trying to scoop this out or drain it through the spa or the pump, you can quickly use a wet and dry shop vac to suck out the rest of this water.

3. Use a bleach or cleaning solution meant for acrylic or your spa shell material to clean the spa. Make sure that the shell and spa are clean before refill. This will help keep the water clean upon refilling it.

4. If possible, remove all the jets allow them to soak in a cleaning solution. There are several options for this found online and at specialty stores, but this will also greatly help keep the spa water clean once you refill the spa.

5.  When refilling the spa, make sure that you put your hose in the filter, housing area. Regardless of the spa maker model, this will help water circulate through the plumbing. If you do not do this, it’s very likely that you will have something called an airlock, which is air trapped in the pumps or plumbing. This can be somewhat difficult to resolve at times. So making sure that you fill the water appropriately and effectively is going to be the most effective solution.

6. When you treat the water for the first time, make sure that you are addressing all the possible issues that could affect the water quality and chemistry. If hardness is an issue, add a product for this, either a hardness creaser or hardness creaser. If water is unbalanced, use a product for this as well.  Add your sanitizer, either chlorine or bromine in most cases. Making sure you get this right the first attempt, will help keep the water clean and make balancing it much easier in the future.