SHORT ANSWER: Yes, you can use your hot tub in winter!
As the colder temperatures of winter start to bite, the warmth of a hot tub looks ever more inviting. You may, however, be wondering if you can safely use your hot tub in winter. The short answer is yes! After all, they do in Canada and Scandinavia, so why not here in the UK?
Read on to find out more about using your hot tub in winter.
Using Your Hot Tub in Winter
The key attraction of a hot tub is in the word “hot” – the heat helps ease muscle and joint aches, leading to pain relief. Even beyond the medical benefits, the relaxing effects of a hot bath are famous for a reason, and a hot tub is an even more luxurious version of a bath.
As winter sets in, the benefits afforded by a hot tub start to feel even more attractive. What could be better to fight off the winter chill than relaxing in a tub full of hot water?
Using a hot tub in winter not only gives you a way to soak away all the stresses brought on by the dark and the cold, but also extends your ability to enjoy being outdoors in your garden through the winter months. You can set up a hot tub in a well-decorated space and enjoy it either alone or with family and/or friends.
It might seem counter-intuitive, but it’s worth turning down the jets of your hot tub when using it in winter. The jets pull in outside air, which can lower the water temperature, and the agitation of the water exposes more of the water to the cold, also lowering the water temperature.
Be careful when getting out of the hot tub. Being wet outside in winter is not a lot of fun – it could easily lead to hypothermia if you’re not careful. Ideally, the amount of time between getting out of the hot tub and back into your house won’t be so long as to run that risk, but you should try and minimise it anyway. Make sure everyone using the hot tub has easy access to towels, robes, and slip-on shoes so that they can leave the hot tub and get indoors as quickly and easily as possible.
Hot Tub Care in Winter
Whether or not you use your hot tub in winter, you should make sure you keep it in good condition. Otherwise, the tub could easily suffer frozen pipes, or get clogged with leaves and other debris.
Invest in a good cover for your tub, ideally an insulated one that fits snugly to create a tight seal. This will keep the heat in, and debris out, thus ensuring your hot tub stays functional during the winter. Keeping the cover on while you heat the tub will also mean the water heats faster – like heating water on the stove by keeping a lid on the pan.
It is also wise to change the water in your hot tub ahead of winter settling in. Drain and refill the water before the temperatures get too cold. This will help prevent frozen pipes.
Running the hot tub over winter will also prevent frozen pipes, in the same way as keeping your central heating system on an idle or standby setting. Not only that, but it will also help keep the other components of the tub in good working order. If you do decide to drain the hot tub before winter, you may miss some water within the pipes, and if that water freezes, it can cause cracks and leaks.
Anyone who owns a car will know how difficult it can be to get it started on a freezing winter morning. Hot tubs have a similar issue: if you turn it off over winter, restarting it in summer will be more difficult than if you had kept it on. This is because of all the moving parts within a hot tub that can seize up if the tub is turned off over winter.
We hope this blog has helped ease your mind about using your tub this winter. If you have any further queries, or any questions about any of our products, please get in touch and we’ll be only too happy to help.
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