When you own a hot tub, you’re responsible for the safety of your guests. But let’s be honest, when you have a party at your house, you’re probably not thinking about keeping the hot tub safe.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t create a set of rules that ensures the hot tub safety of your guests, family members, and the maintenance of your hot tub.
Here are some things you should do to prevent any issues and maintain hot tub safety for everyone.
1. Avoid Drinking Alcohol
Did you know that warm water can intensify the feelings and effects of alcohol? Drinking your favorite wine and champagne might seem like a great idea after a hard week of work, but drinking too much isn’t recommended if you plan to soak in the hot tub.
Moreover, you should ensure that you keep any glasses or bottles away from the hot tub. For example, dropping a glass in the hot tub could cause damage to the filtration and circulation system. Not to mention posing a risk to you and your guests.
Instead, we suggest sipping on carbonated, non-alcoholic drinks, sparkling water, or good old H2O from shatterproof, hot tub safe glassware.
2. Shower Prior to Using the Spa
Many people forget to shower before entering the hot tub, but it’s something everyone should do. First, you should ensure you remove all fragrances, creams, dirt, and products from your hair and skin. To go the extra mile, we suggest showering with your swimsuit on. This will help to remove any leftover laundry soap.
For the owners of a Jacuzzi® Hot Tub, showering prior to soaking in a hot tub is generally just an additional precaution as the robust water management system does an excellent job of filtering contaminants and keeping the water both crystal-clear and safe for you to enjoy.
3. Ensure a Safe Temperature
Jumping into a hot tub feels amazing, right? To ensure that your hot tub is always comfortable, safe, and ready to use, we recommend finding a safe temperature that meets the needs of your family. As a general rule of thumb, never raise the temperature above 104° F.
Furthermore, if you have children under the age of five, you should keep the water below 100° F for extra hot tub safety. Try to ensure that you and all your guests stay in the hot tub for a maximum of 15 minutes.
Some of your guests may have a higher tolerance than heat for others, which is why encouraging 15-20 minute soaks is recommended. You may also want to encourage your guests to drink water before, during, and after their soak, and even to sit up on the ledge of the spa if they feel the need to cool down.
4. No Jumping, Diving, or Dunking in the Spa
Often, swimmers will ignore warning signs at pools and jump straight into the pool. However, jumping into a hot tub is always a bad idea. To ensure hot tub safety, you should carefully enter the hot tub by easing yourself in via the steps.
Hot tubs are shallow and often have just enough room to sprawl out, relax and spend some quality time with loved ones. They aren’t designed for rowdy behavior, swimming laps, or jumping.
If you’re looking for an all-in-one system that can accommodate more recreational activities, an all-season pool might be right up your alley.
5. Maintain a Healthy Water Chemistry
Many hot tub owners will maintain and look after their hot tub’s water chemistry, whereas other owners will forget to check the water due to time constraints or lack of knowledge. You need to know three different things to keep your water balanced: PH, total alkalinity, and calcium hardness.
These factors also influence the water chemistry:
- Heavy and frequent usage
- Your water’s temperature
- Organic matter
- Adjusting the chemicals inside your hot tub
Failing to provide your hot tub with proper care can result in not only an unsafe environment to soak, but also potentially cause damage to the spa itself. To help ensure that your hot tub is always operating efficiently, we suggest testing the water weekly and treating as needed, performing quarterly water changes, and scheduling hot tub service appointments as needed to have a professional inspect the spa.
6. Install Outdoor Lighting
Do you have an outdoor hot tub? It probably looks fantastic during the daytime, but do you have outdoor lighting for the night hours? Adding outdoor lighting to your hot tub installation can help to improve the aesthetic and appeal at night, while also improving hot tub safety once the sun goes down.
The right outdoor lighting installation can help to illuminate walkways, potential safety hazards, slippery areas, and boost the overall ambiance.
We suggest installing solar in-ground lights, hanging string lights and/or a motion detection light to get started.
7. Purchase Non-Slip Steps
Of course, you should ensure you enter the hot tub via your steps. It’s a far better option than jumping or diving into your hot tub. However, what if your hot tub doesn’t have any steps at all? Furthermore, what if you haven’t purchased steps that are designed to prevent slipping?
When you have your friends around for a party, there’s a high chance that you’ll be in-and-out of the hot tub. There’s nothing worse than having wet steps, as they can increase the risk of slips and falls.
Did you know it’s possible to buy non-slip steps? These steps will ensure your guests don’t slip when they’ve had a couple of drinks, and they’re not an expensive investment either.
8. Don’t Leave Children Unattended
Are hot tubs safe for your kids? Of course, but only if you monitor their safety and take precautions. Children should never be left unattended in the hot tub. That’s an absolute no-no at any given time. Maintaining a safe temperature for children is also imperative, along with short periods of time within the hot tub.
To create a safe space for children to spend time inside the hot tub, we suggest maintaining a temperature of between 90° F and 98° F, with soaks of up to 15 minutes at a time. If your children would like to take a break and then step back inside the hot tub, that should be just fine – depending on their age, overall health, and the temperature outside.
Before letting your kids soak in the spa, you may want to first speak with their health care provider to ensure their best health and wellness, along with a safe spa experience every time.
Other Things to Consider For Your Hot Tub Safety
- Create enough space around the hot tub – One of the biggest mistakes hot tub owners make is not creating an overall safe installation space. Furthermore, some hot tub owners will squeeze their hot tub into their backyard. In the process, the hot tub owners leave little to no space. Hot tub owners should ensure there’s enough space around the hot tub to ensure issues don’t arise.
- Have a first-aid kit and other hot tub safety assistance nearby – If any accidents do arise, you should prepare yourself in advance. Therefore, have a first-aid kit ready in case anyone cuts themselves or has a bad accident. Why not place the first-aid kit next to the hot tub? That’s an easy place to put it. You should also ensure that you have handrails, skid-resistant walkways, and try to keep the surrounding areas as dry as possible.
- Cover your hot tub when not in use – Finally, you should cover your hot tub at all times. After a long night with friends, it’s easy to forget to place your hot tub cover on your hot tub. However, if you have children or pets, this could be potentially hazardous. You can get a locking cover or lockable gate system to prevent children, pets, and wildlife from getting into the hot tub while unattended.
Find Your Dream Hot Tub Today
We hope this article helped you find the perfect balance of hot tub safety and hot tub fun. If you want more tips on creating a better hot tub lifestyle, you should visit our blog and resource center. From here, you’ll find a vast array of information on topics like creating the perfect backyard hot tub installation, the reasons to buy a hot tub, the benefits of using a hot tub in winter, and a guide to hot tub covers.
In addition, if you’re ready to make the next step and purchase the hot tub of your dreams, our experts at Wellness Shop are here to assist. You can browse through our selection of hot tubs or contact us today! Our team can’t wait to hear from you!
