As we near the time when everyone is getting ready to go away for summer holidays and the long weekend, you may be concerned about what is going on with your spa while you’re away. With some preparation and simple maintenance before you leave, you can rest easy and relax while you’re away without giving much thought to your hot tub back at home.
How do I take care of my hot tub while I’m away on vacation? What do I do with my spa while I'm away?
When leaving for vacation, there are a few routine maintenance steps you should consider doing for your spa while away on vacation:
Check your filters: Give your hot tub filters a thorough chemical clean and rinse, or replace them if they’re starting to looking frayed and bloated. Your filters are a key component of your hot tub that you don’t want to stop working while you’re away - if the filters are unable to do their job properly, you may come home to a spa with flow issues, dirty water, or even an error code on your spa.
Check your water level: the water level of your spa should always be a few inches above the very highest jet. To ensure your water level doesn’t drop below the jets while you are away and introduce air into the plumbing, top up the water if needed.
Test your water: To ensure that your spa is able to properly kill bacteria while you’re away, test your water using spa test strips and ensure that your sanitizer, pH and alkalinity levels are balanced. Correct if needed (check our our blog on spa chemicals for more in depth info about balancing your water).
Shock your water: Before you leave, you’ll want to get rid of any bacteria that may be lingering in your water. Shock your spa as you normally would at your weekly maintenance, making sure to leave the cover open for a half hour after to allow the water to breathe and the chemicals to dissolve.
Check your temperature: While it’s okay to lower the temperature a few degrees if you want to save on electricity, you’ll still want to keep the spa water fairly hot to allow for proper filtration cycles and clean water when you return.
Check your spa cover: The last thing you want when you’re away on vacation is for your old, torn cover to start allowing your spa water to evaporate rapidly or let the heat to escape. Ensure your spa cover is in good condition, and don’t forget to thoroughly secure and lock your hot tub cover. If you have a spa cover cap, this is also an excellent time to put it to use.
Ask a friend to have a look: In case of a power outage or a major storm, it doesn’t hurt to have a friend with keys ready to take a look around your spa and property to make sure nothing has been damaged in case of potential unpredictable problems.
How do I open up my hot tub again when I return?
It’s been a glorious vacation but you can’t wait to get back to the relaxation of your at-home spa paradise - but is there a ton of maintenance waiting for when you get home? With the proper preparation you did, it's not likely. Run through the above checklist again when you get home to ensure everything has been running optimally while you’ve been away: check your filters, water level, test your water to make sure chemical levels are optimal for you to start soaking, and check and raise your temperature (if you lowered it) so it’s cozy warm and ready for you. After using the spa for the first time, shock it and leave the cover open for 30-60 minutes. Then you’re good to resume your normal maintenance routine and get back to the grind!
Going on an extra long vacation?
Lucky you! If you’re leaving for a long period of time, you may want to consider draining or winterizing your hot tub, depending on the season.
Winterizing your spa will likely be necessary if you intend to be gone for a long time in cold or freezing weather. It is absolutely vital to be cautious and incredibly thorough while winterizing your spa, as any leftover water or improperly drained parts can lead to serious damage to both your pump(s) and your plumbing due to freezing and cracking in the cold weather. If you intend to winterize your spa, have a read through our winterization guide.
Draining your hot tub may be necessary if you intend to be gone for an extended period of time (over a week or two) and don't have anyone available to add chemicals to your hot tub on at least a weekly basis. Hot tub water that has been left untreated with chemicals for longer periods of time can quickly become a breeding ground for bacteria so it's a situation that is best avoided. In this situation, simply drain your hot tub before you leave as you normally would during a routine water fill, but once drained do a quick clean and wipe down of your spa to remove any body oils or bacteria that have been left behind. When you get home, simply refill your spa and treat with chemicals as you usually would with a routine fresh fill.
If there is any threat of cold or freezing weather, make sure you complete winterization instead of a simple drain to avoid severe and irreversible damage to your spa that can quickly happen in cold weather.
My hot tub has WiFi - what do I need to do?
With great technology comes great convenience, and not only are many new hot tubs coming with a WiFi app to allow you to monitor your spa from an app on your smartphone, some Balboa and Gecko spa packs can also be upgraded (if your hot tub is compatible) to include this feature.
With the smart app on your phone, you are able to easily monitor (and change) your hot tub temperature from your vacation destination, not to mention thoroughly monitoring the spa for any error codes or flow issues that may come up. That being said, you're still far away from your spa in case anything does show up as a problem. Ensure that you complete the preventive maintenance as outlined at the beginning of the article to prevent any problems before they pop up on your app, and it doesn't hurt to have a friend ready to call if you do notice a problem from your phone while on vacation.
Prevention is key!
By ensuring you follow these simple preventive maintenance steps, you can fully relax on vacation while knowing that your spa is running smoothly while you're away.