Care & Maintenance of Cedar Wood Hot Tubs

Daily Maintenance

Your cedar hot tub’s water is the focus of all daily maintenance activities. There are three main actions that are essential for keeping your cedar hot tub in great shape. First, you’ll want to check the sanitizer levels by using hot tub test strips, which are very affordable and available at any pool or spa store. This will tell you if you need to add a dose of chlorine or bromine to the water. If your tub package includes a Ozanator and ionizer will will only need to test the copper level. Do not add chemicals!

Next, it’s important to know what the pH balance is in your cedar tub’s water on a daily basis. You should keep chemicals on hand to make the water more acidic or more alkaline as needed to maintain the optimal balance.

Finally, all cedar hot tubs that get frequent use accumulate body oils, perspiration, and other unpleasant materials that can stain the cedar tubs water line. Regular maintenance includes checking for and cleaning this recurring line so it does not become a permanent stain. Pastes and sprays are made that will accomplish this task easily and inexpensively.

Monthly Maintenance

Every month or so, it’s a good idea to add a water sparkle agent to keep your hot tub looking bright and clear. This is really just an esthetic issue and is not critical in your cedar tub’s maintenance routine, but most owners find that a pleasing visual appeal adds to the experience. The other monthly maintenance is to check the cedar tub’s interior and exterior carefully for cuts, dings, and cracks. Spotting these problems and repairing them early will prevent a major and costly headache later on.

Every 3-6 months, you should fully drain and inspect your cedar hot tub. Give it a good scrub with 3m scotch bright pad while empty and take apart and clean the entire filter system as well.

Finally, check the cedar tub’s interior and exterior carefully for cuts, dings, and cracks. Spotting these problems and repairing them early will prevent a major and costly headache later on.

Non-Toxic Sanitizing

With a soaking tub, as in anything, cleanliness is next to Godliness, and how you choose to deal with sanitization has a far-reaching affect on the overall satisfaction youll receive from your soaking tub. Using harmful chemicals such as chlorine or bromine are contrary to the very purpose of a soaking tub, because they undermine the natural and healthy quality of the experience.

Hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a truly amazing and wonderful sanitizer. For the soaking tub, it should be used in a high-strength 27% solution (not the 3% variety that comes in the brown bottles). When poured into a soaking tub, hydrogen peroxide immediately disassociates into water (H20) and oxygen ions (01). These ions are so unstable that they quickly attach to anything within reach, destroying bacteria on contact. Within several hours the reaction is completed, leaving stable oxygen (O2) and water (H2O). Beautiful!

U.V. Sanitizer

Ozone (O3) is stable oxygen (O2) with an added oxygen ion (O1). An electrical device called an ozone generator, or ozonator, is used to inject microscopic ozone bubbles into tub water to kill bacteria. Ozone sterilizes water in essentially the same way as hydrogen peroxide by releasing unpaired oxygen atoms (O1) into the water. As with hydrogen peroxide, O1 seeks to become stable by attaching to itself to another molecule. While ozone is effective at killing bacteria in water, it is not as effective for sterilizing tub walls because ozone bubbles do not make good contact with surfaces. Therefore, hydrogen peroxide must also be used to sterilize tub surfaces if water is kept for an extended period. Many people who rely strictly on ozone for sanitizing will change their tub water frequently.

Exterior Care

As with any wood, sun and rain will take its toll on the appearance of cedar wood, unless attention is paid to a wood preservation schedule. It is recommended to apply a coat of exterior protective translucent to the wood. When selecting a finish, it needs to one that can “breath”. This is to allow moisture to escape and not cause the finish to blister. Some examples include the Penofin Premium Red Label (Western Red Cedar tint) or Penofin Marine Oil Finish (Transparent Natural).

With time, when the appearance of a wood surface becomes dried and pales, apply another coat. The details will depend on the stain you initially selected, so read the products literature. The discolouring of the hot tub staves differs from that of wood that stays dry. The pressure from the interior water (moisture) in the staves, migrates tannin and oils and even resin to the outside that can affect the colouration of oil based wood preservatives. This can be quite variable from stave to stave or cedar batches, because nature doesn’t grow wood as though it was a factory produced material. The fading of the finish is highly dependent on the sun exposure. If the tub is in a shaded area, a maintenance coat will need to be applied much less frequently than a tub that has a strong southerly exposure. Top surfaces, such as stair steps, shelves, cover of an enclosure, tend fade and deteriorate faster than vertical surfaces because of the effect of rain or water pooling on such surfaces. You do not want to skip applying the recommended number of coats on such surfaces; in fact you want to apply an additional coat.

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