Why is My Hot Tub Foaming? Quick Ways to Remove Hot Tub Foam
If your family uses the hot tub regularly, as in more than once a week, chances are you’ve noticed a foamy buildup on the surface from time to time.
This has nothing to do with your teenagers being filthy (or at least it’s not entirely because of that), and everything to do with the fact that it’s simply getting used.
No matter how spick and span you are, you carry bits of things into the water when you dip in. Foam is created by dissolved solids in the hot tub water. Things like:
- Moisturizers.
- Laundry detergent.
- Deodorant.
- Makeup.
- Hair product.
Even using too much water care product can cause your water to foam up.
There are a handful of ways to prevent most solids from getting into the hot tub water; the easiest of which is to take a shower before getting in. But inevitably some will get in there and your water will foam up. When it happens, here’s what you can do to clear the water up.
4 steps to a foam-free hot tub.
Working through these 4 steps will get rid of the foam in most hot tubs.
- Test your hot tub water. Start by making sure your alkalinity, pH and TDS levels are all where they should be. If one of these levels are off, the only way to end the foaming could be to drain and refill your hot tub.
- Scoop out the foam manually. Yes, most instances of excess foaming can be resolved just by pulling the foam out by hand and ensuring your chemical levels are correct.
- Clean or even replace your filter. A clean filter will stop new foam from being created.
- Shock the water with your sanitizer. Chlorine is the most recommended sanitizer, but not all hot tub owners use chlorine. Run the jets on high and leave the cover half open when you shock the water to allow the gases to escape.
Once the foam is cleared out, get yourself on a schedule of draining and refilling the hot tub every 4-6 months. Here is how you can drain and refill your hot tub quickly and easily.
You can also use a product like SpaGuard Antifoam before or after your hot tub session to clear out surface foam.
Weekly hot tub maintenance is a smart investment for most hot tub families. A trained specialist will visit your house to:
- Test and analyze your water balance.
- Make any water chemistry corrections.
- Remove scum lines from the tub.
- Rinse the filter.
- Vacuum debris resting on the hot tub floor.
- Top off the water when done.
It saves you the time and hassle of doing these tedious jobs yourself, leaving you with more family time and less chore time on the weekend.
