Using a hot tub or spa in the winter is a fun way to maximize your investment. To ensure your personal safety and preserve your hot tub from damage in freezing weather, keep these tips in mind during use. Safe Winter Hot Tub Use Enjoying your hot tub when the temperature drops offers the benefits of hydrotherapy, which uses hot water to relieve pain, stimulate circulation, and treat illness. Sessions in the spa may even help you prevent a cold; when you feel a bug coming on, a soak in the hot tub set at 104 can help you sweat out toxins. Even if you’re otherwise healthy, a dip in the hot tub with friends or family can help lift your spirits on cold and gloomy winter days. Just keep your sessions short (about 20 minutes) and stay hydrated – with water, not alcohol. Protecting Your Hot Tub in Winter Prevent freezing: If you live in a cold climate, your hot tub can perform well in winter as long as you take precautions to prevent the plumbing from freezing. Some units prevent freezing with a no-freeze setting that can maintain a constant water temperature even when it’s below 32 outside.In more temperate weather, you can rely on the timer/thermostat setting that will increase the water temperature only when you are ready to use it. Units that lack the mode switch that allows for continuous heating can be manually set to turn on to heat the water for 15 minutes per hour. Use an insulating cover and floating thermal blanket: The insulating cover, made of dense foam reinforced with metal and covered with marine-grade vinyl, fits right over the hot tub to keep in the heat and prevent leaves, debris, and snow from accumulating. The cover is sloped to promote water runoff. In addition, a  Read More