Cleaning the Hot Tub Using Household Products
You don’t need to spend a ton of money on special spa cleaning products. Household products you probably already have in your cabinets will suffice. You may want to use natural cleaners that are non-toxic if you have kids or pets.
Here’s how typical household products work:
- Detergents: These remove stains by emulsifying the oils that keep dirt clinging to the surface (dish soap and detergent).
- Acids: These products break down rust and hard water stains (toilet bowl, tile, and mold cleaners).
- Sanitizers: These disinfect and remove stains and odors (chlorine bleach).
- Bases: These products remove dirt, grease and fat (all-purpose cleaners).
- Abrasives: These products can scratch surfaces (steel wool and scouring powders)
Naturally Cleaning Your Hot Tub
Instead of all those chemicals, why not try these household items instead?
You use it to clean your coffee maker…why not your spa too? It can dissolve messes without the hazards of heavy-duty commercial cleaners. Best of all, it won’t damage your vinyl hot tub cover.
Vinegar charges the particles of the item you are cleaning, and then those molecules become more attracted to positive and negative charges in water molecules, making it easier to remove the substance in question.
Vinegar is best for removing scum lines in your hot tub shell, and it’s very affordable.
Olive Oil
This common pantry ingredient is actually known as a detergent because it removes other oils that tend to trap dirt. If you have sticky sap on your outdoor hot tub cover that just won’t come off, try rubbing some olive oil on it first. It will suspend the grease that connects the dirt to the cover, making it easier to scrub away.
Diluted Bleach
Just like vinegar, bleach can break stain bonds. However, it also kills bacteria. Use it on tough stains and scum lines that vinegar simply can’t touch. Bleach destroys molecular chromophore bonds, which are what give stains their color.
Baking Soda
Mix a bit with water and you have a mild abrasive. Using a sponge and that mixture, scrub that scum away.
Rubbing Alcohol
This is great on chrome or stainless steel fixtures and can easily get rid of fingerprints and dirt.
Magic Eraser
Magic Eraser, or any sponge brand of melamine polymer, creates an abrasive foam that is activated by water. Use it to get rid of soap scum, dirt and grease in the smallest of crevices.
Cleaning your hot tub for less has never been easier. You can save yourself time and money with these natural cleaning solutions!
Get more advice and help from our technicians at Central Jersey Pools today.