It’s time to pull off the cover and enjoy a revitalising and relaxing spa! However, if you’ve neglected your spa for a few weeks or maybe a few months, there are a few simple things you’ll need to do to get everything ready!

1. Your spa cover

While keeping out dirt, leaves and bugs, the cover also acts as a seal for your spa. So if you’re removing the cover for the first time in a while, it’s a good idea to give your spa a good airing.

At the same time, give the cover a clean, with a simple wipe with warm soapy water.

2. Treat the water

Many spa manufacturers have a specific start-up procedure to make sure everything is working fine. We recommend following the manufacturer’s instructions at all times.

If you’re re-filling your spa, ensure the water is circulating before balancing it with products from the BioGuard Spa balancing range.

Use BioGuard Spa Sanitiser, as per label directions and your spa manufacturer’s start-up instructions to sanitise your water and neutralise bugs and germs.

Then add BioGuard Spa Purity to oxidise the water and BioGuard Spa Crystal Clear to really get that water sparkling.

Finally, we recommend adding BioGuard Spa Defence. This will help to protect your spa, pump, and filter and prevent surface staining and build-up.

With the treatment complete, you should have a chlorine level of 2-3 ppm.

We always suggest bringing a sample of your spa water to us and we’ll help you get that balance just right.

3. Run the jets

To maintain water quality in your spa, it’s a good idea to run the jets. This not only helps to regulate the spa temperature but running the jets will pass more water through your filter quickly and help keep your spa clean, just remember to regularly check and clean/change the filter as required.

If you are not going to fully cover the spa between spa sessions, running the jets and circulating the water regularly is important to filter out the dirt, dust and debris that fall in.

4. Set the temperature

Spas are designed to heat water to the perfect temperature for you to enjoy, obviously this takes time, so planning ahead is key. Your maximum spa temperature should not exceed 38°C, and bather time in spas at this temperature should be no longer than 15 minutes.

Finding your perfect spa temperature will require some experimentation, but we suggest starting at 37°C (the average body temperature) and then altering it slightly from there.

Constantly turning your spa temperature up and down will use more power and can also wreak havoc on the heating element. Rather, turn the temperature down only slightly when your spa isn’t in use, and keep your spa cover on. This minimises energy wastage and will keep the water warm enough so when you’re ready to heat it up again, only a small amount of energy is required to reheat the already warm water, rather than the huge power surge that would be required to heat up cold water.

*This one is optional! Cold spas are incredibly refreshing at any time of year. Depending on the make and model, this may simply prevent the heating element from turning on, but in some cases, your spa can actively cool the water.

If you really want to refresh yourself… you can drop the temperature even further by adding ice, this won’t damage your spa or spa surfaces, but we still recommend adding it in small increments, so you can more easily control the chemistry of your spa.