Your Hot Tub Maintenance Routine (It's Less Than You Think)

The number-one worry we hear from new owners is upkeep. People picture a chemistry set and a weekend chore. In practice, a modern Hot Spring or Caldera spa asks for a light, predictable rhythm: a few minutes every week or so, a filter rinse now and then, and a water change a few times a year. Here's the whole routine, start to finish, so nothing sneaks up on you.

Every 10 days: the core check

Hot Spring and Caldera build the whole routine around a 10-day check, and the spa even reminds you — the control panel runs a water-care timer that resets whenever you adjust the system. Every 10 days, or when the reminder pops:

• Test the water with a FreshWater® 5-Way Test Strip. The targets to hold: chlorine around 3 ppm (fine anywhere 1–5), pH 7.4 (7.2–7.8), total alkalinity around 80 ppm, and calcium hardness 25–75 ppm (ideally at or below 50).
• Balance if needed. Small adjustments are easier than big ones. That's the whole point of checking often.
• Confirm the sanitizer is keeping up. On a salt spa, that means the output level is holding your 3 ppm chlorine target. Nudge it only as high as it needs to be.

If your spa has the FreshWater® Salt System — on the Hot Spring Highlife®, Limelight®, and Hot Spot® collections and Caldera's Utopia®, Paradise®, and Vacanza® series — a titanium cartridge quietly makes chlorine from a low level of salt. You add far fewer chemicals, and the water can stay fresh up to a year between changes. Step up to FreshWater® IQ — available on the Hot Spring Highlife® and Limelight® collections and Caldera's Utopia® and Paradise® series — and a sensor tests the water every hour and shows a simple Green / Yellow / Red status. The "test" step often becomes "glance at the panel."

Entry Plug-N-Play models (Hot Spring Freeflow®, Caldera Fantasy™) use a FROG® mineral + chlorine cartridge instead — same idea, a little more hands-on. The Vigor/Emerge cold plunges are their own case: a built-in UV-C light plus a small weekly dose of granular chlorine, never a cartridge or floater.

Every few weeks: the salt cartridge and a quick shock

• Boost after heavy use. A big weekend soak with friends draws down the sanitizer. On a salt spa, hit Boost (24 hours at full output, then back to normal) to catch up — don't dump in chemicals.
• Rinse the filter. A quick spray keeps flow and filtration strong. (Exact filter type and cleaning steps vary by model. We'll show you yours.)
• The salt cartridge lasts about four months with normal use. A 3-pack covers roughly a year, lined up neatly with your water changes.

Every 3–4 months: drain, clean, refill

Even great water eventually collects what filters can't catch. Every few months, drain the spa, wipe down the shell, clean or replace the filter, and refill with fresh, balanced water. On a salt system you'll re-add salt to about 1,750 ppm and re-balance — we'll walk you through the exact amounts for your model's size the first time. One tip that saves headaches: if your fill water is hard (common on well supply), fill through a pre-filter or portable softener, so the new water isn't starting out fighting scale.

Seasonal, here in the Northwest

• Cold snaps: a well-insulated Hot Spring or Caldera spa is built to run right through a Northwest winter. Keep it powered and covered and it stays hot and ready. The cover is your single biggest ally — a tight seal keeps heat in and the bill down.
• Never soak above 104 °F, and keep time at the maximum temperature under about 15 minutes. A good habit year-round.
• Going away? Shock the water, run the clean cycle, clean the filter, and set a salt system to a low output level while you're gone.