If you’ve invested in a swim spa, there’s no doubt you want it to last as long as possible.
This is where a well-curated swim spa maintenance routine comes into play!
Caring for your swim spa is essential to extending its lifespan, as well as maintaining the health of your spa water, minimizing repair and maintenance costs, and ensuring your overall enjoyment of it.
The last thing you want is for your swim spa to become damaged or need excessive water changes.
This may leave you wondering, “what should I include in my swim spa maintenance?”
In this article, we’ll answer that exact question and give you six tips to help make your swim spa maintenance as easy as possible!
Let’s get started.
How Long Do Swim Spas Last?
Swim spas typically last 15-20 years, however, some factors can reduce that lifespan. You’ll want to avoid these so you can enjoy your spa for years to come.
How long your swim spa lasts will ultimately depend on how well you care for it. If you follow a well-rounded swim spa maintenance schedule, you’ll easily maximize your spa’s lifespan.
For example, water balance will play a vital role in your swim spa’s health long-term.
If your spa water is frequently left out of balance or is over-treated with sanitizing products, you can cause damage to your swim spa’s shell, jets, pump, and heater.
Unbalanced pH and alkaline levels can make the water corrosive and damage the spa if left untreated.
Keeping your pH and alkalinity balanced will keep this from happening, so it’s important to test your swim spa water regularly to extend the lifespan of your spa.
What You Should Include in Your Swim Spa Maintenance Routine – 4 Aspects
When you first get your swim spa, it’s essential you create a swim spa water maintenance routine to follow.
There are four main aspects to include in your swim spa water care schedule to keep your spa running smoothly for years to come.
1. Keep Your Spa Water Clean
As mentioned above, you should test your water levels regularly to ensure they are balanced. We recommend testing them every 1-2 days and treating your water accordingly.
When testing your water, you’ll want to check your chemical levels, pH, and alkalinity levels. To make this easy, use test strips that give you all these levels from one test. You can also invest in a digital meter, which can do this as well.
Your pH levels should be between 7.2 and 7.8, and your alkaline level should range between 80-100 ppm (parts per million).
You’ll also want to check your chemical levels. If you use chlorine, you want the levels in your water to be between 2-4 ppm, and if you use bromine, you should aim for 3-6 ppm.
To keep your water healthy, you should include an oxidization treatment in your routine. This will help your sanitizer work more effectively by breaking down organic matter that chlorine can’t.
Pro Tip: While keeping your water clean is essential, you also want to ensure you aren’t over-sanitizing it either. This is an easy mistake to make and is often caused by the cover of your spa being closed directly after treatment.
As your chemicals treat the water, they release gases, which will get trapped beneath the cover and reenter your water, leaving it with higher chemical levels than you intended. Not only does this affect your water, but it also causes damage to the underside of your cover over time!
Avoiding this is easy. Simply leave your cover off for 30 minutes following any water treatment, and the chemicals will have room to off-gas without affecting your water or cover.
2. Clean Your Filters
Your filters are the barrier between your water and debris and bacteria, so keeping them clean is vital to your water’s health. This will ensure your filtration system is effectively doing its job.
To maintain the efficiency of your filter, you’ll need to clean them once a week, once a month, and every three months.
While this may seem like a lot of work, it’s a quick and easy process when you follow your schedule.
Weekly: rinse your filters using the garden hose. Allow to dry, then return them to your spa.
Monthly: Spray with filter cleaner and allow it to sit for 30 minutes. Then, thoroughly rinse under running water and set aside to dry. Once dry, return it to your spa.
Three Month Clean: For this clean, you’ll remove the filters and soak them in a filter cleaner that’s been diluted with water. Allow them to soak for 12-24 hours, then thoroughly rinse, allow to dry, and replace in your swim spa.
Filters have a 12 months lifespan, so you’ll want to ensure you replace them once a year. Additionally, during each clean, you’ll want to inspect them quickly for any tears or damage. If you find any issues, replace them with brand-new filters immediately.
3. Don’t Skip Water Changes
How often you change the water in your swim spa will depend on how much use it gets and the precautionary measures you take beforehand (we’ll get to this later).
At the bare minimum, you should be changing your water once every six months.
Over time, your water will develop a buildup of chemicals from treatment. While your filtration system can maintain your water’s cleanliness, changing it will ensure it stays crystal clear and doesn’t develop an overload of chemicals.
To maintain your water, you should include a partial drain every three months, draining three-quarters of your water and refilling. This will dilute any buildup of chemicals over time and ensure your water remains safe to use.
You’ll want to include a full water change every six months. This will include draining all the water from your spa, deep cleaning it, and refilling it with fresh water from your garden hose.
4. Inspect and Deep Clean Your Shell
During your full water change, you should complete a thorough deep clean of your shell and inspect it for any damage.
Use a gentle cloth, such as a microfiber one, and a high-quality shell cleaner to give your swim spa a deep clean. This will help remove any small debris that may have been building up on the surface of your shell and can protect against future damage or corrosion they could cause.
After you’ve cleaned your shell, thoroughly rinse it clean, and complete an inspection of the entire surface. Cracks in your shell are rare, however, they can cause significant problems if they occur and are not caught early.
Once you’re confident your shell is clean and in good condition, simply refill with your garden hose and rebalance your water.
If this step makes you anxious or causes you any stress, consider scheduling a service appointment to have our technicians take care of it for you.
6 Swim Spa Maintenance Tips For an Easy Maintenance
Caring for your swim spa doesn’t have to be difficult and can be made even easier in just a few easy ways!
1. Adjust Alkaline Levels First
When you balance your water’s pH and alkaline levels, you should always adjust your alkalinity first.
When you adjust your alkaline levels, your pH levels will also change. Alkalinity strongly influences pH levels, whereas pH has very little influence over alkaline levels.
2. Use a Submersible Pump
Make draining your swim spa fast and easy using a submersible pump!
Typically, draining your spa will take a few hours, however, when using a submersible pump, you can easily shorten this timeframe to just 30-45 minutes!
3. Use a Cover
Keeping your spa covered is essential for many reasons.
Swim Spa covers maintain the heat of your water, ensuring your energy costs remain low and your water is always at temperature and ready to use. They also protect your water from the elements and reduce the work your filters need to do to keep it clean.
Additionally, they maintain your water chemistry, reducing the chemicals you need to add during treatment.
Tip: To maximize the life of your cover, gently clean its surface every month, and clean the underside every three months to reduce the risk of mold forming from the dampness it experiences. Additionally, include a UV protectant to apply to your cover every 3-4 months, protecting it from the sun.
4. Shower Before Use
When you use your swim spa, anything that’s on your skin or hair will naturally come off in the water. This includes hair products, lotions, and make-up. These products are difficult for the filter to strip from the water, making it foamy over time.
To prevent this, have a quick shower before using your swim spa, ensuring you won’t contaminate your water with unnecessary organic matter, and make your spa water care easy!
5. Use Sponges or Tennis Balls
This may sound odd, however, they can be a great tool for keeping your water clean.
Simply add them to the water after you’re done using it, and they’ll float on the surface, absorbing any oils or organic matter that entered the water during your workout or spa session.
6. Include Professional Spa Service Solutions
Take the work out of caring for your swim spa by including regular spa services in your swim spa maintenance routine.
This can include water changes, regular inspections, repairs, troubleshooting, and water treatments.
Swim Spa Maintenance FAQ
Let’s answer some of the most popular swim spa maintenance questions…
Is a Swim Spa Hard To Maintain?
When you stick to a routine, caring for your swim spa is simple and will only take 10-15 minutes a day. The only exception is water changes, which usually take a couple of hours when you include a deep clean during the water change process.
How Long Does A Swim Spa Take to Heat Up?
Swim spas can take anywhere from 20-40 minutes to get up to temperature, however, this will only need to be done when you change the water. Your cover and water heater will easily maintain its temperature day to day.
Can You Swim Properly in a Swim Spa?
YES! Swim spas were designed to give you a swimming experience you can control, so swimmers of any level can get a challenging swim anytime they want! The jets will keep your body in place, allowing you to move through the motions of a traditional swim while keeping your body in one place.
Swim Spas for Sale In New Hampshire
Now is the time to invest in your backyard by adding a top-quality swim spa, giving you year-round enjoyment as you swim, play, and relax!
Our Sundance® Spas of New Hampshire team of expert professionals can help you discover the swim spa of your dreams and are ready to serve you at one of two locations.
Visit your local showroom in Merrimack or Meredith, or contact us today!
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