Every fall, hot tub owners start searching for winterization guides. Draining, cleaning, blowing out lines, adding antifreeze. It’s a significant process.
If you own a Royal Spa, you can skip most of it.
Why We Don’t Recommend Winterizing
It costs approximately $4.75 a month to circulate a Royal Spa hot tub. Winterizing takes at least three hours, requires a wet/dry vac, and means your spa sits empty all winter. There’s no economic reason to shut it down.
Your Royal Spa is built and designed to run 24/7. Continuous operation doesn’t cause wear and tear. It actually helps keep the water purified. Heated, circulating water won’t freeze.
Winter is one of the best times for a hot soak. There’s no reason you can’t use your spa year-round.
Should You Drain Your Hot Tub for Winter?
Short answer: no. Royal Spa hot tubs don’t need to be drained for winter.
If you’re going to use it at least several times per month, leave it running at your normal soaking temperature. The spa takes care of itself. Just look in on it once a week or so to make sure the cover is secure and everything looks right.
The only time draining makes sense: you’re leaving for an extended period (three months or more) and won’t be around to check on it. Snowbirds heading south for winter should drain. Everyone else should keep soaking.
Will Your Hot Tub Freeze?
Not overnight. Not even close.
A Royal Spa at normal soaking temperature (102 to 104 degrees) has at least seven days before freezing risk sets in after a complete power loss. Usually 10 to 14 days. Our interior cabinets are sealed and insulated with no voids or open venting for heat to escape.
Hot tubs most at risk of freezing problems are those with external drains. The drain freezes quickly, breaks, and lets hot water run out, taking all the heat energy with it. You can lose a spa in three days that way. That’s the number one reason Royal Spa doesn’t put external drains on our spa cabinets.
What to Do During a Power Outage
Keep the cover securely fastened. Don’t open it repeatedly. Shut the cabinet door and leave it closed unless you have to access something.
Want to buy yourself extra time? Put a 100-watt incandescent light bulb or a small space heater on a low setting inside the cabinet. That alone can extend your safety window indefinitely. There’s no repair that’s urgent at that point.
Hot tubs don’t generally shut down on their own. When they do, it typically takes no more than flipping a breaker switch to bring things back online. The real risk is not being home when it happens and not catching it within the first five to seven days.
When You Actually Need to Winterize
If you’ll be gone three months or more and nobody can check on the spa, here’s what to do. Three areas need protection: the pump housing, the filter housing, and the manifold that distributes water to the jets.
Drain the hot tub completely, then vacuum it with a wet/dry vac until every bit of moisture is out. Remove one of the jets, fit a funnel with a hose where the jet was, and add a half gallon of antifreeze.
Not feeling ambitious? Give us a call. One of our service techs will handle it for you.
Questions about your specific situation? Contact us or stop by the showroom. We’ll walk you through it.
