I’ve learned another lesson in adulthood today. Never accept something unwanted as part of a deal with the intent to ignore it and hope it doesn’t give you trouble.
I bought a house two years ago, with a hot tub in the backyard. I had no plan to fill it, mainly because I didn’t want to have to treat it weekly, and I figured I could leave the cover on and let it sit back there, not causing me any issues.
Well, the cover sucks, and now the damn thing is full of rainwater. This happened before in the late Fall and I was able to syphon it out over a few days, with a couple of false starts and aborted empties. Of course, it filled back up again, and now it’s Spring, so guess what’s breeding in there. Go on, guess.
I just finished mowing my lawn and the little bastards went for my neck. So, I’m going to look at getting rid of the hot tub, no doubt to great expense, but in the mean time, what should I do? Should I get some chlorine and dump it in there? Note - I know nothing about pool/hot tub maintenance or the chemicals involved. Also, anyone know of a reliable bug bomb for the back yard?
They make little disks that float on the water to release an insecticide to kill the larva. Check the garden center at a big box or local hardware store.
I was going to mention what GaryM did. Are you going to sell it or what? If it doesn’t need to be useable anymore, and apparently doesn’t have a bottom drain hole you could leave open, you could drill a couple holes in it so it doesn’t fill up. Is it a pretty wood one? You could fill it with dirt and make it a little garden.
The tub itself is an ugly, 1980s pink peach thing that’s cracked all along the surface, but it does sit in a nice wooden box, which I’m planning to keep and turn into a garden. Until it’s gone, though, I’ll check out the insect disk things.
Dump a cup or two of household bleach in the water and re-cover. That’s how a lot of small home pools get their chlorine, anyway. Once the critters are dead, expose the water to sunlight and the chlorine will be gone in a day or so.
I’m surprised it doesn’t have a drain. Are you sure there isn’t an access panel on the side? Many let you attach a hose so you can drain the water somewhere other than right around the tub. Draining some of the water first will allow you to use less chemical to kill the mosquitoes.
It has a side panel - I’m gonna be honest, it’s a nest of spider webs and shit, I don’t really know how to drain it, and I don’t want to go digging through it to find out.
I dumped a few cups of bleach in. The junk haulers will be here on Tuesday. Thanks for the replies, everyone.