I like mine at 107. You?
107 is a little hot for us. We keep ours at 104 - 105 for most of the year. In the summer we turn it down to 100 or 101. It is hot and humid at night here in the summer.
I’ll add a couple hot tub question to yours – first, do you wear a bathing suit in the hot tub? I don’t, usually, since it’s usually just my husband and I going in, and we usually go in after dark. We do wear suits when we’re tubbing with other people besides just each other. I find that skipping the suits really helps keep the water quality up.
Also, what do you use for chemicals? I’m using a Nature 2 cartridge lately, with MPS as my daily sanitizer. I shock once a week with Chlorine shock.
Mine only goes up to 104, and I keep it there.
We must be sissies. It’s usually at 100.
Jess, we use bromine tabs, and some enzymes called “spa perfect”. And raise the pH as needed. Since we started using the enzymes, maintenance is easy. We rarely shock. And when it’s just Mrs. Mercotan and I, adding chemicals needs to be done only once a week.
And the more often suits are used in the tub, the sooner the water needs changing.
I like it at 107. But no one else in the family likes it that hot so it stays at 104.
Ours is old, and only gets up to about 101 these days. I think I would prefer it more at about 105 or so … but on the other hand, I don’t know if I really want it hotter, or if I am just cranky because I’m daunted about having to make the decision to replace it, and all the hassle that would be. It’s currently in a room that used to be a open porch, but previous owners closed it and insulated it so it’s part of the house proper now, and I think I might like to open it back up again so the hot tub could be outside. Or should we move it altogether? And what kind should we get?
You know, I love the hot tub but I’d say I get about 15% relaxation from it, and the rest is stress.
I can’t speak highly enough about our Softub. It’s 10 years old, easy to maintain, easy to move, lives outside year round, and is 99+% relaxation, <1% maintenance.
I keep mine at 105 degrees all year round. Like QtM I use bromide tablets and “Spa Perfect”. I’ve never had a problem using those. As for suits in the tub, I’m with the no suits crowd. The only time I’ve ever worn a suit in the tub is when there’s been kids around. It’s rare that I use it in the daytime, preferring to get in at night for a nice long soak before bed. Nothing more relaxing!
During the summer, I drain it and leave it off. Since I also have a pool, I found I wasn’t using the hot tub so I decided to close it when it gets warm. I love it when it’s cold and I get in the tub. I get out all toasty warm, dry off and sit on my back porch in my robe cooling down for a bit. It’s wonderful!
I wonder if you can use Spa Perfect with chlorine? I’m allergic to Bromine.
Did you folks all get lost on the way to the rich kids’ board (RKMB)?
I believe you can. My tub dealer sells both Spa Perfect and chlorine, and there’s no warning on the Spa Perfect about using it with chlorine.
Hey, everyone chooses their extravagances. My car is over 10 years old and has over 300 K miles on it. Mrs. Mercotan’s is 11 years old with 235 K miles on it. We don’t eat out often, generally don’t get our coffee from Starbucks or similar, and shop Target, Wal-mart, and the “everything’s a dollar” grocery store on a regular basis.
But we does likes our hottub! 
Hey, I’m just jealous. I have no place to put something like that without parking the car outside.
I’m 100% in agreement with Jess.
We started out using Baqua Spa products (b@stard hottub saleman made a MINT in supply sales) Went to an off brand Baqua Spa like product…then went to Bromine. MAN is that an easy way to maintain a Spa!
And while we’re not hurting financially, we got a killer deal on the spa, and spent money we got from the sale of the previous house. I have No Idea how we’d ever replace this spa. I absolutely LOVE it tho.
How often does the water need changing?
I always imagined it was like a swimming pool – we had fifteen year old water in the pool until we had to replace the liner last year.
Doesn’t shocking and filtering handle all of the gunk?
With the Baqua Spa stuff, the water would only hold so much gunk before it got nasty. We’d change the water every 60-75 days.
We just changed the first dose of Bromine water after the same period of time. It didn’t seem to need it, we just did it out of force of habit.
So, how big is everybody’s spas? Ours is 550 gal. (and nice for all 260 lbs, 6’6" of me to float in without touching the sides.)
Ours is 300 gallons, which will hold 6 in a pinch, 4 really nicely, and 2 or 3 very, very nicely.
Chemicals get added once a week, the filter gets a quick rinse once every month or two, and the water gets changed twice a year (a procedure which takes about an hour and a half, and since I have a hose that runs right from the water heater tank, we’re back up to hottub temp in under a day.)
Our model (see the softub link in my earlier post) has no special plumbing, fills from a garden hose, and plugs into a nearby outlet. No special frame for it on our deck either.
I used Bacqua Spa too, once upon a time. Hated it. When we used the jets, it made the water too… effervescant, or something. It would feel like tiny soda pop bubbles going up your nose. That’s when we switched to the Nature 2 thing along with MPS. We’re supposed to use the MPS for the weekly shock, too, but I find that that isn’t quite up to the task, which is why I shock with chlorine. I wish I could use Bromine, because I’ve heard it’s much the easiest, but as I said, I’m allergic.
I change the water in my tub 3 or four times a year. The Nature 2 cartridge is switched out every 3 months and you’re supposed to change the water then. I sometimes skip the winter water change, though, unless the water seems to be going bad – I don’t like messing with cleaning the tub during the cold weather.