Use a Cover

A hot tub cover serves a few different purposes in keeping your hot tub fresh before a backyard party. It can help to keep your yard safer and may reduce the risk of accidental drowning. The cover can also keep unwanted critters and other pests away and out of the water. Likewise, it can stop leaves, dirt, and other debris from falling into the tub. While your party guests may enjoy your backyard landscape, they don't want to soak with it in your hot tub.

Along with protection, a hot tub cover can also help to trap the heat inside of the water. This increases energy efficiency and can reduce the costs of heating your spa.

Remove Germs From the Hot Tub

You use hot water to wash your hands, your clothes, and the dishes that you eat off of. But does this mean the hot water in your hot tub will constantly clean the spa? Even though the water temperature of your backyard spa is more than just warm, germs can still breed in a hot tub.

Bacteria in a spa, such as staphylococcus aureus, can cause the common skin condition known as folliculitis. This makes it important to sanitize the tub.

A chlorine-based sanitizer can kill bacteria and viruses that may linger in the spa after another use. Don't assume that bacteria won't enter the spa just because you aren't sick. A guest could have brought their germs to your last backyard bash or a disease-causing pest could have gotten into (and out of) the water while you were asleep or away.

Make sure to use the right amount of chlorine for your tub. Under-chlorination can result in pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterial skin infections—especially in people with medical conditions such as diabetes, people with low immunity, children, or some people who have dermatitis.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), spas require at least three ppm (parts per million) of free chlorine. This can help you to achieve a pH level between 7.2 and 7.8. The CDC notes that a pH of 8.0 or above reduces the chlorine's ability to effectively kill germs. Higher pH levels can also cause skin or eye irritation. But a pH of 7.0 could cause corrosion in your spa.

Drain, Rinse, and Refill Your Hot Tub

Routine use of chlorine can disinfect the hot tub and help to reduce or eliminate germs in the water. But this isn't the only cleaning step you will need to take if you regularly use the spa for parties or group gatherings. You will also need to periodically drain, rinse, and refill the hot tub.

The specific number of times per year or intervals between draining and cleaning the tub varies. Factors such as the number of people who use the hot tub and how often you use it will affect this schedule. If there is a contamination incident (either from a person using the hot tub or an animal that sneaks inside), you will need to drain, rinse, and clean the spa before your next backyard hot tub party.

If you haven't used the tub for a while, remove the old water before your guests get into the spa. Old water that has sat in the tub could pose a health risk.

Make Sure the Water Is at a Comfortable Temperature

You can use your hot tub year-round. This means you can have a spa party when it's hot in the summer, cool in the fall, cold in the winter, or perfectly temperate in the spring. But you need to make sure that the water is at a comfortable temperature before your guests arrive.

While the ideal hot tub temperature for most people is usually between 100 and 102 degrees Fahrenheit, you don't want to go overboard and turn up the heat. The CDC notes that temperatures in a spa should not go over 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Not only would this high temperature feel uncomfortable, but it could also have potentially serious physical consequences. These include burns, skin irritation, or cardiovascular system distress.

Even though you don't want to scald your guests with an overly hot tub, you also don't want them to freeze—especially in the fall and winter months when the outdoor temperature could cool down the water. Avoid excessively low temperatures to eliminate this risk.

Are you looking for a new hot tub or to purchase your first spa? Contact Marquis Hot Tubs for more information.