Your hot tub takes care of you, helping you to relax at the end of a long day. It’s only reasonable that you return the favour! Proper hot tub care not only keeps your hot tub looking great, but also protects your hot tub’s components from corrosion. Taking care of your hot tub today will save a lot of money in the long run by preventing hot tub breakdowns. Comprehensive care can seem intimidating at first, but quickly becomes routine.
The most serious problems for hot tubs and hot tub covers result from too much acidity or alkalinity. Too much acidity or alkalinity causes corrosion of your hot tub’s metal parts, including its pumps and jets. Chlorine forms an alkaline compound when dissolved in water, raising the pH. Even worse, chlorine loses its effectiveness around pH 7.8, becoming an oxidation agent that corrodes the metal in your hot tub instead of killing bacteria. Hot tub owners who still use chlorine sanitizers have to repeatedly check the pH and balance the pH to prevent chlorine from causing a pH spike.
These problems can be avoiding by using a non-chlorine based sanitizer like Leisure Time Free, a product carried by The Cover Guy. If you are using municipal water and Leisure Time Free chlorine-free sanitizer, your hot tub pH will likely remain in the normal range of 7.2-7.8. It would still be a good idea to test on occasion, in case your municipality’s water treatment facilities are dropping the ball.
If you use well water for your hot tub, pH testing is essential. Dissolved solids in well water can lead to a huge range of pH values, from very acidic to very alkaline. Doing a pH test every time you refill your hot tub can save from future headaches. Well water is also notoriously “hard,” or high in dissolved metal salts. At high alkalinities, these metal salts will precipitate out of the water and form white or rust-colored scales on your hot tub’s plumbing. To prevent any scaling from occurring in well water, it is important to be even more diligent with pH testing and keep to a maximum pH of 7.4.
There are a number of solutions for a PH that is too high or too low. Some hot tub owners try to correct the pH with common household chemicals, like white vinegar or baking soda. However, this is generally not a good idea. Vinegar and baking soda can interact with other dissolved solids to cause scaling. It can also lead to strange odours in your hot tub. It is also inconvenient to use up boxes of baking soda or jugs of vinegar to balance your hot tub’s pH. You can save yourself some headaches by investing in hot tub pH balance adjusters, available at The Cover Guy. These are odourless, colorless, concentrated acidic and alkaline solutions designed to alter pH without interacting with any dissolved solids or chemicals.
Fortunately, all the products necessary for taking care of your hot tub are relatively cheap and easy to use. Purchase the right hot tub and spa chemicals for your use through thecoverguy.com.
Consider upgrading your hot tub cover to one that uses our original WeatherShield Advanced Fabric Technology. WeatherShield is a solution dyed polyester fabric that is an alternative to the typical vinyl material commonly used in hot tub covers. WeatherShield is up to 25% lighter and is highly resistant to UV rays, mold, mildew, water, tears and abrasions.
WeatherShield was designed with all four seasons in mind, so it’s built to last against the elements and it’s also easy to maintain. Upgrade today and see for yourself!
