pezley69 Posted May 7, 2007 Report Share Posted May 7, 2007 Here is my question. I live in NC and pretty much starting at the end of May or first of June the average temps are just too high to really enjoy the hot tub. So I plan to shut it down from about June 1 thru about September. Now the question. Am I better of draining it and leaving it empty or leaving the water in it and just turning the heat off and putting chemical in it every few weeks? The cost of chemicals and what not is not a problem. I am not looking to "save" money more I am looking at what is best for the tub. On one hand leaving something sit and not using it can be harder on it than just letting it run. But it will be only for a few months so it might not even be a big deal. And if I should empty it any storage procedures to follow? It wont freeze so antifreeze wont be needed!! Just curious if anything preventative stuff should be done. Let me know your thoughts.... Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pezley69 Posted May 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Any ideas people?? Just throw something out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindal Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Any ideas people?? Just throw something out... I don' t believe you are supposed to drain it. Is your tub still under warranty? The warranty is void (from my understanding) when you drain it and leave it empty. I would make sure the warranty would still be valid before I drained it and left it empty. If it were me I would turn the temp way down and just check the water every 2 weeks to make sure it is okay and leave the circulation pump going. I am sure there are others on here with more experience that should help out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pezley69 Posted May 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 I don' t believe you are supposed to drain it. Is your tub still under warranty? The warranty is void (from my understanding) when you drain it and leave it empty. I would make sure the warranty would still be valid before I drained it and left it empty. If it were me I would turn the temp way down and just check the water every 2 weeks to make sure it is okay and leave the circulation pump going. I am sure there are others on here with more experience that should help out. The tub is not new and not under warranty. I mainly wondered what people thought would be best for the tub. I would assume from your comments that you feel it is best to keep it full..... Anyone else care to throw out anything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itabb Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 I just thought this was a really interesting topic, because I did just that. Over 8 weeks in Jan-Mar, we had a lot of freeze conditions. My spa (485gal) has 2 pumps. One is a 2 speed, the other is a 1 speed boost. I had to drain the 1 speed line anyway to prevent freezing. Then the freeze level was going to get so cold that I was worried about the heater, so I drained the 2 speed pump line that goes through the heater (gas). Since they were drained, and it was time for me to drain the spa, I drained it. The spa generally is covered by the pool cover, and I just left it empty. It picked up a lot of leaves and junk in the bottom, and a collection of yucky water. Then when I filled it back up, it was all good. It didn't look pretty when the pool cover was opened and I ran the waterfalls, though. If I had a separate spa cover, I probably would have just left the cover on, the pump running, and checked levels every week. The only thing is, the motor vibration through the heater makes a lot of noise in the house at night. I normally turn the spa off at night. I need to get it hooked into the Jandy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pezley69 Posted June 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 I ended up just leaving it full....and turning the heat down....It has been in the uppper 80's here so going in the tub is not my idea of enjoyment right now.... I have a cover and I treat the water maybe once per week or week and 1/2..... So no worries...I can't wait until fall and winter so I can get back to enjoying the tub... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itabb Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 How do you manage the water temperature in the winter? Is it expensive to keep hot, even with a cover? If you use the spa only once or twice a week, and it does not take long to heat, is it more cost effective to keep it hot all the time or just heat it as needed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pezley69 Posted June 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 Well, I have not had the tub over the winter...So I can not really comment on the heating cost....but I can tell you this... The heater in my Arctic Spa tub barely came on when I have it set at 100 when the outside temps were in the 60's....The enclosure is very well insulated and the heat from the motors is captured in the enclosure as well....I also have a very nice Arctic brand cover that seems to really hold the heat in.... It took approx 2 1/2 hours to heat the water from 60 ish degrees to the middle 90's when I originally filled it....so I would probably not set it lower than in the 80's during the winter if you plan to use it often....I think I was getting around a 1 degree raise per 3 to 5 minutes or so the heater was on....so at 80 it would take about an hour and 1/2 maybe to heat...too long to wait in my opinion.... I will just leave it at around 99 or so in the winter and we will probably use it most days. If I am paying 50 or 100 bucks a month then I just guess that is the cost of ownership....I barely notice the cost of it this spring....So I have been pretty happy. I hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itabb Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 That's great input. I have to get a spa cover. That's the bottom line. The automatic pool cover, which covers the spa too, just does not do enough of a job in the winter, and since I like to have the pool open in the day while not using the spa, it's killing my heat and bromine. Does anyone know a good, reasonable place to buy one? My spa is built into an 8x8 corner of my 16x32 pool, so I can't strap it down. All I can do is rest it on the spa, which is below the gunite walls of the pool. I have an Acrylic Sunset Spa set in a gunite basin, motors are on the side with the pool motors. Does anyone have additional advise on how I should order the cover since I must be able to physically lift it out of the pool? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted June 11, 2007 Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 Here is my question. I live in NC and pretty much starting at the end of May or first of June the average temps are just too high to really enjoy the hot tub. A couple of suggestions. Please send some of that nice warm weather north into Alberta, Canada. It was 8C last night and I sat on my deck wearing a parka. You can get screened louvred summer doors that will help vent the equipment chamber during the warm season. Turn down the temperature (gradually, so as not to suspend the filter cycles and turn your water icky) Run the Therapy Air, if you have it. A customer in Cyprus wrote to tell us that with evening temperatures of 80F, "a dip in the bubbles is brilliant!" You can check with your dealer about the Spa Chiller due for release this summer. Upgrades are easy with Arctic, and this addition might allow you to keep using your Arctic Cool Tub right through the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pezley69 Posted June 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Tom, Good info....I especially like the screened louver door thing.... Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake the dog man Posted September 16, 2007 Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 Iknow this is an old thread, but I was just wondering how everything went. In hind sight, are you glad you didn't drain it for the hot months? I am new to this site, but have been an advocate of leaving water in & lightly chemicaling a spa for the summer months and it has always worked out well. Drying of gaskets, seals, etc can be an expensive side effect to draining, not to mention the bacteria and "lurgy" growth. I'd love to hear how it worked out. Jake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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