Hot tub questions, answered for Pinellas County owners

The questions hot tub owners in Largo, Belleair, Seminole and Clearwater ask most, answered plainly by Kind Hot Tub Care. Every answer follows what the manufacturers' manuals say, because the manual is what the warranty is written against.

How do I balance my hot tub water?

Test the water with a liquid test kit, then adjust in this order: total alkalinity first, then pH, then calcium hardness, then sanitizer. Most hot tub manuals put total alkalinity at 80 to 120 ppm, pH at 7.2 to 7.8, calcium hardness at 150 to 250 ppm, and free chlorine at 1 to 3 ppm or bromine at 3 to 5 ppm; use your manual's numbers if they differ.

For a typical 400-gallon hot tub:

1. Run the jets for two or three minutes, then take the sample at elbow depth, away from a jet.
2. Alkalinity first. Alkalinity increaser raises it; dry pH decreaser lowers it. Add half the label amount for 400 gallons with the jets on and the cover open, wait twenty minutes, retest, then add the rest if needed.
3. pH next. It moves with alkalinity, so retest before you adjust it, and adjust in the same small steps.
4. Calcium hardness. Low calcium (common with soft fill water) is raised with calcium increaser. High calcium is not fixed with chemicals; a partial drain and refill dilutes it.
5. Sanitizer last. Hot tub chlorine granules (dichlor) or the bromine your manual specifies, dosed to the range, never pool tablets.
6. After any dose, cover open and jets running for at least twenty minutes. Every manual says it, and it is the step people skip.

If the readings will not settle after two rounds, the water is probably worn out and a drain and refill is the fix.

Why is my hot tub water cloudy, and what fixes it?

Cloudy hot tub water is almost always one of four things: not enough sanitizer, pH or alkalinity out of range, a dirty filter, or water that is simply worn out. Test first; the readings tell you which one, and the fix is usually a shock and a filter clean, not a drain.

• Sanitizer low after a soak: shock the water with hot tub shock, jets on, cover open for twenty minutes. Cloudiness that shows up the day after a party is this.
• pH above 7.8 or alkalinity high: minerals come out of solution and haze the water. Bring alkalinity and pH down with dry pH decreaser, in small steps.
• Dirty filter: a filter that has not been rinsed in two weeks cannot clear the water no matter what goes in. Rinse it, or swap in a clean one, and run the jets.
• Worn-out water: months of dosing leave dissolved solids behind. The signs are foam that will not clear, a smell that comes back a day after shocking, and readings that drift the day after balancing. The fix is a drain and refill.

Lotions, sunscreen and detergent in swimsuits cloud water too. A quick rinse before soaking and an enzyme product keep the oils down.

How often should I drain my hot tub in Florida?

In Florida, about every three months for a family hot tub with regular use, and more often for heavy use or a vacation rental. Most manuals say every three to four months; the heat and year-round use here put most tubs at the short end.

A rule of thumb: gallons divided by 3, divided by bathers per day, equals days between drains. A 400-gallon tub used by two people every day is 400 ÷ 3 ÷ 2, about 67 days. The same tub used only on weekends lasts closer to the manual's four months.

Florida changes a few things. Summer heat keeps the water warm even with the heater off, so sanitizer burns off faster. Spring pollen and afternoon rain dilute the water and knock alkalinity and sanitizer down, so test after a storm before anyone gets in. Drain when foam will not clear, when the water clouds a day after balancing, or when it smells a day after shocking, whatever the calendar says.

Every Kind Hot Tub Care plan includes a drain and refill each quarter, and the visit report shows your next drain date, so nobody has to count. On its own, a drain and refill in Largo or anywhere in Pinellas County is $175.

Can I use pool chlorine in a hot tub?

No. Pool chlorine tablets (trichlor) and pool shock (calcium hypochlorite) are the two products hot tub manuals warn against most, and damage from them is excluded by most hot tub warranties.

Trichlor tablets are very acidic and very concentrated. In 400 gallons they drive pH down, bleach and pit the acrylic shell, eat pillows, jet faces and the underside of the cover, and corrode the heater. A floating dispenser parks that chemical against the shell, which is why we never use floaters of any kind. Calcium hypochlorite adds calcium with every dose, and in Pinellas County's fill water that turns into scale on the heater.

Use what the manual names: hot tub chlorine granules (dichlor), which dissolve at once and are close to pH neutral, or the bromine system the manual specifies. For pH, dry pH decreaser, never muriatic acid.

How do I clean my hot tub filter?

Rinse the filter with a garden hose every week or two while the tub is in use, soak it in a hot tub filter cleaner once a month, and replace it about once a year or when the pleats are frayed. Never use a pressure washer, a dishwasher or dish soap.

1. Pull the filter and hose each pleat from the top down. A filter comb or spray nozzle makes it twice as fast.
2. Once a month, soak it overnight in filter cleaner diluted per the label, then rinse until the water runs clear. Soap residue foams for weeks.
3. Keep a second filter and rotate them. A dry, rested filter sheds oils; a filter that never dries never comes clean.
4. Replace it when the pleats fray, the end caps crack, the material will not come white, or the control panel throws a flow error that clears with a new filter.

Can my pool guy take care of my hot tub?

Usually not well. A pool cleaner can legally treat your hot tub's water and clean its filter without a pool/spa license, but under Florida statute 489.105 repairing, replacing or disassembling the pump, heater or plumbing is licensed contractor work, so the moment something breaks, an unlicensed pool route cannot touch it.

The bigger problem is the chemistry. A hot tub is not a small pool: two people in 400 gallons at 102 degrees are the bather load of seventy-five in a pool, so the water needs testing and dosing every visit with hot tub products. A pool route that tops off the tub with pool tablets or pool shock on the way past is the common case, and those are the products most hot tub warranties exclude; they bleach shells, eat pillows and covers, and corrode heaters. Kind Hot Tub Care does only hot tubs, follows your manual, and when something breaks arranges a licensed technician and verifies the fix. What that costs, and why it costs more than a pool route, is on the pricing page.

What should I ask before hiring a hot tub service in Pinellas County?

Five questions sort a hot tub specialist from a pool route in one phone call.

1. What is in the price? Chemicals, the filter cleaning, the quarterly drain and travel are the four things a low monthly number usually leaves out. Kind's prices include all four, and the pricing page says so line by line.
2. What goes in the water? Hot tub products only: chlorine granules or the bromine the manual specifies, and dry pH decreaser. Pool tablets, floaters, pool shock and muriatic acid are the four products most hot tub warranties exclude, so a service that uses them is working against your warranty.
3. Do I get the readings? A visit without a written before-and-after reading is a visit you cannot check. Kind texts the readings, the products and amounts, and the next drain date before leaving the driveway.
4. What happens when something breaks? Under Florida statute 489.105, repairing or replacing the pump, heater or plumbing is licensed contractor work. Ask who they call. Kind arranges a licensed technician, meets them at the tub and verifies the fix.
5. Where does the old water go, and what about scale and salt air? Pinellas fill water already carries calcium, so a heater scales when pH is left high, and salt air works on covers and cabinets on the beach. Kind's drain water goes out a hose to the far edge of your yard, about 400 gallons a quarter; calcium is set from your spigot, and on Kind Complete the cover is conditioned on a schedule.

How much does hot tub service cost in Pinellas County?

Hot tub water care from Kind Hot Tub Care is $149 a month biweekly or $229 a month weekly, chemicals included. Kind Complete, with pillows, filters, cover care, the warranty logbook and repair concierge, is $299 a month biweekly or $379 weekly. A one-time cleaning is $150, a drain and refill $175, vacation rental turnovers start at $65, and the first in-home water analysis is free. Every price and everything each visit includes is on the pricing page.

What happens at the free water analysis?

Twenty minutes at your tub in Largo or anywhere in Pinellas County, a full set of readings with a liquid test kit, a written card with the numbers and what they mean, and nothing added to the water. You keep the card whether or not you start a plan. Text or call (727) 328-4788, or email hello@kindhottubcare.com.