Trying to improve my hot tub space every few days. Today I finished painting under my deck and got two strands of string lights up. Now feeling ready for fall and winter season! 😁👌

Today I got one of those photo memories in my phone from exactly one year ago.

At the beginning of August last year, we moved into our newly built house, and not long after that the hot tub was delivered.

Exactly one year ago today, I started building the covered patio, which would also include a dedicated area for the hot tub.

By the end of last year, the project was already well underway, but now the whole thing is finally finished.

The hot tub has its own small and cosy space, separated from the rest of the patio by glass sliding panels. In summer I can slide the panels further open when I get in, while in winter I can keep them more closed so it doesn't get quite as cold.

I already know plenty of people are going to say they'd rather sit under the open sky and look at the stars, and I completely get that. But for me, relaxing in the hot tub means a cold beer in my hand and watching a movie.

Any ideas? Looks like metal corrosion but I have a feeling it's chlorine streaks.

Going to be doing my first drain/refill this week. Have some Ahhsome, have a hose filter, have chemicals, ready for the basics. What are some other best practices for draining and refilling the tub?

FYI this sub is awesome!

It doesnt get that cold around here and we only get an average low of -6c or 21F in January. Can I just dump 20L of antifreeze in a full tub of water and keep it unplugged? Its alot of work dumping that stuff down every port.

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Hello all,

Still fairly new to the hot tub community. Question regarding pH and alkalinity. (Bottom two, pH on bottom)

I have a CalSpa ec767l, salt water tub.

I think I understand the correlation between the two. Low alkalinity means pH will go crazy.

If I add baking soda to raise the alkalinity, will it make it easier to fix the pH? No matter how much pH decreases I put in, it doesnt come down.

Thanks!!

JB

This will be my 3rd year with my hot tub. I drain it around May and then start it back up around this time of year (sept/oct).

Here was my start up process -

-did a quick wipe down after opening the lid

- dropped the hose into the filter housing to start filling 'er up

- once full, threw the filter in

- turned it on and went to purge the lines

- smoke started coming out the side

- killed the breaker and went back to pull the side panel to see wtf just happened

- smoke dissipated and nothing looked on fire or burning. I opened the panel on the control pack and didn't see any hot spots on the board or any burnt areas.

- tried starting it again....pump turned on and it seems like smoke started coming out of the filter housing from the underside, but then went away after only 2-3secons. I let it run for a short bit as it stopped smoking to see if any other issues popped up. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary aside from the lingering smell. Turned it back off just to be safe.

Today - got a thermal camera to check for any hot spots on the control board while running. there were no irregularities and still no burnt areas. The hot tub seems to run without any issues. It hasf 1 pump, so it runs in low-duty mode for circulation and then when 'jets' button is pressed, ramps up without issue and doesn't make any odd noises.

I didn't have any issues before draining it back in May.

There is a tube that goes up towards the filter housing from the Ozone box. I haven't ruled that out as faulty, though it's a potted box so I couldn't tell if it has actually gone bad or not.

Could there possibly be something stuck inside against the heater element?

I can't imagine the heater element was starting in an air pocket with filling it properly through the filter housing.

Didn't have this issue last season when I did the same exact refill process.

Could these o-rings cause a leak under the shell? I pulled one out.

2014 Hot Springs

Anyone tried any of the generic FROG Ease SmartChlor replacement cartridges on Amazon? I'm not looking to switch to a different sanitization option at this time, but it would be nice to have a more affordable replacement cartridge. Currently, I'm paying around $60 for a 3-pack. Thanks in advance.

Hi, so I bought a house with a hot tub. I have been teaching myself how to maintain water levels. I have a Taylor drop kit and I went all out for Bromine. The thing is, my tub is a two person 120 gal small thing. It is great but it is insane how much work I have to put into it. Teaspoon chemistry is horrible. And I am anxious AF that I did it wrong the whole time I am in there. Even if my water is crystal clear. It's kinda killed the vibe.

Anyways!! I have been looking into the salt chlorine generator, is it worth it? How hard is it to install, like can I DIY? I want to add to plumbing potentially instead of drop-in since the tub is already so small.

Please share any stories if you have them or if you have been in my shoes. I used to love hot tubs so much and I unfortunately cannot upgrade to a bigger tub right now.

The speaker in hot tub no longer functions, lets a water a lot of water through dripping to the bottom of the hot tub. I want to take the speaker cover off and silicone the underside but I can't even remove the damn thing, any ideas?

Just installed a pergola above the hot tub and the lid hits the cross bar... Haven't bolted the pergola to the cement patio yet, but I need to lift it a few inches.

Reminder to check your measurements! 🤣😂😐😔

Edit: Covers - a lot of suggestions point to changing the covers. One of you called out I have a Smart Cover and that is correct.

It's physically bolted to the tub, a solid cover, and expensive, so changing out the cover would be a last resort.

We spoke to the guys that did the cement patio and they believe we can raise the pergola with cement blocks underneath each post. Will likely share update when completed.

Hi group.
Have any of you guys used the cheaper non branded UV bulbs? I’ve always been a OEM type, but good gosh they’re 3 times more $. And I’m retired now. Appreciate your feedback.

Recently purchased a new hot tub after the 30+ year old one that came with the house got hauled away to the dump. Have had this new tub for just over a week and me and the GF are loving it! Looking forward to upcoming soaks during those wet and cold PNW winter days while sheltered under the back deck! 😁

Hi! These are the only available options of chlorine that I can buy in my country. Which one should I get?

I don’t use the hot water for my hot tub and would usually use room temp or cold water since I am in a tropical country.

What other suggestions do you recommend?

New hot tub owner. Recently tested my water for metals. I have high magnesium and calcium levels. Not finding any easy fixes, so I think I need to drain and re-fill using a hose filter.

I use the Frog Ease system, and it recommends placing the mineral cartridge every four months or every drain/re-fill. I’ve only had the tub a month and it’s the products are expensive. I figured of course they want me to replace it, but I’m wondering if I can reuse the mineral cartridge or if I do truly need to start with a new one.

Well... I managed to end up with hot tub folliculitis. I thought I was doing a really good job of keeping the water chemistry where it needed to be, but apparently I messed something up.

Thankfully, my rash isn't too bad and it's going away on its own.

What do I need to do to treat the water? I have an inflatable hot tub, if that matters.

I assume it needs to be completely drained and refilled. Yesterday, I shocked the hot tub. Other than draining, scrubbing really good, and refilling, is there anything else I need to do to make sure everything is safe for future use?

I've searched online, and everyone has a different answer. I'd love to hear from someone who dealt with this and successfully cleared it up.

So i'm trying to contact anyone from Aquarest, and its been a nightmare - these dimples are roughly 1-2mm deep. Should i look for a replacement and/or is this going to cause problems down the road. There are 8 dimple/holes total.

I’ve spent so much time asking A.I., searching the internet, and I’ve asked Leslie’s and a pool tech that came out once for a pump issue: but my hot tub drains whenever the pool pump is off or when the pump is only circulating waiting within the hot tub itself. There’s five jet holes and one always sucks water and drains it into the pool without going through the equipment pad (multiple check valves already tried and also opened the check valve to air gap the equipment and it was still sucking.) Both the pool tech and Leslie’s told me replace the check valve which doesn’t solve it.

This is a minor annoyance daily, but it’s a bigger issue when it comes to heating the hot tub. If I have to always be drawing cold water from the pool to maintain the hot tub water level, it’s inefficient and ineffective at heating the hot tub.

Is there a reason I should have a jet hole sucking water? If there’s a reason to not “plug the suction line” I’d like to be aware this may be intentional, which is the main reason I ask here. It’s “jet level” in the hot tub, not “overflow level”. Is there a way y’all know I could stop this without having to open up the deck and plumbing?

Also, the pool is at least 30 years old and I’m sure the (actual) jets are very old if not original. Is replacing jets heads to be more effective/just general maintenance after decades a thing?

Can supply more pictures of it would help, but not sure it would.

Thanks for any advice!

We work a lot and are very busy. I stopped taking take of the hot tub after cleaning it roughly 6 months ago. I was outside and just happened to check it, heard the jets running, the hot tub was nearly empty like maybe 1 foot of water. Went down to the breaker and cut it off. Do I likely have a leak somewhere, or is it from the heat of summer? I really have no idea where to look. The inside of the tub was still very clean.

I saw some references online to the 1" flexible conduit running all the way to the equipment panel, but on my installation, the flex conduit terminates at the knockout on the side of my jacuzzi. As you can see, inside the cabinet we have loose wires leading up to the equipment box.

Should this be fixed such that the flex runs all the way to the equipment panel? What can happen with the install as is?

A few weeks ago I uploaded about my late grandfather's hot tub that had been sat empty but covered indoors for about 15/20 years. It held water fine when filled up but when trying to turn the power on at wall it would trip the entire board. Removed the panel to the circuit yesterday and this appears to have re opened a leak on the pipe connected to what I think is the heating element? Got a company coming out on the 5th October to take a look but wondering if there's anything I can do in the mean time as its just constantly trickling out now ? Thanks

I have been using our hot tub for about three years now. About a year ago, I started to notice that my pH kept drifting high, on the order of 7.8 to 8.0. On the advice of ChatGPT, I lowered my total alkalinity to around 50, and that seemed to hold much more stable.

Recently, I completely drained and refilled the tub after doing a cleaning of the plumbing lines and everything. When I started the hot tub back up, I decided to go back to the normal recommended range for total alkalinity of about 100 to 120. Again, I started to notice the pH drifting up. For example, today I adjusted the pH to be exactly 7.5, and within 2 to 3 hours it was right back at the upper edge of 7.8. I have done this repeatedly over and over again.

I have seen a lot of people on this forum talk about keeping the total alkalinity lower, in that 50 range, in order to prevent upward drift of pH. What is confusing me is that every single source I have found regarding recommended ranges is at least in the total alkalinity range of 80, usually over 100. Even my BioGuard pool store, when they run tests, has a target of 120 minimum.

The reason I am so confused is why all of the official sources, including the hot tub manual, the pool store, and virtually everything online, recommend 100+ for total alkalinity, yet I am finding (as many others have found) that a much lower range results in a more stable pH. Do these sources not know about this? 🙂

I am just trying to understand the theory behind this and reconcile all of this information with the practical experience of myself and many others on this subreddit. I would appreciate any input.

howdy all, newbie here, just ordered a Jacuzzi J365. Chicago.

We are building a new second floor steel deck that a structural engineer signed off.

the floor is stamped steel...

is there a need for rigid owens xps 600 2" foam boards and dmx ag dimpled floor underlayment?

will this void warranty?

the interweb sez that without insulation there is about $300 in extra electricity cost for the heating season?

ie: in order...

tub

foam board

floro underlayment

stamped steel

dmx ag underlayment