Buying a saltwater hot tub

There are, without question, distinct advantages to buying a saltwater hot tub. Salt water sanitizing systems are known for the luxurious feel of their water,  and the ease of ownership of a salt water tub is unparalleled. The best in class FreshWater Salt System for example, is found on Hot Spring Spas Luxury Spa Collections.

Before you buy a saltwater tub, though, here is some information you need to explore, to be sure you’re getting the tub which best suits your family, your usage, and your individual needs.

Saltwater sanitizers work by creating oxidizers, which are incredibly efficient at cleaning the small space of a hot tub. The system works by using a diamond electrode to generate those cleaners, including chlorine, from the salt in the water. The diamond electrode splits water into hydrogen and oxygen – the active oxygen cleans the water, and combines with the minimal amount of salt in the system to create chlorine. Generating them from the water eliminates the harshness of adding chlorine and bromine to your water from external sources.

How salty is a Hot Spring spa? The short answer is “not very.” By only using what’s required for the diamond electrode to generate the cleaners, a Hot Spring spa contains approximately 1500-1750 ppm of salt. A typical saltwater swimming pool has around 4,000 ppm, and the ocean clocks in at a whopping 40,000 ppm. We promise you won’t feel like you’re swimming in a bowl of chicken soup. In fact, we’re so confident you’ll feel great about relaxing in our saltwater tubs, we invite everyone we meet to come for a test soak.

Saltwater’s luxury appeal comes largely from the reduced amount of calcium dissolved in the water – the reduction in dissolved solids makes the water feel silky and gentle.

Some of the press given to salt water tubs (and salt water pools for that matter) can make it seem like a salt system is a magical free ride to maintenance-free tub use. The truth is, every body of water you relax in will require some level of maintenance, cleaning, upkeep, and attention, though a salt water tub is dramatically less labor intensive than a traditional chlorine system.

Spa owners who find themselves disappointed in their salt system most often find they had unrealistic expectations – they wanted the magic, and even the ease of a salt system was more than they wanted to handle.

While the overall maintenance certainly is low, and spa owners aren’t buying the quantity of chemicals they would with a traditional chlorine tub, the salt cell is rated for approximately 14,000 hours, and will eventually have to be replaced. Even after replacing the cell every two to four years, the total cost of ownership is similar to or lower than a traditional chlorine system.

Overall, a salt water tub is easier to maintain, and requires very little ongoing effort. We hear from customers all the time that if they’d known how easy it was going to be, they’d have bought a salt system from the word go. Also check out the added benefit of the Connextion App that is available with many of our salt water hot tubs.

Come by our showroom, or fill out the form below, and let us show you tubs we’ve kept clean for more than a year with minimal effort and almost no chemical additions. Let us show you how easy it can be.