Winterizing your Spa or extended period shutdown

If you don’t have plans to use your spa during the winter months, you should drain it completely well before the temperatures get low enough to produce a hard freeze.

Hot tubs that are heavily used by bathers should be drained every 3 – 4 months. When it’s time to drain, either drain to a sanitary sewer or use the water for lawn irrigation. Make sure no chemicals have been added for at least 48 hours before draining.

Water in spas filled with sprayed foam insulation will still freeze if not heated. Finding and fixing leaks in that foam is a nightmare! These recommendations could potentially save you a lot of money!
    
These basic steps will ensure safe, effective shutdown of your spa for the winter months or any other extended period with out use. Factors such as spa installation, location, type will affect the steps and procedures.
Use these  recommendations as a guide.

• Disconnect the spa from the power supply.
• Open the drain valve (if installed) or pump out all water.
• Remove the filter cartridge(s). Clean & store in a dry place. (FILTER FLOSSER)
• If possible attach a wet/dry (shop) vacuum (capable of blowing air as well as vacuuming) to the hole in the bottom of the filter housing.
• Using the blower function, blow out any excess water through the plumbing system - allow a good 5 minutes of blowing time.
• Use the shop vac to remove any water blown through the jets into the tub or towel dry any remaining water from the spa, until it is completely dry.
• Leave drain & gate valves open, if you have rodent issues we recommend MOUSE AWAY.
• Close the spa cover and fasten with tie down safety locks.

This is not a job you want to do in freezing conditions, give yourself enough time. Make every effort to ensure ALL of the water is removed – including remnants in the pump lines and jets.
These are common sense steps always be safe around water and electricity.

What jets does my spa have?

Trying to find out which brand of jets your spa has can be tricky.

We have a basic list of the spa brands we come across most often & the jet manufacture they use. This is by no means a complete list but a good starting point. We never assume anything, always double check if you are not sure - there are always exceptions!

Pentair Jets:

CalSpa*, Centurion Spas, Dimension One Spas, Down East Spas, Emerald, Great Lakes Spas, Life Spa, Marquis, Master Spas(Some Models), Reflections Spas, Thermospa, Viking & Vita Spas.

Waterway Jets: 

Artesian Spas, Barefoot Spas, Coleman Spas, Cool Nights Spas, Coast Spas, Clear Water Spas, Charisma Spas, Catalina Spas, Blue Ridge Spas, Beachcomber Spas, Day Break Spas, Diamante Spas, Dolphin Spas, Dynasty Spas, Four Wind Spas, Garden Leisure Spas, Gulf Coast Spas, Hawk Eye Spas, Keys Spas, LA Spas, Leisure Bay Spas, Master Spas (newer Models), Maxx Spas, Phoenix Spas, Savannah Spas, Sunrise Spas, Weslo - Icon -  Image - Proform Spas.

The spa industry is very complex often one manufacturer will make multiple "name brands" of spas. One good example is Maax Spas (which use both Pentair & Waterway) they make or have made spas under the following names at one point or another: California Cooperage, Coleman Spas, Elite Spas, Infiniti Spas, Journey, Lifestyle Spas, MAAX, Nahanni Spas, Power Pool, Savannah Spas, Vita Spa.

*Cal-Spas use Pentair jets with proprietary jet face sizes & designs, we often sell regular Pentair jets as lower priced substitutes.