In New England, the ideal year-round pool often comes in the form of a swim spa. Having a brand-new swim spa that’s all your own is an exciting prospect, but it can also feel a bit overwhelming. You may wonder exactly which steps to take in order to keep your swim spa functioning at its best.

To ensure you get the most out of your investment and enjoy all your new swim spa has to offer for years to come, keep these key tips in mind.

Keep Your Swim Spa Water Balanced

Keeping your pH, alkalinity, and sanitizer levels where they need to be is vital to ensuring the water in your swim spa is beautiful and swimmable at all times. 

adding chemicals to water in a swim spa

To maintain your water levels, you’ll need some test strips. These simple products can tell you what chemicals your new swim spa needs. Simply dip the strip into the water, and then use the guide provided on the packaging to determine your current pH, alkalinity, and sanitizer levels. 

From there, you’ll have a better idea of what to add to your swim spa. Testing your water is something you should be doing at least once a week. If your swim spa gets heavy use, then testing twice a week is likely the best way to go.

Keep Your Swim Spa Chemicals Handy

Testing your water regularly loses a lot of its purpose if you don’t have the right chemicals to add handy. There are many chemicals available, but not all of them are necessary for every swim spa. 

Generally, you’ll want to make sure you have these chemicals on hand, no matter your type of swim spa:

  • Sanitizer, such as bromine or chlorine
  • A pH increaser and decreaser
  • An alkalinity increaser and decreaser
  • Shock
  • Clarifier
  • Filter cleaner 

With a healthy stock of all of these chemicals safely stored away, you should be able to tackle any issue you run into when it comes to keeping your water levels balanced. To safely store chemicals, keep them in a cool, dry place where they’re not exposed to the sun.

Know How to Add Chemicals Properly

Simply adding chemicals into your swim spa at random won’t be enough to get your water levels balanced. It’s important to ensure you always have the chemicals you need on hand and ready, or you may wind up with murky water that’s difficult to treat and scrambling to stock-up on more chemicals. 

Another important step is to test your water a few minutes after adding your chemicals. Make sure if anything is imbalanced to add the necessary chemicals and retest the water after a few minutes to make sure the adjustments were effective. If you’re adjusting and testing the pH or alkalinity of your water, it’s crucial to wait at least 12 hours before adjusting more. 

Clean and Replace Filters Regularly

To ensure that your swim spa’s filtration system remains effective, you’ll want to clean the filters about once a month and replace them every 6 to 12 months. 

Drain and Refill Your Swim Spa As Needed

Your swim spa’s water will slowly but surely become saturated with contaminants that can’t be removed with its filtration system alone. When this occurs, the only way to refresh your water entirely is to drain the spa, clean its shell, and refill the spa with water. Do this at least once a year. If you use your swim spa more frequently or have many guests in it, then you may want to do it more often.

Cover Your Swim Spa During the Off-Season

No matter how well you stay on top of your swim spa maintenance, you can’t avoid some of the contaminants that will end up in your swim spa’s water. However, you can prevent many of them by simply covering your swim spa when it’s not in use. 

Not only will the cover keep out dirt and debris, but it will also stop the sun from breaking down the sanitizer and rendering it ineffective.

Swim Spa Maintenance With Great Bay Spa & Sauna

With regular maintenance, a swim spa can serve as the perfect year-round pool in New England. To learn more about maintaining your new swim spa, turn to the experts at Great Bay Spa & Sauna. We provide a comprehensive range of swim spa services and carry only high-quality brands like Hydropool. Contact us to get started today!