How to Fill Your Hot Tub

Hot tub start up begins with properly filling your hot tub. Filling a hot tub for the first time is exciting and following these simple best practices will make the rest of your spa start up go smoothly.

In this video, you will be able to follow along as we check spa pump fittings, use a pre-filter to help purify source water, add a sequestering agent, and even purge air from hot tub plumbing.

Are you a first-time hot tub owner? You may want to watch our "Chemicals for Hot Tub Start Up" video to familiarize yourself with the next step in the process — adding chemicals to your spa for the first time.

How to fill your hot tub

In this episode, we're gonna learn how to fill up our MasterSpas hot tub. Here are the things you'll want to have handy to make this go as smooth as possible:

• Phillips-head screwdriver
• Garden hose with pre-filter
• A sequestering agent to help with initial water treatment

Before adding water, make sure your hot tub is in its final resting area. It's nearly impossible to move once there's water in it. Next, remove the front cabinet section, which is near the control panel. Make sure the pump connections are tightened and secure as these can come loose during transportation. You might even want to keep the front cabinet section off until your hot tub is filled up and running (as long as that's the same day).

Once that prep work is done you're ready to fill up your MasterSpa. Start by attaching a pre-filter to your garden hose as it removes suspended solids as well as heavy metals found in your source water.

Next, remove the filter closest to the control panel. You want to have water flowing directly through this fitting. Filling the spa through the filter fitting can help avoid airlocks. Just keep an eye out to make sure no other items like leaves make their way down this fitting as they could get stuck in the components.

Now, turn on the water. Get back to the hot tub and make sure the hose has stayed in place. Once the water level has filled the footwell you should add the sequestering agent to further combat suspended minerals in the water. Just check out the back of the bottle to see how much you need to add. It's best to give this about 30 minutes to filter through your spa once it's running before adding any other chemicals.

So now it's the waiting game. How fast your hot tub fills up depends on the size of your MasterSpa and the water pressure at your house. If you do walk away from the hot tub while it's filling it's a good idea to set a timer as you may forget about it otherwise. You'll want to add enough water to get it to the minimum safe water level. This is really the ideal level as the water level will rise once people start getting in the hot tub. It can be slightly higher than this but should never be lower.

Once you're there go ahead and turn off the garden hose, remove it and replace your filter. If the licensed electrician has already connected your hot tub, turn the breaker on. Once power is initiated to your hot tub it will go through a priming mode. The purpose of the priming mode is to manually activate each spa pump prior to the automatic heat cycle being started. Typically, cycling each pump a few times will prime or purge any air from the plumbing. The automatic heat cycle will begin four to five minutes after the priming mode starts. Once this is done we need to check to make sure the pump connections are tight. You'll know they're tight if no water is dripping from them. We can now put the cabinet panel back on. That's it, your hot tub is now full and ready for the next steps.

For European countries, please refer to this Water Chemistry Guide for appropriate chemical levels per BS EN 17125:2018.