Innovative Salt Water Hot Tub Systems vs Traditional Chlorine

Which Is Best for Your Home?

Owning a Caldera Spas hot tub is better than ever. Advances in materials and insulation reduce energy costs compared to older models. Modern touchscreen control panels allow you to adjust your temperature and jets with the touch of a finger. Best of all, innovative new water care systems make it easier for you to keep your water clean, enabling you to spend less time maintaining your hot tub and more time enjoying it.

Traditionally, hot tub owners have needed to add bottled or powdered chlorine to their hot tub water at frequent intervals in order to keep the water clean. Modern salt water hot tubs, in contrast, generate chlorine automatically, eliminating the need to manually add chemicals to your spa. Each method comes with its own benefits. So, let’s look at salt water hot tubs vs traditional chlorine and consider which is the right system for your home.

The Benefits of Salt Water Hot Tub Water Care Systems

Hot tubs with salt water care systems represent a serious breakthrough in spa water care. The Caldera® Utopia® Series and Paradise® Series® spas are shipped from the factory system-ready to use the FreshWater® Salt System* with an easy start-up kit. This system automatically generates chlorine from low levels of salt in your hot tub’s water, destroying any bacteria and contamination.

Hot tubs equipped with the FreshWater® Salt System provide their owners with unparalleled comfort, design, and performance in the following ways:

• Softer water with fewer chemicals in it.
• Clean water which lasts for a year under normal use**.
• Increased buoyancy, which improves the effects of hydrotherapy.
• No chlorine smell or irritation.
• The titanium cartridge is disposable, can be replaced in seconds without tools, and it generates chlorine that lasts 4 months.
• Control panel notifications prompt you when it’s time to replace a cartridge or adjust chlorine levels.
• Factory-integrated inline plumbing improves reliability and avoids aftermarket parts and unsightly external piping.

With the FreshWater® Salt System, you’ll be surrounded in comfort. Perhaps the greatest benefit is the knowledge that your hot tub’s water will be clean and clear when you want to use it—with no need to adjust the sanitizer dosage or wait around until it’s safe to get in. Because innovative salt water care makes your hot tub easier to use than ever, you’re more likely to use it every day. And everyday use is the key to experiencing the full wellness benefits of hydrotherapy.

The Advantages of Traditional Chlorine Hot Tub Water Care

The primary advantage of using traditional chlorine water care is the upfront cost. Hot tubs without modern salt water systems seem less expensive at first than those with the latest water care innovations. However, as the years go by, hot tub owners relying on powdered or liquid chlorine to sanitize their hot tubs will need to continually purchase new products, an ongoing expense. When you make an investment in a hot tub, you want to feel confident that you’ll use it often. A low-maintenance water care system helps give you that reassurance because less time for maintenance means more time that you can spend enjoying the warm, clean water.

If you own a hot tub without a salt water system, you’ll need to do some more work to keep your water clean. On a weekly basis, you’ll need to test your water’s chlorine levels and adjust them accordingly. You’ll need to drain and refill your hot tub once every three or four months on average, as well, to prevent the buildup of residues and contamination—which can damage hair, irritate sensitive areas, and cause an odor. While none of these tasks are onerous, they still add to your weekly workload and may prevent you from using your hot tub as often as you would like.

Choosing Between a Salt Water Hot Tub vs Traditional Chlorine

It’s important to think ahead and imagine how you’ll be using your hot tub for years to come. As it becomes an additional fixture in your home, you’ll have to care for it and keep it running smoothly. But, as we’ve seen, this doesn’t have to be a time- and energy-consuming process. You can choose a water care system that basically takes care of itself so you can spend more time soaking.

Owning a hot tub can be a wonderful investment in your health and wellness for years and years. Hot tubs help reduce stress, ease muscle fatigue, improve sleep, and foster better relationships with your friends and family. In order to make sure you use your hot tub often and get the most out of your investment, it makes sense to choose a water care system that eliminates the maintenance chores that may prevent you from stepping outside and taking a soak.

*The FreshWater® Salt System cannot be used on Caldera® Spas hot tubs manufactured prior to 2019.

**Factors such as bather load and water chemistry can impact water life. When the spa is properly maintained, a 3-pack of cartridges with the FreshWater® Salt System will keep water clean and fresh for a full year. Not available in Canada.