As far as water maintenance is concerned, your filter is probably the single most important component in your hot tub. Its primary purpose is to remove suspended particles, grease and debris from the hot tub. Most bacteria is killed by your sanitiser (ie. Chlorine or Bromine), however bacteria can still grow inside larger particles that your sanitiser can not penetrate.
Its crucial that you keep your filter clean, mainly because dirty clogged up filters aren’t very good at cleaning your water, but also because a clogged filter reduces the flow of water throughout the spa to a level so low that your pumps and heaters are at risk of failure. We are often called out to visit broken heaters and we have found so many times that the problem was simply a blocked up filter!
How often should I clean my filter?
We would recommend giving it a rinse every week to remove the main debris, a filter brush is the best thing to use for this. Once a month you need to soak your filter in a specifically designed solution that will break done the grease and oils between the fibres that you can not see but are clogging your filter.
How do I clean my filter?
Firstly, cut off the power to your Spa to avoid debris being sucked into the circulation pump, massage pump or heater.
Remove the paper filter from the filter housing.
For best results to get your filter very clean, we suggest you jet wash your filter as normal soaking will not remove all the dirt. Spray at a 45 degree angle.
Or pick up up a filter cleaning chemical online, these usually come in the form of a tablet or a power, you usually dissolve the substance in water and then leave your filter to soak overnight. You also need a brush of some sort to remove any debris, you can pick up special filter cleaning brushes on-line that do the job very well or you can give the filter a good jet wash instead of soaking the filter.
Always use gloves when cleaning your filter, filters are breeding places for bacteria and you don’t want to get any of that stuff on your hands!
Lastly, it is important to wait until the filter is completely dry before you reinsert it, as bacteria needs wet conditions to survive and by leaving the filter to dry you kill any remaining bacteria on it.
Can’t I just put it in the dish washer?
We don’t recommend using the dishwasher as dishwashers tend to reduce the life of your filters.
How often should I change my filter?
This really depends on how often you use the spa, and how greasy your childrens hair is! Anywhere between 9 months to a year should be fine in most cases. We would recommend having two filters and alternating between them every time you clean your filter.