Starter kits come with a new hot tub to get you started as soon as the water is in and heated up. These kits will contain chlorine or bromine, which come in the form of tablets or granules, a pH balancer and an anti-foam agent. These kits will allow you to get your hot tub up and running but there is more to it when keeping up with hot tub maintenance.

If you have a hot tub from a few years back, or one that is new but made of wood, the most important thing you can do to stretch its life longer is to spend time, once a year, refinishing the wood surfaces. If you live in a climate with varying temperatures and weather patterns, you probably already know how much damage can be done to wood, when it is left unprotected. The skirt which covers the outside of your hot tub is no different and a quick trip for some supplies to your home improvements store will be well worth the effort when you tub lasts for years, and still looks good, too.

As far as draining and refilling the hot tub itself, the best advice is to be sure to read any directions that come with the unit and/or talk to the dealer where you purchased the product, they will always provide important information that should be read over or followed, pertaining to the re-filling of the hot tub. Depending on the size of the hot tub and how diligent you are about keeping the chemicals balanced will also play into the time frame of when to drain and refill the tub.

Upgrading

Each year when the newer models are unveiled, an improvement that is worth thinking about trading up for is the ease of the maintenance for your hot tub. Where hot tubs of 30 years ago were mainly made of wood, they were much more difficult to keep clean and if you didn't refinish the wood yearly, they would eventually just rot because of the exposure to the elements and the exposure to the chemicals that keep a hot tub clean and clear.

Also know that most dealers offer a trade-in deal where they will remove your old hot tub and you don't have to worry about its disposal. It is a good way for you to feel less guilty about trading up when you don't have to be responsible for what to do with the old tub. You really can't go wrong by upgrading your hot tub every ten or so years.