If you’ve invested in an outdoor spa for sale, you’ll want to keep your new hot tub and its spa parts as clean as possible both to maximise your spa enjoyment and also to extend the longevity of your spa parts. If not regularly maintained, spa filters and spa pumps can easily get clogged with tiny fragments of debris which find their way into the water, including sand, dirt, leaves, small pebbles, and insects; not to mention that it is also deeply gross to find floaties when you’re trying to relax!
Even if you’re totally fanatic about keeping your spa covered with a hard cover when it’s not in use, while you’re using it debris can find its way into the water. For example insects can sometimes fly in, grass you tread on and transfer to the water, wind can blow dirt in and so on, which end up lodged in your spa parts or even worse – stuck to you when you hop out! However, don’t worry, not every bit of debris requires a full draining and cleaning. Sometimes, all you need is a quick spot clean and having the right tools to do this will help you keep your spa clean between deep cleans, and avoid having to deep clean more frequently.
1. The Humble Sieve
A kitchen sieve can be used as a cheap and effective strainer to pick up random floaties (like a small version of a pool strainer), and the fine mesh ensures it doesn’t miss even the tiniest bug. A kitchen sieve from somewhere like Kmart costs about $5 and is both easy to clean and easy to use.
Just skim along the top of the water to catch whatever is floating there, or further down to grab something deeper, and gently pull it out of the water. No need to touch anything gross, and you can just tap it on the ground or a handy fence to get rid of whatever is inside it, or rinse it with the garden hose. Repeat as necessary, remembering to clean it between uses otherwise you’re just returning the floaties from whence they came and you’ll have to start over.
2. Silly Putty
Silly putty is a kids toy invented by Crayola in the 1950s which is still around, even though most kids go for slime rather than putty these days. Silly putty is waterproof, so it is great for cleaning bits off your spa filter without having to do a full clean. Just wad it up, stick it over the offending article and the putty will come away holding onto whatever bit of grot you stuck it to – but importantly, not your spa parts.
You can buy silly putty at various toy stores, or even make your own, if you’re a crafty kind of person https://howtoslime.com/whats-the-difference-between-slime-and-putty/. You can also buy a variant of it in car stores, sometimes called car vent cleaner.
3. Baster
Called a baster, or in my house “that sucky thing”, a baster is a small tool used for sucking up liquid and distributing it elsewhere. You can buy them for cooking, science experiments (where it is called a pipette), or even removing baby snot (it’s true, check this out https://www.tommeetippee.com/en-au/product/nasal-aspirator-au). It’s ideal for small spots of debris, such as stones, sand or departed insects.
Pipettes/ basters are easy to use, just squeeze the bulb at the top, insert it into the water, place the open tip over what you’re trying to remove, release the bulb, and remove the pipette from the water. Just be sure not to squeeze the bulb on the way out, or you’ll just release the debris you removed right back into the water, (which will annoy the heck out of you).
Keeping your Spa Parts Clean
You may not be able to keep every single tiny bit of dirt or bugs out of your spa, but there are plenty of measures you can take to keep as much of it out as possible. Always cover your spa when you’re not using it, and if you are going to use it on a windy day, it is an idea to have a screen to put up to prevent leaves and dirt from blowing into the water. You can buy screens from hardware stores like Bunnings, from a variety of prices, if you want to leave it up permanently it can form part of the decoration for your spa area and will help to protect it year round.
When you buy a spa, make sure you also invest in spa cleaning products and the right chemicals to keep the water fresh and clear. Also ensure that you have your spa situated so it is easy to clean. For example, if you are vertically challenged like me, you don’t want to be having to lean over to deep clean your spa. If you leave a decent space around your spa, cleaning won’t be such a challenge.
For more information on our spas for sale, how to care for your spa and any other information please contact our expert customer care team.