Enjoying your hot tub through the winter months will bring many family memories, please remember that there are some additional considerations for taking care of your hot tub during the “freeze months” in order to properly care for your investment.
The Aqua-Tech service department is available for emergency freeze protection service Monday to Sunday from 8 am to 3 pm. Call 204-233-8822 for how to access a technician. The automated recording will give you the instructions.
Outside of these hours here are some tips that you can follow to have the greatest success with your tub in the winter months. From experience we know that things happen outside of our or your control that can cause a hot tub to go into distress. We encourage you to do the following:
9 Winter Spa Operation Must-Do’s
– Open your hot tub cover every morning. Check that the heat light icon is on or the spa is at your set temperature and there is proper water movement in the spa and that the circulation pump is set to run 24hrs.
-Check that your waterfall is flowing.
-Test all jet pumps and that the aromatherapy pump are operational.
-Have all snow removed from all around the spa so that access screws for skirting are accessible.
-Have all snow removed from in around outdoor GFCI box enclosures. Protect these boxes from snow and moisture intrusion.
-Have all snow removed from the top of the heatshield/ hot tub cover.
-Have a space heater with an extension cord that can be placed in the equipment bay in case of the spa losing power or operation. ( This is critical to protecting the pumps from freezing )
-Have a submersible pump with an extension cord that can be placed in the spa water to keep the water circulating in case of the spa losing power or operation.
-Check your micro filter and re-useable filter every week for soil buildup. (change filter regularly, this is the #1 cause of hot tub freeze damage each year)
PRO TIPS
-Drain your spa in late October and re-fill with clean fresh water.
-Disconnect your ozone and ClearRay from November 1st to April 24th. Although Ozone and ClearRay are great features for your spa if they malfunction between November and April they could cause your GFCI to trip and shut down the operation of your spa. Contact our water lab (watertesting@aqua-tech.ca) for special water care tips during winter months.
-Replace your micro filter bi-weekly.
-Rinse your re-useable filter weekly.
-Have a clean and dry micro and re-useable filter on standby always.
-Have rodent traps or rodent deterrents placed in and around the equipment bay area of the spa to prevent rodent intrusion during the winter months.
-After every use of the spa use a towel to wipe dry the top lip of the spa before closing the heatshield until your next use.
-If you are planning for the spa to not be looked at daily, winterize the spa for peace of mind and put back into operation when you will be able to monitor it properly and the weather permits.
4 thoughts on “Winter Spa and Hot Tub Operation”
How do you disconnect your ozone and your ClearRay for the winter months. If you disconnect these two features will that turn the outside Sundance spa indicator light (white light) to a (red light) and come up with an error code?
Thanks,
Peter
Peter the UV and Ozone are plugged directly into your main PWA. Power down the spa and open the center door skirt panel and then remove the front panel to the control box. You will find your PWA behind the control box panel. Follow the schematic on the back of the control box panel. Your UV plug should be between the Pump 2 and AV plugs, your Ozone plug should be between the Pump 1 and Circ pump plugs. Unplug these and remove the connector harness screws so you can pull the plugs out of the control box for the winter. Re-fasten the connector screws, put your control box cover back in place and power up the spa again.
Unplugging the UV and Ozone will not affect the Indicator light.
Not having the UV system for the winter I assume is no big deal, tub just kills bacteria with Bromine?
Do I get another 6 months out of my UV if its turned off for the Winter and UV was replace in Apr?
Also what should my secondary pump be set to away, infrequent or frequent?
You mention under pro-tip to replace your mirco filter bi-weekly that cannot be correct, please explain cause that would be super expensive (micro filter runs $70 a pop and does not need to be changed in the summer for 6 months).
Also when I purchased the hot tub from Aqua-tech they said I need a winter hot tub filter instead of my typical summer filter, I think it has less pleats and I believe they said I do not require a secondary filter? again not sure would like clarification.
Thanks,
Peter
Sundance 880
Peter you are correct about the bromine. Also see our lab staff for any extra tips through the winter for water chemistry. Let them know you are going without the ClearRay and the Ozone for the winter.
The UV will start counting again where it left off when you plug it back in at springtime. So you are correct about the 6 months.
Set your spa for frequent.
We advise to change the micro filter bi-weekly during the winter. Less chance of it plugging up that way. Alternatively you could switch to a non micro filter pleated filter. This could be checked a little less often but will still plug up if you leave it too long. A pleated filter will not give you as good filteration as the micro filters. Replacing the micro filters bi-weekly during the winter is a recommendation to reduce the chance of FLO messages. It’s your choice however to balance your budget with your comfort level of winter mtce and water clarity on the spa.
The filter that is sometimes called the winter filter is the non micro pleated filter.
Have every adjustable jet in the on position. When the spa does not have anybody in it have the massage selectors set in the middle so when the jet pumps turn on automatically you will have flow to all jets. Close the air controls when the spa is not in use. Have your waterfall running all the time.