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How Long To Drain Spa?


Warp9

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I have a 500 gallon Caldera Niagara. I'm going through my first water change after two months of ownership. How long should I expect it to take to drain the tub using the built-in drain?

I have 100 feet of garden hose hooked up to the drain, routed to the street. It's draining very slowly. I've been draining for about an hour, and the water level has only dropped about 3 inches. Is this expected?

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What is the diameter of your garden hose? Many are only 5/8". If you are going to hook it up to to the built-in drain, use at least a 3/4" hose.

I don't use the built in drain at all, I siphon it out with an 1 1/4" plastic hose that can be bought for less than five bucks at any big box hardware emporium. My 200 gallon spa is empty in less than 20 minutes. I suck out the piping with a wet/dry vacuum. I do have a 6' drop next to the spa that helps the siphon a lot.

Dave

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My hose is 5/8 and I can drain my 250 gal tub in about an hour using the hose as a siphon. I put the jets on high, hold the end of the hose over the lowest jet and wait til the water has cleared the other end of the hose. After that it has a very strong prime, I even use it to vacuum the soapy stuff I sponge off the sides of the tub as the water level goes down. I also have my tub on about a 6 foot deck.

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OK, there's got to be something wrong here. It's been draining for about 4 hours. There's not a lot left (water is below the seats), but this is ridiculous. My tub is fairly level with the ground. There is a gentle downward slope from my backyard to the street. I imagine it would drain fairly quickly if I didn't have to attach 100 feet of hose, but I can't very well flood the back yard.

I'm going to have to figure out another way to drain this thing. I'll potentially need to do this in freezing weather in a few months, and 4+ hours isn't going to cut it. Larger diameter garden hose may help, but I'm afraid that may not be enough.

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OK, there's got to be something wrong here. It's been draining for about 4 hours. There's not a lot left (water is below the seats), but this is ridiculous. My tub is fairly level with the ground. There is a gentle downward slope from my backyard to the street. I imagine it would drain fairly quickly if I didn't have to attach 100 feet of hose, but I can't very well flood the back yard.

I'm going to have to figure out another way to drain this thing. I'll potentially need to do this in freezing weather in a few months, and 4+ hours isn't going to cut it. Larger diameter garden hose may help, but I'm afraid that may not be enough.

Warp9, I am in the same boat (exact same hot also). I just drained it the other day and yes it took foreveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer. I ended up using a bucket as well as to scoop out some of the water. This was actually faster than the hose!. One thing I just thought of is using a pool cover pump. I have one for my pool that I use to siphon the water off the pool cover. Didn't think about this at first but will try it next time. I had picked this up for $45 some time ago. They should have a variety of these at any pool store.

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OK, there's got to be something wrong here. It's been draining for about 4 hours. There's not a lot left (water is below the seats), but this is ridiculous. My tub is fairly level with the ground. There is a gentle downward slope from my backyard to the street. I imagine it would drain fairly quickly if I didn't have to attach 100 feet of hose, but I can't very well flood the back yard.

I'm going to have to figure out another way to drain this thing. I'll potentially need to do this in freezing weather in a few months, and 4+ hours isn't going to cut it. Larger diameter garden hose may help, but I'm afraid that may not be enough.

Warp9, I am in the same boat (exact same hot also). I just drained it the other day and yes it took foreveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer. I ended up using a bucket as well as to scoop out some of the water. This was actually faster than the hose!. One thing I just thought of is using a pool cover pump. I have one for my pool that I use to siphon the water off the pool cover. Didn't think about this at first but will try it next time. I had picked this up for $45 some time ago. They should have a variety of these at any pool store.

Or go to a big box hardware store and buy a Submersible sump pump. You can pipe it out however you like. Plastic pipe or right to the garden hose and pump it out.

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Buy the cheapest sump pump you can get your hands on, and get a1-1/4" or 1-1/2" flex hose kit with the fitting for the sump pump, and you'll have your tub pumped out very quickly for a minimal investment. If you use a garden hose attached to the pump it will take it longer. Use a wet/dry shop vac to get the remaining water out of the seats and the filter area.

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I bought an inline pump that fits beween garden hose. Just a table spoon of cooking oil to lube it until water hits it. About 6 feet of hose for the intake then the 100 feet down to the natural area where the trees and english Ivy can have at it.

I can also attach it to the drain and let it suck it out faster than gravity would. Or both! I have to drain the last bits out any way to get the soapy stuff out. I also like to flush about 10 gal with clean water at the end to get any jet cleaner out.

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My hose is 5/8 and I can drain my 250 gal tub in about an hour using the hose as a siphon. I put the jets on high, hold the end of the hose over the lowest jet and wait til the water has cleared the other end of the hose. After that it has a very strong prime, I even use it to vacuum the soapy stuff I sponge off the sides of the tub as the water level goes down. I also have my tub on about a 6 foot deck.

I do thid too but use a couple sections of sump pump hose, drains my Moorea in 15min

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  • 5 weeks later...

I bought a $17 pump from Harbor freight that hooks up to the garden hose. I have it draining right now - and considering that my garden hose is junk - it's taken a little over 2 hours for a 280 gallon tub. With a better hose I'm sure it will go a little faster, but I'm also in huge rush to have to get it done. From what they told me when they delivered the tub, only use the supplied drain spigot if you don't care how long it takes to drain because it will most likely take most of the day.

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I used a sump pump and garden hose the first time I drained the tub, and it was taking forever. Come to find out there was a kink in the hose; straightened that out, and the 350-gal tub drains in about an hour. The sump pump is rated 6gpm so that's about right.

--paulr

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Your original statement of something being wrong is right. You shouldn’t need a sump pump to emty your tub. Mine empties using gravity alone 450 gallons in less than 2 hours. Make sure you open BOTH drain plugs and also make sure you remove the filter. You need to try both of these before wasting money on a pump or separate siphon hose. Changing the water should never take that long.

Good Luck & let us know how you make out next empty.

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Your original statement of something being wrong is right. You shouldn’t need a sump pump to emty your tub. Mine empties using gravity alone 450 gallons in less than 2 hours. Make sure you open BOTH drain plugs and also make sure you remove the filter. You need to try both of these before wasting money on a pump or separate siphon hose. Changing the water should never take that long.

Good Luck & let us know how you make out next empty.

10 minutes beats 2 hours.

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Sundance Optima has a 1 1/2" drain which I attach to a 2" vinyl roll up style hose. Drains 500 g in about 20 minutes with gravity. Use a plastic submersable pump w/ 3 D size batteries to finish off.

Your original statement of something being wrong is right. You shouldn’t need a sump pump to emty your tub. Mine empties using gravity alone 450 gallons in less than 2 hours. Make sure you open BOTH drain plugs and also make sure you remove the filter. You need to try both of these before wasting money on a pump or separate siphon hose. Changing the water should never take that long.

Good Luck & let us know how you make out next empty.

10 minutes beats 2 hours.

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Regardless of how fast your pump drains your tub, the topic is why this tub is taking so long to drain without a pump.

As I posted before, I think the filter should be removed & the 2nd drain plug, if present, should be opened. I just drained my tub tonight with no hose, no pump, in 1 hr 28 minutes. Warp9’s had barely dropped in that amount of time, so something is likely wrong. It shouldn’t take 4 hrs to get to just below seat level.

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