Questions people ask us

A routine hot tub visit is $75 and takes about 30 minutes. That covers testing and balancing the water, checking the pumps and jets, clearing debris, and seating the cover. The chemicals your water needs are included in that price. A full drain, clean, and refill is $275. A deep clean on a tub that has been let go is billed at $65 per hour and usually runs two to four hours. Those two bill chemicals and materials at cost on top.

A routine pool or swim spa visit is $110, and it takes 45 minutes to an hour. Weekly service works out to $440 a month for four visits, or $550 in a five-week month. Every other week is $220. Chemicals are included, so that is the whole bill. There is no contract, so you can change the frequency whenever you like.

Every routine visit includes testing and balancing the five major water factors: chlorine (sanitizer), pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, and cyanuric acid (stabilizer). We verify mechanical operation of pumps, jets, and intake returns, remove all debris, and clear and correctly position covers and tops. If we see something that needs repair, we tell you before doing anything about it.

For a tub that gets used a few times a week, a visit every one to two weeks keeps the water in range. A tub that gets heavy use, or a rental that turns over guests, should be weekly. If you are diligent about testing between visits, you can sometimes stretch it. We will give you an honest read once we have seen how your water behaves.

One to two hours. Draining is the slow part, and how fast it goes depends on the tub and where the water can go. Having a hose bib near the tub speeds up the refill. Once the tub is full we balance the fresh water before we leave, but it will take several hours to heat back up to temperature.

Every three to four months is the usual guidance, and it holds here for most tubs. The Utah wrinkle is the fill water. Salt Lake City gets most of its water from canyon streams, which is on the softer side for this area, but in summer the city adds deep well water that is much harder. A tub filled in late summer starts with more dissolved mineral in it and reaches the point where the water stops responding to adjustment sooner. If your tub gets heavy use or was filled in August, lean toward three months.

Same answer: about every three to four months for a normally used tub. The sign that it is time is water that will not stay balanced no matter what you add, or that looks dull and foams easily. Dissolved minerals build up with every dose of chemicals and every evaporated gallon, and at some point the only fix is fresh water.

Usually one of three things. The sanitizer level has dropped and the water has started to grow things. The filter is dirty and is not pulling out fine particles. Or the pH and alkalinity are high, which makes minerals come out of the water as a haze. That third one is common in the Salt Lake Valley because the fill water often arrives with pH and alkalinity already above the spa range. Some of the city water here comes out of the tap at 199 parts per million alkalinity when a spa wants 80 to 120. Straight from the hose, it needs adjusting.

It varies a lot by where the water comes from, even within one city. Salt Lake City water from the Big Cottonwood plant runs about 8 grains per gallon, City Creek about 12, and the city wells can go above 30. That is nearly a fourfold swing depending on the season and the source. Hot tub test strips read calcium hardness specifically, and the target is 150 to 250 parts per million. Some valley water lands below that and some lands well above it, which is why we test it on every visit instead of assuming.

Scale is calcium that has come out of the water and stuck to the shell, the jets, or the heater. Once it is there, adjusting the water will not remove it. The real fix is a drain, a clean of the shell while it is empty, and a refill, then keeping calcium hardness in the 150 to 250 range so it does not come back. Keeping pH and alkalinity in range matters just as much, because high pH is what pushes calcium out of the water in the first place.

Usually, yes. Light scale comes off during a drain, clean, and refill. Heavy buildup that has been there for years takes longer and falls under deep cleaning at $65 per hour. Very old scale on acrylic can leave a dull patch even after it is removed, and we will tell you if that is what we are looking at before we start.

Biofilm is a slimy layer that bacteria build on surfaces they can hang onto, especially inside the plumbing lines where the water moves slowly. It protects the bacteria from sanitizer, so a tub can test fine on the strip and still smell off or foam. It is the reason a neglected tub often needs more than a chemical dose to come back. Regular sanitizer levels keep it from getting established, and a drain and refill with the lines flushed is how you deal with it once it has.

A deep clean is for a tub that has been sitting, has a heavy waterline, or has visible scale or grime. It goes well past a routine visit and is billed at $65 per hour, typically two to four hours. The exact work depends on what we find, which is why it is hourly rather than a flat price. Contact us with a description or a photo and we will give you a realistic range.

At minimum: a sanitizer, usually chlorine or bromine; something to raise and lower pH; something to raise alkalinity; a calcium hardness increaser for soft fill water; and a stabilizer if you use chlorine outdoors. Those match the five factors we test on every visit. A test kit or strips to check them is the other essential. If we are servicing the tub we bring what is needed and bill it at cost.

Yes. Plenty of people do, and if you test regularly and keep up with it, the water will be fine. What a service adds is consistency, a trained eye on the equipment, and not having to think about it. People usually hire a service because they got tired of the upkeep, had the water get away from them once, or want someone checking the pumps and heater before a small problem turns into a repair.

In the Salt Lake Valley most hot tubs stay running all winter, and winter is when people use them most. Keeping it heated and covered is usually the safer choice, because a tub that is drained and not fully dried out can freeze and crack lines. If you do want it shut down for the season, get in touch and we will tell you whether it is something we can take on for your tub.

Yes, and we install them ourselves. There is no showroom and no online cart. Buying a tub starts with a conversation about where it is going, who will use it, and what you want to spend. We come out to look at the site, then give you one written price for the tub and the installation together. After that, the same crew maintains it.

Yes. Routine pool and swim spa visits are $110, and we cover the same five water factors plus equipment checks and debris removal. Pool demand is heaviest from late spring through summer, which is the opposite of hot tubs, so we are on both year round.