Confessions of a first time hot tub owner | PART I

Hi. My name is Suz and I’m the Freeflow Spas Marketing Coordinator. These are my confessions as a first-time hot tub owner. This sounds a bit weird, right? If you work for a hot tub company, you’d think I’d be an expert? Well, I thought  I was, until I actually got a hot tub.

Managing photoshoots, editing videos, and writing about different aspects of the hot tubbing lifestyle – I can do that in my sleep. Thus owning a hot tub should be a piece of cake! I mean, these are Plug-n-Play spas. How hard could it really be? You just literally plug it in, and BAM!

I was so excited to be a hot tub owner that I made a few mistakes starting the moment my spa got delivered. Embarrassing, right?

At least I have a great sense of humor about it and I’ll let you laugh at me, too. Hopefully you won’t make the same silly mistakes I made.

My Freeflow Cascina hot tub got dropped off on the curbside at my house. I called a friend over and she helped me take it to my backyard. The Cascina weighs 284 pounds, and we moved it with no trouble. I know we’re strong, but it was easier than I expected to move (maybe we’re stronger than I thought?).

We flipped the spa on its side and used a dolly to move it from the curb to my backyard. It was just that simple.

My backyard is not very fancy, and I have two dogs, so space is a bit limited. However, I had the perfect vision of my “zen spa place.” I live in San Diego, and we’re all about being zen here (that and great tacos). I wanted to place the spa somewhere I could put some music on in the background, hang some cute lights, and maybe meditate.  Can you meditate in a hot tub? Whatever, it sounds kind of cool and it’s my hot tub, so I’m going to meditate in it. With my friend’s help, my spa made it to its destination.

Although I seemed to have all my zen figured out with the perfect spot, I forgot to keep an eye on the outlet. You see, the hot tub’s power cord is approximately 12 feet long, so I should have picked a spot that was at most 12 feet from the outlet. But I didn’t. I was tempted to use an extension cord so that I could keep my hot tub in the space I had already created for it, but I know that is not a viable solution. The Owner’s Manual warns about the shock hazard and voltage drop the connection from the extension cord could cause. (I didn’t read the Owner’s Manual by the way but I helped write it, so I know what it says. I highly recommend that you do read it. No joke.)

The bottom line is, I forgot to check where I’d actually plug in my spa. So, yes, I missed the plug part of Plug-n-Play.

I can’t believe I’m confessing this. But, now that I got it off my chest, let’s move on.

2.) Chemically Overwhelmed

I moved the spa closer to the plug (while re-creating a whole new zen area). I filled it up, putting my garden hose through the filter basket to avoid air locks, like a great customer who has read the Owner’s Manual would do. Now that the tub is filled, I'm so much closer to being able to hop in my hot tub and enjoy the hot tubbing lifestyle!

All I needed were the chemicals to make sure my water was as ready for me as I was for it. I got my chlorine and bromine ready. I can get lazy sometimes, you know? I have 100 things going on at the same time, and sometimes I miss the small details. I’m sure you know that feeling. Well, I was too lazy to measure the exact amount of each chemical that I needed, so I decided to add in “just a little bit,” following my instincts. When it comes to hot tub chemicals, please don’t follow your instincts I don’t care how zen you are. I also forgot to mention that I’m very clumsy.

Automatically, my hand shook more than it should, and BAM! I was sure that I had just added too much chlorine. Have you heard of that saying there are some things that you just can’t take back? Well, the chlorine I accidentally threw in my hot tub fits into that category.

So, I broke out my test strips to confirm my stupidity. It took me 2 seconds to dip it in the water, and sure enough, the strips turned purple. It wasn’t just purple. It was a deep, dark purple, meaning I just added way too much chlorine. Thanks, test strips for saving my water!

I set off to balance out my water, adding one teaspoon of chemicals at a time and re-testing the water until I got it back to proper (and safe) levels. Here is a quick and helpful video about how to balance your water correctly.

So, two things I’ve learned so far: Don’t try to be so zen that you forget to look at the bigger picture of where the plug is, and don’t follow your instincts all the time…that’s why we have measuring cups and testing strips to guide our way.