how to heat a hot tub fast

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Whether you’re the proud owner of a new hot tub, or you’re draining and re-filling your spa as part of your regular maintenance schedule, sooner or later there’s one question every spa owner asks: how can I make my hot tub heat up faster?

We get it. Nobody likes to wait for hours with a spa full of cold water. You just want it up to temperature so you can hop in, kick back, and start soaking as soon as possible.

Here’s a list of our favorite tips on how to speed up the process of heating the water in your hot tub. From simple suggestions you can try for free, to products that will serve you years into the future, rest assured you don’t actually have to wait as long as you thought.

1. Leave the cover on

One of the easiest ways to make your hot tub heat quicker is to ensure that your cover is on, properly secured, and covering all of your tub’s surface area.

Hot tub covers are insulated, and designed to keep debris out and heat in. Without the cover on, the heat from your hot tub can escape from the water’s surface, and your tub’s heater will have to work harder to get it up to temperature.

So don’t be tempted to leave the cover off and watch the water as it’s heating. By sealing the entire top of the hot tub, you will ensure that the heat generated is contained within the tub itself—and not escaping and going to waste.

2. Turn the jets on

Before covering your hot tub, make sure to turn on the jets as this will accelerate the pace of your hot tub’s heating.

By running the jets, you’re allowing the heated water to be circulated and evenly distributed to all areas of the hot tub.

This will help to disturb and break up any cold pockets of water, or areas within your hot tub that might not heat so evenly if left still.

3. Use a thermal spa blanket

Thermal spa blankets are insulated floating sheets designed to sit directly on the water’s surface. Think of them like heavy duty bubble wrap.

Designed specifically to retain heat (especially over the winter months), layering a thermal spa blanket underneath your hot tub cover will provide another level of protection so less heat can evaporate off the water’s surface.

While thermal spa blankets are available in a variety of sizes, you need to cut them fit the shape of your spa exactly for maximum efficiency.

If you want even more insulation than your regular cover provides, then a thermal spa blanket may be the solution. We like this Spa Depot one which is available on Amazon.

4. Put a pop-up canopy tent around the tub

There are many benefits to having a canopy tent covering your hot tub. For example, it will give you further protection against weather damage and provide privacy from neighbors if you have an overlooked garden.

Similar to leaving your hot tub cover on, surrounding it with a canopy will ensure that less heat can escape from the area around your tub while it’s heating.

Look for canopy tents with sides like this Eurmax one on Amazon. When you’re done heating the water, you can either take the canopy down, or leave it up for extra privacy.

As you might expect, depending on the general weather and climate in the area you live, windy and snowy conditions will also have a negative impact on how long it takes for your hot tub to heat up.

By covering your hot tub with a canopy, you can help protect it from the elements, which will allow it to heat up as fast as possible.

5. Wait for a warm day

If your hot tub is located outside, choosing a warmer day to set up or drain and refill your hot tub will get it up to temperature faster.

Simply put, when the air temperature outside is higher (or if you live in a warmer climate) this will have a direct effect on how hard your hot tub has to work while heating—and therefore how long it will take to warm up.

Aim to have it filled by early morning so you can make the most of the natural heat of the sun during the hottest hours of the day.

6. Fill up with warm water

If you have access to a warm water supply outside, or if you are able to run a hose pipe from inside your house to your hot tub, then filling your tub with warm water rather than cold will save you a significant amount of time in the heating process.

Rather than your hot tub heating up the water all the way from cold, it will only need to add a little extra heat to already warm water. It’ll have to work significantly less hard—and of course get to your desired temperature much faster.

7. Use a portable immersion heater

The final hack we have for you is to get a little help from an extra heater. Immersion heaters are small electric devices that you plug in and place in the water. When used together with your hot tub’s regular heater, they can help speed up the heating process significantly.

Note that you should look for a heater that is at least 1500W to get the best effect. We like the Gesail UL-Listed Bucket Water Heater. This immersion heater can heat up 5 gallons of water every few minutes.

Purchasing multiple immersion heaters to use at once will further reduce the amount of time it takes to heat up your hot tub.

And that completes our seven hacks on how to make your hot tub heat up faster. Whichever tips you decide to try (you could even combine a few of them), hopefully you’ll be relaxing in your freshly filled hot tub before you know it.

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