Just bought a house with a hot tub...and have a stupid question

[davidinportland]

Hi, everyone. My wife (and kids) and I just bought a lovely house in Portland, and it comes with a hot tub, a Marquis 435. We're pretty psyched about it. However, one problem: none of us have ever owned a hot tub before, and really have no clue about what to do with it, besides sitting in it and enjoying it. Here's my first question, one that I apologize for asking because it's so stupid: can we turn the hot tub off? We haven't actually moved into the house yet, but it's still running away in the back yard, though the heat is turned pretty low (70). I hate the thought of it running for a couple weeks before we're fully moved in. I assume that the risk of freezing temps means you shouldn't turn them off, but Portland isn't expecting below freezing overnight temps anytime soon.

Thanks for any answers! I'm sure I'll be back in the coming weeks with plenty more. I'm happy to have found this forum!

David

[Hot Spring Ace]

I'd want to drain it anyway before using it and get a new filter so if you know it won't be freezing in your area turn the breaker off and drain it and then when you move in you can refill and get it going. You could find the local dealer and stop by for chems/filter and a quick tutorial on how to care for it.

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

If, a freak cold front moves in, and it's drained/shut down, you could be risking thousands of $ of damage. Turning it off for 2 weeks might save $20 - $30...worth the risk?

[Quickbeam]

If it was me, I would want to clean the tub before I used it. I'd use something like Ahh-Some on it. And if I was going to clean it, I wouldn't drain it now. I'd leave it running for the two weeks and then clean it. After you clean it you're going to need to drain and refill so it would not make sense to drain it now, then clean it, then drain it again after the cleaning.

[MarKee]

Hey David-I'm also here in Portland and work at the Marquis store in Beaverton.  I would just leave the spa filled, it won't cost very much in energy (maybe $10-$15 month) running it at 70 degrees.  When you're ready to use it I would clean the plumbing with a pipe cleaner such as Swirl Away, and replace the filter.  Feel free to stop in to the Beaverton store, we have everything you'll need and can answer any questions for you. The store is across 217 from Washington Square near Best Buy, Nordstrom Rack, and Benihana.

[wmccall]

David,

Welcome to the forum.  It looks like you've already made good contact through this forum with your new best friend.  A good dealer can help you get started and probably knows the particulars of the water in your area and what works well.