Holiday Lets hot tubs require a higher level of maintenance, service and monitoring than your domestic hot tub. Completely looking after and properly maintaining holiday let hot tubs is beyond the scope of this topic. Today, we’re just discussing the filter aspect of hot tub care and the advantages and cost benefits of using quality filters. Also included here are a couple of pointers towards the care of hot tubs in a commercial environment

To clean and inspect your filter cartridges

Cartridge filter – Definition: A replaceable filter used in domestic-type spa pools and constructed from pleated paper or wound fibres, through which water is passed for filtration. 

Remove the pleated filter cartridge and soak in a specific Cartridge Cleaner that is both acidic and a degreaser. This avoids the need for “Hosing off” with its attendant Legionella Risk from aerosolised water droplets. Gently wash off the Cartridge and then allow to dry. Hence the need for 2 sets of filter cartridges. NB: Do not use a pressure washer for this task and ensure that the power to the hot tub is turned off while the filter is removed from the hot tub. See also our topic ‘How to clean a hot tub filter’ in the ‘Filter care’ section of our website.

Top Tip: Given that it is necessary to allow a cleaned and rinsed filter to dry out before returning it to the hot tub, it is a good practice to have a spare second set of filters so that whilst one set is being cleaned, rinsed, and dried, the second set is in the hot tub filtering the water. This ensures that you can minimise cleaning downtime and the hot tub experience can be enjoyed whilst the removed filters are being cleaned. 

As with most things in life, high quality products often prove to be a more cost effective solution by being more efficient and having a long service life than a cheap product. A high-quality Darlly filter with durable and efficient filter material provides you with the quality water filtration that you and your customers demand and deserve enhancing enjoyment of the holiday hot tub experience.  

The winner of the Spa Product Of The Year Gold Award at the 2018 UK Pool & Spa Awards in Birmingham by Darlly marked the latest milestone in the rise of Darlly Europe’s unique and ground-breaking SaniStream® Direct Line Filtration system. The SaniStream system, is a high quality Darlly hot tub filter, combined with an adjustable and refillable chlorine or bromine tablet erosion feeder, called SpaPod®, to make a highly effective combined, integrated hot tub water treatment system. The SaniStream® system offers a solution to the problem posed to holiday let owners and operators by Section 76 of health and safety guidelines, HSG282, which states that hot tubs installed in a setting where used ‘… as part of a business activity (e.g. in a holiday park rental unit or hotel bedroom(s) with their own dedicated spa, or as part of a rental agreement for a single family or group use)’ must be ‘disinfected using bromine or chlorine through the use of an in-line disinfectant feeder’.

The big issue with Sec. 76 of HSG282 is that few hot tubs sold on the UK market feature inline disinfectant feeders. Worse still, HSG282 made no legacy-exemption provision, meaning many thousands of hot tubs already in the field became non-compliant overnight. 

Find out more information about complete hot tub care, including water care by following the links below.

www.bishta.co.uk    British and Irish Spa and Hot Tub association.

https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg282.htm   The HSE guidelines for hot tubs.

Excerpt below is on P.22 of the above document.

Domestic-type spa pools – used as a business activity 

76. Domestic-type spa pools or hot tubs used as part of a business activity (eg in a holiday park rental unit or hotel bedroom(s) with their own dedicated spa, or as part of a rental agreement for a single family or group use) are subject to the general duties under the HSW Act. There is a legal requirement for these systems to be managed and controlled in proportion to the risk and the risk assessment should consider the type of pool and its use. Domestic-type spa pools are for use by a small, discrete group of people at any one time and are typically: 

–  of either a rigid or inflatable/foam-filled structure with freeboard and skimmer. 

–  systems where the water should be changed after each rental/week, whichever is the shorter. 

–  disinfected using bromine or chlorine through the use of an inline disinfectant feeder. 

Filtration 

95. Filtration is necessary to ensure adequate water clarity can be maintained through the removal of suspended particulate matter/debris in the water. Filtration is a means of entrapping particles mechanically and/or through absorption onto a filter medium. There are several types of system in common use and the choice of system type and size should reflect the anticipated type of use, circulation rate and bather load. Spa pools will typically only require one filtration system but multiple units and types in sequence may be appropriate, depending upon the local circumstances.

Cartridge filters – Cartridge filters are systems of tightly packed filter media such as fibreglass or paper in a demountable unit. They are small units and typically would only be used in domestic-type spa pools where the bather load and anticipated level of particulate matter was low. The design and installation should allow for removal of the cartridge for regular chemical cleaning, drying and periodic replacement. 

Excerpt Ends.

If you have any questions about our filters, please do not hesitate to get in contact, we’re always willing to help 

Happy Hot Tubbing!

The Darlly Team