Hot Tub - Drain in the summer?
 

This is our first summer season with a Hot Tub and I was looking for suggestions. Some ppl I've talked to say drain for the summer, save hydro and chemicals. Others say leave it and cut back on the filter cylce times. What would be your suggestion?

well this is how you decide...
do you think you might want to use it over the summer at all...

if you think you might use it... then keep it filled... just cut back on the filter times...

if theres no way you will use it then drain it... no reason to have to use the chemicals and everything to keep it full if you wont use it....


also check the manual... it might have summer instructions....

JS has got it all there :D
Logical.. gotta like that :cool:

See if your tub has an economy mode. Mine does and what that does is the heat only comes on during the scheduled filter times. (if it drops below the set temp)

Then you need to get your filter time to run when you are most likely to use it.

dunno what the summer weather is like up there, but I set my hot tub to 80 or so in the summer and use it as a pool :) nice and relaxign when it's 110 out.

The only thing is I have to leave the top open for a couple hours each night, or it will heat up to over 100 just from the sun during the day.

We've had our tub for about 5 years now and have emptied it every summer. After it's empty, I thoroughly clean it, and put a fitted tarp cover over it. We live in PA and the summers are just too hot to use a hot tub. Even with it set to economy, the sun will heat the water. Who wants to sit in ninety degree water on a hot summer day (or night)? I've heard some people actually put a block of ice in the tub to cool it down!

Thanks for the suggestions. With the cost of energy up here, we'll go with the shut it down for the summer scenerio. I have to agree with wondash 'the summers are just too hot to use a hot tub'.

Thanks again.

actually, if you keep it running during the summer, you need to increase the filter times or keep them the same. the natural heat will cause more bacteria in the water and the only way to control that is to keep it running and keep chlorine in it

In my experience, draining the hot tub may cost you more in the long run. My house had a hot tub when I bought it, and the owner had drained it. When I filled it back up, I found that all of the seals around the plumbing and valves had dried up and either leaked or caused problems with the operation of the jets. Needless to say, it is expensive and time consuming to repair the seals. I suspect that this problem would not have happened if the tub had been left filled with water.