How to Get Your Hot Tub Ready for Winter use
Hot Tubs are designed to be used all year round but it is winter hot tubbing that tends to be the most underrated experience. Using your hot tub during the winter allows you to get relief from harsh weather and enjoy hydrotherapy during what can be a tough time of year for our wellness. Some users shut down their hot tub for winter and others simply take steps to ensure their spa is ready for the change in conditions.
The Best Way to Look After Your Hot Tub During Winter
Keep it full and running! This is the best way to protect the parts and pipework on your hot tub. If you drain your hot tub, there is the added risk that any water not removed from the pipes may lead to freezing and cracking, which will lead to leaks when you re-fill in Spring. Most hot tubs also have built-in protection modes in the case of a heater failing to ensure that the water cannot freeze. But of course the main benefit of leaving your hot tub full and working is regular hydrotherapy during the winter. If you leave your hot tub full, you can do the following to protect your hot tub, hottub cover and save money on running costs:
- Lock your cover down during stormy or windy weather to prevent damage. You can use the existing locks on your hot tub cover or you feel you need extra strapping as you live in an area prone to high winds then check our our range of straps and locks.
- Use a Cover Bag or Cover Cap to protect your hot tub and spa cover from falling leaves, branches and stormy weather. A cover cap will protect your hot tub cover and a cover bag will protect your whole hot tub including the panels.
- Fit a Floating Thermal Blanket to prevent heat loss through evaporation and save you money during the colder time of year.
Draining Your Hot Tub For Winter
Although we recommend using your hot tub as normal during winter, some users will prefer to winterise (drain and turn off) their spa. This needs to be done thoroughly to ensure no issues occur when the hot tub is empty. The only real benefit of this approach is if you are not going to use the hot tub at all, therefore you will save on running costs. Tips for a thorough winterise include:
- Ensuring a thorough drain of your hot tub using a submersible pump or the gravity drain built-in to your hot tub. We also reccomend using a wet & dry vacuum on all jets and on your drain to remove all excess water left in the pipes. This will prevent any freezing issues.
- Loosen the unions on your pumps, drain thoroughly and leave these off.
- Clean and dry your shell to ensure a smooth start-up in Spring.
- Cover your hot tub using a Cover Bag or tarpaulin to prevent damage from leaves, branches and harsh weather when the hot tub is shut down. This also prevents insects and slugs from getting into your hot tub!
We offer a Full Winterise Service to our customers, whereby one of our experienced engineers will carry out the above work. You can find out more and view pricing by CLICKING HERE.
