Easy Spa Maintenance Tips

There aren't many things better after a long day than relaxing in your spa. Keeping your spa clean & healthy with some basic maintenance will ensure your spa is always ready for you!

The key to looking after your spa is knowing the ins and outs of your unit. Having a reasonable understanding of its features will ensure not only that you get the most out of it, but it will also speed up the process if it needs any repairs down the track.

Keep the water moving

The first tip for your spa is making sure you circulate the water every day. This is where knowing your spa’s features can come in handy, as it may have an automatic circulation feature that you can program. Flowing the water through your filter will help keep it free of contaminants. The more you circulate your water through the filter, the cleaner your water will be!

Quick Tip: Have a quick shower before you jump into your spa, the hot water in your spa extracts the oils and lotions from your skin, so a quick shower first will make things easier on your filter!

Weekly scrub

Regularly cleaning your spa is essential. A spa is prone to developing grime around the waterline, so a weekly scrub with a product like BioGuard SPA Squeaky Clean™ will remove any dirt, grease or stains and keep your surfaces bright and beautiful.

Giving your filter a clean using BioGuard SPA Filter Renew™ every month or so will increase the efficiency of your filter which in turn will reduce your overall maintenance cost.

Deep clean

On top of your weekly scrub, give your spa a deep clean every 3-4 months. Dose your spa with BioGuard SPA Swirl Away® and turn on the pump for circulation and then drain the water. This will cut through any scale and grime build up in your pipes and jets, and leave your spa sparkling. (Dosage rates differ for spa baths and outdoor spas/hot tubs so be sure to check with us for the correct dosage rates).

Healthy water

Keeping your water balanced is vital to keeping your spa healthy. This involves tracking the same elements as a pool: pH, alkalinity and sanitiser levels etc.

After a fresh fill, before you start adding any products to your spa, take a sample of your water in for a professional test and balance with us. From then on, we recommend testing your water at least once a week.

Aim for a pH level that sits between 7.2 – 7.6. Adding BioGuard Spa Comfort Up ™ to your water raises the pH and will not only keep you comfortable but also protect your surfaces and equipment. Equally, if you find your water is too alkaline, use BioGuard SPA Aquality™ to prevent cloudy water and prevent scale build-up.

Hot water is also the perfect breeding ground for bacteria, so to keep it safe for you and your family, regularly add a sanitiser such as BioGuard SPA Armour™. It’s both a sanitiser and an oxidiser, so this dual-action product will keep your water clean and crystal clear, and best of all you can add it straight into your water. No need to mess around with pre-dissolving!

It’s also a good idea to shock your water after a period of inactivity. A shock treatment with BioGuard SPA Purity™ will ensure the water is completely sanitised before you jump back in.

Let technology do all the work

If the thought of trying to remember a weekly maintenance routine leaves you feeling overwhelmed, why not use an app to take away the mental load? These days, there are a variety of apps available for your smartphone to help you keep on track. Set it up to send you a notification every time you need to attend to a task. Never again will you forget to test your water or add a dose of sanitiser.

And don’t forget that we're always here to help! We're always happy to answer any questions relating to your spa and can design a maintenance program specifically suited to your needs.

Robotic Pool Cleaner Maintenance

Robotic cleaners are superior pool cleaners to suction and pressure pool cleaners. They make doing a lot of the hard work of keeping your pool clean look easy. So what should you do to help your cleaner keep cleaning at its best? Here are a few simple maintenance tips to keep it running at its best!

Robotic cleaners such as the Dolphin M600 have an internal filter that collects the leaves, sticks and dust from your pool. This filters the water down to as little as 15 microns (*a micron is 1,000th of a millimetre) which is fine enough to filter out almost everything! If you have a sand filter or better yet a glass media filter as well, this will pick up everything else down to 2 microns in some cases! They have rotating brushes to scrub the walls and floor and tracks to grip the pool surface that all need to be maintained.

Baskets

The first thing to do is to take out the cleaner from the pool and remove the filter basket. This is a simple process usually done by opening the top casing to access the filter. Empty the filter basket of the larger debris and then hose from the outside until it’s visually clean.

Cleaning

The next step of maintenance is to hose down the whole unit, ensuring that you get into all the scrubbers and wheels, gently turning them as you go to get all built-up dust and dirt.

Visual inspection

As you go, check the wheels, tracks and brushes to ensure that they’re still in good condition, any signs of damage to these parts should be replaced and any loose connections should also be reviewed by a professional to ensure it doesn’t cause further damage and a more expensive repair.

Cables and Swivels

The power supply cable can show signs of wear and tear from dragging across sharp edges of the pool and the swivel (if fitted) may also become stuck or too loose.

Final step

Return the filter basket to the cleaner, keep the power supply cord neat and kink-free, and then store it in the shade and in its ‘caddy’ where possible. Some newer cleaners are designed to stay in the pool so they can be returned to the water once back together.

These simple steps will help you not only extend the life of your cleaner but will make sure it’s doing the best job possible.

Just like your car, we suggest having a yearly service done by a pool professional. Contact us today or bring your cleaner down to us in-store to have your robotic cleaner serviced.

*1 micron = red blood cell.