Hot tubs located either indoors or outdoors require constant maintenance. Every hot tub owner knows how important it is to maintain their hot tub to maximize their enjoyment and investment. Wooden hot tub maintenance is, however, needs more care compared to ones made with fibre and polypropylene. Consequently, it requires more effort and attention.
Wooden hot tubs are made with natural and traditional woods and require extra care. Especially when dealing with chemical treatment. This article hence will be exploring several simple guides on how best to approach your wooden hot tub maintenance.
Wooden hut tub explained
Wooden hot tubs are water heating elements made of natural wooden barrels. Generally, wooden hot tubs are long-lasting investments, and as such, when maintained properly, they can last up to ten years or even more. As explained earlier, wooden hot tubs require some level of care and maintenance hence, this section will be doing justice to that with simple steps highlighted below.
- Swelling your hot tubs
If youjust got your hot tub, then you need to swell it to keep water inside. During this process, the burning will absorb enough water, expand and also fill in little gaps. You should, however, note that wooden hot tubs are prone to some level of leakages in this process which is quite normal and natural compared to other materials.
- Sealing your wooden tub
Swelling /sealing typically takes two to five days. Sealing your wooden tubs helps prevent dirt and rubbish from dropping in them. After which, you can add sawdust or coffee powder in water to fill in gaps, thereby eliminating the leakages.
- Keep your wooden hot tub moist always
Your wooden hot tubs should not be left without water for a long time. This is to preventshrinkage, which is a likely occurrence when wooden hot tubs are left dry. If your hot tub is an external heat model, you should ensure that water fill and cover the outlet and inlet pipes. And for the internal heat models, you should make sure that water fills up to two-thirds of the total depth. You should also make sure to refill the tub after every session.
- Clean your hot tubs regularly
Hot tub cleaning is relatively straightforward. However, in the process, you should avoid using harsh chemicals. It would help if you kept your wood hot tub clean, fresh, and always ready to use. By doing so, you can be assured of using it for years to come. It would be best if you cleaned your hot tubs at least once a month.
Cleaning is better done using scrub brushes and water. Avoid using chlorine when washing. Using chlorine would destroy the surface of your wooden fibers, thereby messing up the natural wood. Use scrub brush and towel only. If you encounter rugged areas, use baking soda with your towel to wipe those areas. And when you are done washing, rinse it off with warm water and dry it with a clean towel.
Taking proactive steps for cleaning
As simple as cleaning your hot tubs may sound, it could take your hours to achieve thatperfect touch. However, when you take a proactive approach, you are not only cleaning your tubs but will also reduce the amount of time you will spend on them during your routine cleaning.
Hence this section will explain several steps to take to clean your tubs while in use, and you can follow them during your day-to-day activities to keep your hot tubs fresher.
Bath before use;
Human body naturally is filled with dirt, especially after that long day of stress. The sweats, air, and dust all make up the dirt on the human body. And as such, when the hot tub is graced with such a body, the earth stick on the surface of your wooden tub. This makes it harder to wash, especially when such dirt has compiled for weeks. Hence it is advised that you make sure that anyone entering the tub takes their bath to prevent such dirt.
Keep a foot bath by your tub:
You should always ensure to keep a foot bath by your tub to wash off foot dirt before and after entering the tub. You can also place footwear by the tub to prevent soil and grasses from getting in your tub.
Clean and drain the tub regularly:
You should ensure to clean and drain your tub regularly. By so doing, the stress of monthly cleaning is reduced drastically.
Sanitize your water frequently
The human body contains a considerable amount of dirt and bacteria. And as such, after using the water, the wooden surface gets contaminated with such bacteria. Although rinsing your tub with warm water helps flush off those bacteria, it, however, has a limited effect, which makes sanitizing important.
When it comes to sanitization, chemicals like chlorine and bromine are primarily used. Although effective, these chemicals can be complex on the skin, lower your tub experience due to their smell and cause breathing issues. In light of these issues, sanitizers that destroy bacteria without harming the people in the tub are recommended.
Here is the good news, oxygen works as a natural sanitizer and works as described above. This sanitizer comes in hydrogen peroxide. That brown bottle is usually in the first aid kit to clean wounds// Yeah1. It’s the same one; however, for cuts, it is only a 3 percent requirement.
For your hot tubs, you will need about 27 percent of them. When poured into water, it separates immediately into water and oxygen ions. The latter then kill all bacterial and viruses that may be present in the water, giving you sparkling dirt-free water which is safe to use.
How to use; you need to know the number of gallons of water in your tub and then use one-third cup of hydrogen peroxide for every 100 gallons in your tub each time you are done with a session. For smaller hot tubs, use 1/8 of hydrogen for every 100 gallons. You should, however, maintain a high level of composure when applying. This is because hydrogen peroxide is a powerful oxidizer that burns the skin when it comes into direct contact. Hence it would help if you always used gloves to prevent such hazards.
Sanitizing with ozone generators
Ozone generators are a device that operates on the same principle as hydrogen peroxides. So if you do not want to use the latter, ozone generators might be the perfect choice for you. This device injects ozone bubbles into the water. The latter follows the same process of hydrogen peroxide and kills off bacteria. This method is, however, not as effective as hydrogen peroxide as it does not penetrate the surface well and, as such, does not kill bacteria on the wooden wall.
Sanitizing with chemicals
Sanitizing with chemicals can be in two ways; day to day maintenance and monthly maintenance. At this sanitizing et maintenance, the pH level of your water is fundamental. It must be balanced and kept at an optimal level to protectbodies entering the tub. You should always ensure to keep it sanitized at all times by using the hot tub test strips to check the sanitary level.
If the pH is too low or too high, you may experience skin irritation issues and many others, and as such, you should frequently check to rebalance it if it is off. You should also ensure to add a water sparkle agent monthly to keep your water sparkling and clear. Apart from making your water clear, it also attracts particles in water, suspend them and make them easy to filter
Protect your wooden hot tub
Maintaining your wooden hot tub does not just stop cleaning and sanitizing regularly. It continues with protecting it by ensuring that the metal strap around your tub is properly fitted and adjusted if necessary. The exterior of your tub should also be scrubbed and treated every three years using linseed oil. The oil will prevent the tub from rotting by penetrating the timber.
Summarily, Leakages that comes with filling your tubs for the first time will be prevented once you make sure that the metal straps are correctly fitted.
Drain your hot tubs properly
Once the water in your tubs has been used up to three times every month, you should drain it. Each wooden tub comes with a draining floor, hole, and plug with which you can successfully drain your tub when needed. It is recommended that you empty your tub when it has cooled down. This is because the water in the drive has cooled down, and turned on the heater when no, there is no water can spoil it.
Removing ash remains
After using your burning drive to heat water, you must dispose of the ash remains.Check for excessive build up of tar and clean them up. You can remove the ash remains using the ash removal tools that come with your internal heat system or ash tray for an external heat system
Top five tips to ensure a greener hot tub
- Saving energy: The simplest act of covering your hot tubs when heating and after bathing helps to save energy. It will prevent heat from escaping your tubs, keeping them warm always, reducing the number of times you get to heat your tubs. It will also be useful during winter and summer so that when the temperature drops overnight, your tub will still be warm.
- Waste management: when disposing of your used sanitized water, especially the ones that contain bromine, chlorine or any chemical-based sanitizers, you should ensure that they do not get mixed with clean water. It is advised to channel those water through a sewage system. And in the case of naturally treated waters, you can channel them for watering purposes.
- Invest in insulation: Insulators are a good addition to your tub maintenance devices.insulated walls, bottom and lids helps to prevent the water in your run from getting cold and keeps it warm. It is also useful during harsh weather conditions (winter) and will keep your water warm for a considerable period of time and as such, reduce the times in which you heat your water during sessions.
- Choose an internal heating system: The external heating system is an effective way of heating water and the top choice for tub owners. Even though it does allow for space in the tub, it is far not the most conservative way of saving energy. This is because during the process, heat escape through the hose connected to the tub which is not found in the internal heating system.The internal heat system loses no heat and submerge all the heat into the water.
- Use filter to purify the water always: Naturally dirt settle on the surface of water after a bathing session.When this dirt are not removed on time they stick on the wall surface of the tub and heat harder to remove as time goes on. Hence, filtering your water will not only purify it by removing dirt but will also reduce the stress associated with cleaning.
In a situation where there in no filter you can use to water to wash the floor of your tub, collect the dirt manually and drain it properly.This however can be avoided with the use of a sand filters or cartridge filters. Sand filters are however recommended as they last longer compared to cartridge filters
Conclusion
The wooden hot tub is an excellent option for relaxation. However, it needs maintenance to preserve it for more prolonged use and leakage, which may occur while using it. Hence, this article has provided simple tips for effective wooden tub maintenance, proactive steps to take to ease the stress of cleaning it. So if you an owner, you can be assured of practical wooden tub maintenance tips.