Did you know that a high-quality hot tub has a life expectancy of 15 to 20 years?!
It’s true!
As with anything, how long you can expect your spa to last is dependent on a number of factors, with one of the most notable ones being how well it’s been cared for over the years.
Including a professional hot tub service in your regular maintenance routine can provide you with a wide range of benefits that you can experience right away, not just 15 years down the road!
If you’re curious about what’s included in a professional hot tub service or how it can benefit you and your spa, keep reading.
Below, we’re going to explore it all.
What Does A Hot Tub Service Include?
Each professional hot tub service provider will have varying degrees of what they will perform on your hot tub, with some only offering services for diagnosing and repairs. Others, such as AquaVision Pool & Spa, offer a robust range that can dramatically lighten your workload.
Some of the service solutions you might find included in a professional hot tub service can include:
- Testing and treating your water
- Balancing your water
- Diagnosing issues
- Making or scheduling repairs
- Draining and cleaning your hot tub
- Winterizing or closing your spa
While you may not require all these services, the great news is that they’re often available on an as-needed basis, ensuring you only get exactly what you need.
For example, if you’re a busy professional that wants to enjoy a luxurious hydromassage but don’t have the time to maintain a spa, you can easily schedule a full service to ensure your water is always ready to welcome you home.
On the other hand, if you enjoy caring for your spa day to day, but dread the quarterly clean, you can schedule a professional spa technician to come out and drain, clean, refill, and rebalance your spa. Especially when you need it most!
6 Signs It’s Time to Schedule a Hot Tub Service Appointment
One of the most common times people schedule a service appointment is when they need their spa inspected. This usually happens when people head out to enjoy a relaxing soak only to discover that something isn’t quite right, whether it be a noisy pump or jet’s that aren’t working properly.
If you’ve ever wondered how to determine when it’s time to schedule an appointment to have your spa looked at by a professional, here are six signs to watch for.
1. You’ve Discovered a Puddle of Water (where water shouldn’t be!)
You should inspect your hot tub at least once a month to ensure you catch any potential signs of trouble early on.
If, during your regular inspection, you discover any unexpected pools of water, it’s best to schedule a service appointment right away to get a technician to come out and diagnose the root cause of the issue.
If your hot tub has sprung a leak, there are three most common places you’ll discover excess water:
- Around the base of your spa (typically in one corner)
- Under your pump or heater
- In your insulation
2. You Have Been Topping Up Your Water More Frequently
Natural evaporation occurs every time you use your spa, resulting in your water level slowly going down.
Generally, you should only be losing around 1 inch of water a week, but if your water is dropping much faster, it’s a surefire sign you have a problem somewhere.
This usually happens when there is a leak in your hot tub, which could be from a crack in your shell or a damaged seal around one of your jets that’s allowing water to leak out.
These issues aren’t easy to diagnose on your own, and you’ll save yourself a lot of time (and stress) by calling in the professionals to thoroughly inspect your spa and diagnose the issue before it begins causing additional damage to other areas of your hot tub’s system.
3. Your Water Temperature Fluctuates Often
If you’ve noticed your water isn’t maintaining a steady temperature, it’s likely that there’s a problem in your system that will need to be diagnosed.
The easiest way to track your temperature is by checking it once a day, whether it’s directly before you jump in each day or just before you head to bed for the night.
Additionally, your system will notify you if your water temperature falls below or rises above its threshold, displaying COLD/COOL or OH on your control panel.
Temperature changes can be caused by a range of conditions, with some being easier to diagnose and repair than others. The most common causes of this include
- Dirty filters
- A clog in your circulation system
- A corroded or damaged heating element
- A worn-out pump
This can result in long run times for your pump or your heating element working overtime as it attempts to keep your water within its proper range, potentially leading to a costly increase in your energy bills!
Should you discover your hot tub seems to be struggling to maintain a steady temperature, schedule a service appointment to get it inspected and back up and running effectively as soon as possible.
4. Your Jets Aren’t Working Properly
One of the best parts of a hot tub is the soothing massage you receive from the powerful jets as they coax your aching muscles into complete relaxation.
If you’ve climbed under the water and turned on the jets, only to discover the water flow seems weak and you’re not getting the same massage you’ve come to expect, it’s a surefire sign that something is wrong and needs to be managed.
One of the most common causes of this is an “airlock.” This is essentially when air gets trapped in your system, stopping the flow of water. This generally only happens after a water change if air gets trapped in the jet as you refill your spa.
Luckily, you can try to fix it prior to calling in the professionals.
To do this, follow the steps below.
- Open your jets all the way
- Turn them on high for 10-15 seconds at a time until you begin seeing bubbles starting to come out of the jet
- Once you see bubbles, turn your jet pressure to high
- Let them run until your jet pressure has returned to normal
If you’ve tried this and it doesn’t seem to fix the issue, or you never see air bubbles beginning to escape the jet, schedule a service appointment to have a technician inspect your spa.
5. It’s Difficult to Keep Your Water Clean
Whether your water has developed a foul smell or its become murky, dirty water isn’t a good sign.
Your water is one of the first places signs will begin to show up if you have an issue with your spa, and it’s important to take note of any changes you’re seeing.
While cloudy, foamy, or even poor-smelling water can be caused by improperly treated water, low chemical levels, or a build-up of organic matter like oils, lotions, and dead skin cells, if you’re having a problem getting it clean, there’s likely something deeper going on.
Before calling in the professionals, you can try a few things to see if you can fix your water on your own, including
- Testing and treating your water
- Adding an oxidizer
- Cleaning your filters
- Draining, cleaning, and refilling your hot tub
If you’ve tried all of these steps, but your water still seems to be difficult to maintain, it’s time to call in the professionals to inspect your hot tub.
6. Your Energy Bills Have Unexpectedly Increased
Hot tubs are designed to be impressively energy efficient, but when issues begin to develop, your system often reflects that as it struggles to run effectively.
This can lead to long run times, drawing extra energy and leading to expensive bills.
If you’ve recently discovered an increase in your energy bills, even though nothing has changed in your routine or lifestyle, it’s worth scheduling a professional hot tub service appointment to have your system thoroughly inspected.
Benefits of Professional Hot Tub Service
Caring for your hot tub is a fairly simple job when you follow a comprehensive maintenance routine.
However, like anything else, problems can happen, and there’s nothing worse than struggling with your spa when you’d rather be soaking in it.
Whether as a preventative measure or as a way to minimize the work of the more intensive tasks, such as your quarterly water changes, including a professional hot tub service as part of your regular routine can yield ample benefits.
Some of these benefits include:
- Discovering and repairing small issues before they become large ones
- Saving you money
- Minimizing the risk of damage to your hot tub
- Spending more time with your family
- Making your daily maintenance easier
- Reliably having crystal clear water
- Taking the work out of owning a hot tub
- Making it possible for everyone to enjoy a spa, no matter their lifestyle
Professional Hot Tub Service in Greensboro, NC
If you’ve been looking for the perfect way to maximize the lifespan of your hot tub and make your maintenance routine even easier, the experts at AquaVision Pool & Spa can help.
With over 40 years of experience caring for the pools and spas of your Greensboro neighbors, our technicians have an extensive amount of knowledge to easily and efficiently diagnose and repair your hot tub.
Whether you’re simply looking for a reliable team to step in and manage your spa for you or have discovered one of the six signs above and need support to get your hot tub back up and running, contact us today.
Request a hot tub service appointment online, or give us a call, and we’ll get a technician out to you as soon as possible.
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