The How To: To Quick Heat Up Your Hot Tub

If you haven’t used your hot tub in a while, your spa is not even close to being ready to use yet. Wondering how long it will take to heat the water so it’s ready for use? Here’s a few steps to help you with the process, because after all, who wants to wait for the water to heat up? Every hot tub is different and based on your spa efficiency the process will very depending on model/year of spa.

The How To: To Quick Heat Up Your Hot Tub

1. Clear your hot tub of snow from the cover.

2. Clear snow from around the hot tub.

3. Turn on your jets for circulation as you increase the temperature. This will circulate the heat throughout the tub and clear any possible cold spots out.

4. Have you cleaned your filters? Dirty filters can restrict water flow and slow down the heating process. Clean your hot tub per filters by type and water care system recommendation. Don’t know what type of filter you have? Call us! We can help! 907-563-3848

5. If you have no heat whatsoever – call us immediately! 907-563-3848

SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER

Once you turn your hot tub on, the water will typically warm up somewhere between 3 and 6 degrees per hour.

How quickly that will happen really depends on 3 factors:

1. Air temperature of where your hot tub is located (Outside vs. Inside)

2. Your hot tub cover (Age of cover)

3. The condition of your hot tub as well as it’s components.

Do not turn down your hot tub to conserve energy!  This can actually increase your energy bill as the tub will have to work harder to heat up and regulate it’s temperature. Frequent use and maintenance can actually extend of your spa.

Location

Just like a house where most of the heat is lost from the roof, the same goes for a hot tub. So, if you keep the cover on your hot tub it will run more efficiently and warm up faster because of it. Here at The Waterworks, you’ll always hear and stress the importance of using your spa cover. If your hot tub is located inside, and the air temp is around 76 degrees, it will take about 4 hours to heat up your spa to 100 degrees. The lower the outside temps the longer you will have to wait before your spa is ready. Therefore, by leaving the cover on while it’s heating up you can help it warm up faster.

Another part of location is considering where you have placed, or will place, your spa because the landscape can affect the efficiency as well. If your hot tub is in a windy spot, you may want to consider adding a decorative wind shield to prevent the airflow from cooling your spa during the windy days.

Spa cover & components

It’s really easy to forget about the hot tub components that are not visible (i.e. heater, pump, jets, etc.). If all these components are maintained and in tip top shape, your spa will run more efficiently and of course heat up the water that much faster. The reason you want your components in good shape is because you want the water and heat to flow freely through the pump, jets, etc.

If you’re not sure in what kind of shape the elements are and/or are not sure where to start, give us a call and we can walk you through it. Or, call our service department to schedule a maintenance appointment.

Running or Not-Running?

Should you leave your hot tub running or turning it off? In Alaska, because of our drastic winter temperatures, if you’re planning on using your spa even a few times per week, we recommend leaving your hot tub on. If you’re going to turn it off, you’ll need to winterize your spa prior to turning it off. You don’t want to have the water freeze as this could end up damaging your spa and potentially costing a lot in repair fees. Check on your hot tub frequently, circulate the pumps and clean your filters. 

Just remember, although there isn’t a single magical solution to making your hot tub heat up faster, there are many little things you can do to increase your spa’s efficiency. If you have any questions concerning your spas efficiency or things you can do to make it more efficient please feel free to contact us here at The Waterworks!

907-563-3848  |  www.alaskaspa.com