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How Can You Benefit From a Hot Tub?

Hot Tub Relaxing

Whenever you are going to make a major purchase for your home, the first question you usually ask yourself is: what are the benefits? Purchasing a hot tub is definitely no exception, and with all of the benefits you’ll experience, you’ll have no trouble answering that question!

Let’s talk about hot tub therapy

Yes, you can look at your hot tub as a means for some great therapy, both physically and mentally. Just the thought of being able to get away from the hassles of life and soaking in some wonderfully warm water, perhaps on a starlit night – now that’s what we’re talking about! And as enticing as this sounds, the benefits go far beyond this. Just take a look back in history and you will see that hot water served many purposes when it came to health and wellness. The father of medicine, Hippocrates himself prescribed this as a worthy treatment for various ailments. While our ancestors may not have had the convenient access in the form of the hot tubs that we have today, the benefits found way back then are still supported by modern day studies of today.

Living better and living longer

Being able to soothe aches and pains and reduce your stress aids in allowing you to live longer. It has been commonly said that “stress is a killer”. Some studies have shown that immersing yourself up to your neck in warm water is good for your cardiovascular system.

Feel better, look better

When you feel rested and rejuvenated, which is another benefit of the hot tub, you will automatically look better, too. Nobody likes to look tired or run down. Soaking in a hot tub prior to turning in for the night can also assist with providing a good night’s sleep. As an added bonus, if you have stiff joints and muscles they will become relaxed in the hot tub, so you won’t have to deal with discomfort as you are trying to drift off to sleep.

Indirect weight loss

Losing a few pounds is something a lot of us are interested in, but not many people think about how a hot tub could possibly assist with this. A study once showed that for some people who soaked in a spa for 30 minutes each day for 6 days a week were able to lose weight more easily. This particular study utilized individuals who suffered with type 2 diabetes.

While we have focused on some pretty significant benefits of the hot tub, let’s not forget about the pure pleasure of just sitting around in a wonderfully warm body of water with a few friends and enjoying some great company and conversation!

Choosing the Extras for Your Swim Spa

Water Jet

Deciding on having a swim spa installed in your home is probably one of the best decisions you will ever make when it comes to adding both entertainment and resale value to your home.

The decision making doesn’t end here though. Unlike many of the decisions we make, choosing extras for your swim spa is fun! The biggest challenge might be getting everyone to agree on the features due to our wide selection.

You have probably already decided where your swim spa is going to be installed on your property. You can base your choice of extras on how many people you expect to use your swim spa, as well as their personal wants and needs. While a swim spa can provide a great workout, at times you may just want to laze around and relax in the water. This is why we provide a variety of options for the number of seats as well as types of seating.

While you’re thinking about your relaxation, you should consider how many jets you’d like to provide you with the perfect massage. These are also something you are going to want to concentrate on for times when you exercise, as they can give you a real workout as you swim against them.

Being able to combine relaxation, exercise and entertainment is one of the biggest features that the swim spa has to offer. In order to get the best of both worlds, you may decide to opt for a design that offers one end for exercising and the other for relaxing. You and your family can fulfill their personal desires while spending time together. How great is that!?

To really get the most from what a swim spa has to offer, it’s a good idea to learn as much about them as you can first. Aside from the features we have outlined here, they can also provide you with some very significant health benefits. For example, a swim spa can assist in reducing heart disease and lowering blood pressure when used on a regular basis. Of course you will want to consider your budget, but don’t let price be your decision maker. Take a look at all the benefits, features and options, and make your final decision on which style and extras are going to make your investment worthwhile.

Setting the Rules for your Home Swim Spa

Swim Spa Rules

Having a home swim spa will bring you countless hours of enjoyment as well as relaxation. You should ensure this by setting the spa rules for every family member right from the start.

Generally, there are regulations for having water features such as swim spas. Find out the regulations in your area and follow them carefully to avoid problems and disappointments in the future.

Next, set the house rules. There are two major reasons for setting rules: to ensure the safety of yourself and your family, and to take proper care of the pool itself to extend its longevity. This way, you will have safe family fun for years to come!

Swim Spa Safety Rules

Some of your rules will be unique, depending on the age of the children that will be enjoying all of the water activities that the swim spa has to offer. If they are very young, the first rule should be that the swim spa is off limits unless there is adult supervision. Ideally, it’s a good idea that no one should use a pool or spa alone regardless of age, for safety reasons.

Children can become a little rough with their play, and while you don’t want to spoil their fun, you do want them to remain in control. Small accidents around a swimming area can turn out to be quite serious. Some main rules you may want to include are no running around the spa area and no diving in.

If your swim spa is enclosed due to area requirements, you want to ensure that each family member knows they must close and lock the spa when it is not in use.

You will want to give some thought to your own safety concerns and implement appropriate rules that will ensure the personal safety of everyone that will be enjoying fun in the water.

Swim Spa Care Rules

In addition to the safety rules, you will also want to implement some rules with respect to the spa and its equipment. You may want to insist on showering prior to entering the spa to help keep the water clean and reduce the need for maintenance. There should be rules in place that no food or beverages are allowed in its proximity for the same reason. Additional rules should include the proper handling and storage of the related chemicals that will be used for the maintenance of your swim spa. These should be stored in a safe place and only used by those that you have designated to do so.

With the proper swim spa rules in place, everyone can focus on enjoying it for fun, entertainment and relaxation.

Tender Loving Care for Your Hot Tub

Hot tub Care

Having a hot tub doesn’t mean that you have to spend a lot of time keeping it in prime condition. So go ahead and put it to good use, and just follow these quick tips for keeping it maintained.

First, set up a plan for keeping your hot tub optimized year-round, considering daily, weekly and periodic maintenance. It may sound like a lot of work, however, if you stick to the plan you will find that maintenance goes quickly and smoothly!

On a Daily Basis

Water quality is the main priority here. Part of the enjoyment that comes with the hot tub is the clean, inviting water you see as you are about to step into it. The water should have the proper pH levels and be properly sanitized, which can both be checked easily with good quality test strips. Often, you will find that nothing needs to be done, but if there are indicators that the pH or sanitization are not up to par then you will need to treat the water accordingly. This takes just a few minutes each day, and by keeping up with this, you are going to avoid potential problems such as scale build up and unsightly water.

Once a Week

You need to follow the manufacturer’s directions when it comes to shocking your hot tub. This is normally done with your chosen sanitizer which may be chlorine or bromine. A common problem that some hot tub owners experience is foaming, but this is easily corrected with the proper amount of foam reducer. The components of the water that you use to fill your hot tub may need some adjusting as well. Some water contains higher amounts of calcium and minerals which can lead to scaling in the tub, but again there are some great products on the market to easily correct this and bring your water to the proper levels. If you don’t tend to this, you are going to run into potential problems with the pumps and hoses and even scale buildup on the tub walls.

Throughout the Year

Your specific water conditions and how often you use your hot tub will determine the periodic maintenance that is required. Even if you have had no need to provide a de-scaling treatment to your water, you may want to do this once or twice a year anyway to quickly handle small amounts of mineral residue. The main filter of the unit should be cleaned at least a few times a year. Your owner’s manual should give you specific details about cleaning the filter. You should also completely replace the water several times a year to ensure optimal water conditions.

The time it takes to perform these maintenance tasks is minimal, and by capitalizing on preventive measures, you can avoid unnecessary corrective measures and repairs.

Good Reasons for Choosing a Swim Spa

3 (1)

If you are thinking about adding a new water feature to your home, you may be torn between a hot tub and a swim spa. While both of these are great options, depending on your family circumstances the swim spa may be your best first choice. Besides, there is nothing stopping you from having both of these home additions as they both are quite affordable.

One of the main reasons for opting for a swim spa is the size of your family. If you have children, this type of water attraction in your home is going to offer some great fun for the whole family.

Another really important reason for choosing a swim spa is all of the benefits it provides when it comes to water exercise. When you feel like a leisurely swim, you will have the opportunity to do so whenever you want. When you are looking for a real workout, you can build up your stamina by swimming against the currents created by the water jet system. Of course, we haven’t even mentioned the tons of fun that awaits both the kids and the adults, where everyone can enjoy a large variety of water games and toys.

Cost is always a big factor when deciding to buy a large addition for your home entertainment and well-being. It used to be that only the wealthy could consider having an in-ground swim spa, but now there are many affordable versions available that fit in nicely with the average budget. Plus, give some thought to how much money you spend throughout the course of a year on family entertainment. It may not seem much while you are enjoying each event, but when you add it up for the year it really mounts up. This makes owning a swim spa much more attractive.

With the large selection of sizes and customizable features, anyone interested in this type of outdoor addition doesn’t have to worry much about space. Even compact yards can easily accommodate a swim spa.

With all of the accessories that you can purchase for your swim spa, it’s easy to keep it safe and eliminate worry about potential mishaps. Also, by dealing with a quality pool and spa supplier you will be assured a quality selection of spas that contain built-in safety features.

At one time, swim spas demanded quite a lot of time and effort to maintain. However, new improvements and modern technology present in quality swim spas has eliminated the need for a lot of maintenance and repairs.

These are all great reasons to choose to install a swim spa. You can be one of the many lucky people that are now enjoying this fantastic addition to their home!

When Should You Think About Servicing for your Swim Spa?

Servicing Swim Spa

There are two types of care that you should provide for your swim spa, which are maintenance and professional servicing.

The great part about owning a quality home spa, sauna or hot tub is that the maintenance and service calls can be kept to a minimum. You should consider this for both preventative measures as well as when the occasional need for repair arises.

Preventative Measures

It is always ideal to take preventative measures to keep your home spa in prime condition, reducing the need for unnecessary repairs. Fortunately, you have a lot of servicing choices when it comes to professionals in the pool and spa industry.

Maintenance Plans

Aside from the small regular maintenance routine that you will want to set up at home for your spa, you may also want to take advantage of one of the different types of plans that the experts can provide. You may find that an annual service contract will suit your needs nicely. Depending on how much you use your pool or spa, you may feel more comfortable and achieve greater benefits by opting for a weekly or fortnightly maintenance program combined with routine pool and spa visits.

Opening and Closing Services

You will most likely find that the biggest demand for care is the opening and closing of your pool or spa. Again, this is something that you don’t have to be concerned about if you have a reliable professional on your side. These professionals will know when to schedule you in for both the opening and closing, and you will not have to worry about this task.

Additional Servicing Options

One big concern for families that have pools and home spas is finding someone to tend to and oversee them while the family is away on vacation. This is something that can be done by the experts as well. Who better then the professionals to take on this responsibility for you? You may consider using a friend or neighbor to help you out with this, but there is always the risk they will not know how to properly care for it or how to troubleshoot for potential problems.

Self Service

This comes under the scope of your regular maintenance routine. You should have all of the necessary chemicals on hand as well as cleaning accessories to help you with this simple but necessary job. Having a good supplier of these items is important so that you can feel comfortable in your pool and spa maintenance efforts and reliability on the proper products.

Various levels of servicing are readily available to you through knowledgeable suppliers of pools, spas and saunas, and it is well worth your while to take advantage of what they have to offer.

Where is the Best Place for your Home Sauna?

Home Sauna Lights

Deciding that you are going to add a home sauna to your residence is exciting. Now you have to decide: where is the ideal location going to be?

Begin by weighing out all the pros and cons of having this new item indoors versus outdoors. There is a lot to think about when making this decision.

Indoor options:

Often homeowners seem so crowded for space that they don’t give this type of spa a second thought. Those that do pursue their options further are delighted to discover that they have more location choices within the home than they realized.

You may have some space reserved where you were thinking of putting in a one or two piece bathroom which would instead work nicely for an indoor home spa. The nice part about utilizing a professional dealer is that they can often customize the spa to fit the space that you have available.

You may also have a cellar that is not in use and has a lot of space available. If so, this really gives you a lot of options, as you can increase the size of the unit and make it a real focal point of the cellar. You will also be able to choose from a greater selection of models.

If your decision is to keep your new home sauna compact, then you still have some wonderful choices available to you that will work well indoors. A good example is the Intens Sauna, which is compact yet still spacious and features extra large, wide benches. It is also a gorgeous looking sauna which will add to the aesthetics of your home.

Outdoor options:

Even the smallest of backyards can accommodate this type of home spa. If your backyard is already manicured, then you will simply want to find the most convenient location for your home sauna.

However, keep in mind that quite often after new sauna owners put their home spa to good use they want to add a swim spa to their collection. If this happens to be the case with you, then chances are you will want them to be close to each other so you can enjoy them together.

Thoughts Between the Indoor and Outdoor Sauna Options:

You could be one of those fortunate individuals that have the choice of either having your spa indoors or out. Now you will just have to decide which kind of setting suits you best. If you want quick and easy access to it 24/7 and don’t want to have to go outside to get to it then of course you will opt for the indoor installation.

Some people like to use their home spa as a getaway. This means they like it to be away from the hub of the indoors, in a place where they can go and enjoy its warmth, relaxing and stimulating effects in a secluded area. If this sounds like you, then an outdoor setting may be your best choice for your new home sauna.

3 Simple Steps to Keeping Your Hot Tub Water In Prime Shape

Hot Tub Water

Owning and keeping a hot tub in good shape doesn’t take a lot of time or money, but it does take a commitment on your part. Following a few simple steps can keep your maintenance to a minimum and allow you to spend more of your time enjoying what your hot tub has to offer!

Step 1: Keeping the Water Clean

(a) Preventative action is the best step toward clean water, and you can do this by making sure that it is kept free of debris and oils. Body oils can be greatly reduced by ensuring that everyone takes a shower prior to using your hot tub.

(b) Choosing the location of where you have your hot tub installed is important, as you don’t want it close to an area where dust from the roads or debris from trees and bushes will make it difficult to keep clean. This is a great reason for using a good quality hot tub cover.

(c) The filtration system is critical in assisting you with keeping your water clean from a lot of the contaminants that can affect the water but are difficult to see with the naked eye. Aside from buying a high-quality spa which should possesses a good filtration system, your responsibility will be to clean and change the filters as necessary. On a weekly basis, rinse your filter by running it under warm water. Once a month, give filters a good cleaning with appropriate filter cleaning products.

Step 2: Keeping the Water Balanced

(a) You should strive to keep the water components of your home spa perfectly balanced. You will find it much easier to keep it balanced than to bring it back to its optimized condition.

(b) Your concern is keeping the pH balanced, and with a good pH testing kit and the proper chemicals you can keep the water chemistry in good condition.

(c) When you are choosing your chemicals, most professionals prefer to use bromine rather than chlorine simply because bromine is kinder to your tub cover.

Step 3: Changing the Water

(a) You may reach a point where it is quicker and easier to completely replace the water than to try to reverse issues that have arisen, especially when the hot tub is being used frequently. This is a little more time consuming than the preventative and ongoing treatments and monitoring, but it is worth it. Some people make it a habit of changing the water every three months, whereas others will do it more frequently, if necessary.

There are many additional steps you can take to optimize your hot tub water, but if you don’t want to take on this responsibility then you can always arrange to have our experts here at The Hot Tub and Swim Spa Company do the job for you. There are several options to choose from such as weekly, fortnightly, monthly and yearly. These services include additional maintenance measures outside of the water optimization.

Nifty Exercises to Perform in Your Swim Spa

Exercise Hot Tub

Your swim spa will bring you countless hours of fun and entertainment, but it can also be used to optimize your health and keep you fit, and there are some really great water exercises for this!

Not only are water exercises a lot of fun, but they can be performed by almost any age group depending on their personal requirements and level of activity.

Warm Up:

As with any exercise regime, there should always be a warm up period when you get your body ready for the more rigorous activity to come. Allow yourself to sink down into the water, and just focus on moving your arms and legs about while you remain in the same spot.

Tread on the Spot:

Depending on your level of fitness, you may want to squat down and start moving your legs as if you were riding a bike. If this is a bit too much to start with, start by walking on the spot and work up to running. You will find that the strain on your muscles is reduced compared to walking or running on land due to the buoyancy of the water.

Into the Swim:

Now you are going to enjoy the benefits of the stretching that comes with the different strokes of swimming. To give yourself a good workout, try a few different swimming techniques. The doggie paddle will give your upper body a good workout, and the breast stroke will give both your arms and legs some good action. If you are going to try the side stroke, remember to do it equally for both sides.

Building Up Your Endurance:

Once you have mastered the basic exercises you will want to challenge yourself, and this is where the jets of your swim spa will really benefit you. You can control their speed and direction, so experiment with this so that you can increase your endurance each time you perform your water exercises.

For this type of exercise you can focus on different areas of your body. Use your arms to push against the current or walk against the current to strengthen your legs.

Cooling Down:

Just as you warmed up, you want to return your body to a relaxing state and let it readjust. You can use the same warming up exercises to do this. Aside from how great you feel about your accomplishments, you are definitely going to feel warm after your workout. One of the best parts is that you don’t have to deal with all the perspiration that you would get from on-land exercise. You are going to feel refreshed from your swim spa exercises, and you didn’t need a traditional pool to do it!