The list of what not to put in a hot tub is longer than a lot of people may realize: soaps, detergents, oils, lotions, bath bombs, plants, food, drinks, cleaning products, and pets.
If you’re guilty of a few of these, don’t worry — it’s not likely they’re going to completely ruin your tub overnight. Over time, though, they can do more damage than you’d think.
Here’s why you should keep these things out of your tub.
This one often shows up after laundry day.
You toss on a freshly cleaned swimsuit, hop in, turn the jets on — and suddenly the water looks like it’s trying to be a bubble bath. And as fun as that can be, that foam may just stick around, throw off the water balance, and make the tub harder to keep clear afterward.
What caused it is boring and annoying: a detergent that never fully rinses out. And the same thing can happen after a shower with body wash and shampoo.
A little residue goes a long way once heat and jets get involved.
Anything oily behaves similarly in hot tub water. Sunscreen, lotion, body oil, and spray tans lift off skin and spread across the surface instead of dissolving, which is why the water can start looking a little shiny or the shell feels slick when you shift around.
Unlike soap residue, though, oils don’t foam up and make themselves obvious. They tend to settle along the waterline, soak into the cover, and build up inside the filter.
And this is exactly why tubs that see a lot of lotion or sunscreen use can take longer to clean and never quite feel fresh, even when the water still looks clear.
It can be tempting to enhance your soak with a little color, a good smell, maybe something that feels more “spa-like.” But the problem here is that most bath bombs and scented add-ins are made for bathtubs that drain, not hot tubs that keep the same water moving through pumps and plumbing.
The color just doesn’t always break down the way you expect. Glitter hangs around (yes, it’s also hard to get rid of in the water), and those oils and binders can cling to surfaces and get pulled into places you can’t see, where they’re much harder to deal with later.
It may look nice while you’re in there, but the issues tend to show up afterward, when stains appear along seams or the filter starts pulling out things you didn’t know were still in the water.
Plants and flowers usually show up for the same reason as bath bombs: they look nice, they smell good, and they seem harmless enough floating on the surface.
But again, the trouble starts once they sit in hot water for a bit. Petals soften and break apart, leaves shed tiny bits, and all of that debris gets pulled toward intake screens and filters instead of staying where you can see it.
What begins as a decorative touch can turn the water cloudy faster than expected. And if the tub sits overnight, those natural materials keep breaking down, leaving behind a smell and a cleanup that’s a lot less charming than the original idea.
Food and drinks tend to sneak in during longer or more social soaks, albeit usually with the intention of “I’ll be careful”. But of course, accidents happen.
And once anything edible hits hot tub water, it doesn’t just disappear. Like the other items on our list, it can settle or break down in ways the tub has to deal with later, usually when no one’s thinking about it anymore.
Spilled food and drinks in a hot tub can lead to all kinds of problems:
Even when everyone promises they’ve been careful, and things look clean on the surface, the water may just tell a different story the next time you open the tub.
Now, this one usually comes from trying to be helpful. Something spills, or it looks like something’s stuck or stained on the tub, and someone reaches for whatever cleaner is nearby.
Though you’ve got to appreciate the attempt to help, household cleaning products just aren’t made for hot, circulating water. Once they hit the tub, heat changes how they behave, and mixing them with existing chemicals can create reactions you really don’t want to sit in.
Even small amounts can linger longer than expected. And because the water keeps moving through pumps and plumbing, whatever goes in tends to spread everywhere before you realize it’s a mistake.
It may seem like a quick fix in the moment, but it usually leads to more cleanup and frustration later, not less.
Pets usually end up near hot tubs because they want to be close, and a warm, bubbling tub doesn’t exactly look like something they’re supposed to avoid.
But once they get in, even for a moment, the warm water pulls fur and oils off their coat and sends it straight into the tub. It’s hard to notice those fine strands of hair right away, of course, but you’ll sure notice them later when the water feels off, or the filter needs attention sooner than expected.
There’s also the heat to think about. Between hot tubs running much hotter than what most animals are comfortable with, and surfaces that aren’t really designed for claws or sudden movement, the whole situation can be harder on both the tub and the pet than you’d think.
The good news is that if something ended up in your hot tub that shouldn’t have — detergent, lotion, food, whatever — it’s usually fixable. Sometimes it’s as easy as a water or filter, but other times it’s hard to tell what’s causing the issue at all.
If you’d rather not guess, contact us. At Clark Pools & Spas, we can help you sort out what went into the water, what it likely affected, and what needs to happen next. Whether that’s supplies, maintenance, or service, we’ll help you get the tub back to feeling the way it should.
