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How Safe Are Hot Tubs for Kids, Really?

Posted on December 20, 2011 by jessica

young girl ready to jump out of hot tub

If you have a hot tub and children or grandchildren, you’ve no doubt wondered: How young is too young for a dip in the spa? Assuming the kids are old enough to play in a pool or hot tub (let’s say they have taken some swimming lessons so they’re comfortable in the water), is the high temperature harmful? How long should they stay in the water?

When can you leave kids alone to use the hot tub? Will the kids understand the dangers?

There are so many questions! Luckily, we’ve found some guidelines.
As long as you keep your hot tub maintained and clean, disinfected and relatively free from bacteria, it should be safe for most people of most ages to use. However, pregnant women should avoid soaking for longer than ten minutes at a time (or avoid it completely, if they’re not feeling well). The elderly or those with health conditions such as varicose veins or low blood pressure (if it’s okay with their doctors that they use the spa) should monitor how they feel and exit the hot tub should they feel worse upon entering.

As for kids, you should restrict access to your hot tub at all times. Babies and toddlers should not be allowed in your hot tub at all. Older children are still at a much higher risk of overheating than adults, and according to a HealthLinkBC article from July, 2007, should not be allowed to soak in a hot tub for longer than five minutes at a time.

Consider the temperature too – it doesn’t need to be at the maximum safe heat setting! Choose a lower temperature for kids.

Of course, if you don’t have the time or ability to supervise older children using your hot tub, you shouldn’t allow them to use it at all! Most spa accidents involving kids happen when they’re unsupervised, or their supervisor is (even briefly) distracted.

Ensure that children don’t put their heads near the suction fitting; hair can become entangled and cause drowning. Know how to turn your hot tub off immediately should an emergency arise.

Use caution, prioritize kids’ safety around hot tubs, and you and the kids can have an enjoyable spa experience.

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Help! I need to rescue my drowned electronics!

Posted on December 7, 2011 by jessica

cellphone_in_water

Lately, we’ve been hearing a certain phrase more and more often. It’s usually said in a tone of dismay, and it sounds like this – “Oh no! I dropped my cell phone in the hot tub!” Blame it on clumsy fingers, more technology in society, or whatever you want, but the fact remains that all of us have accidents sometimes, and all too often they involve our beloved electronics.

The sensible solution to this problem would be to avoid taking your electronics near your hot tub. After all, you should be relaxing, or spending time with friends and family when you’re in the hot tub, not texting! But if you (or your teenager) can’t leave your cell phone, or any other fancy bit of technology, behind and it ends up going for a swim, don’t despair. There are a few steps you can take to try and bring your cell phone back to life. We recommend you try these ideas first, since many warranties don’t cover water damage, so admitting defeat could be expensive.

Firstly, it’s important that you act quickly to increase the chances of a full recovery. You can mourn your beloved device later. Begin by taking the battery out of your phone. Do not try to turn it on, as this can cause the circuits to short out! If your phone has a SIM card, take this out too, as it can still be used to retrieve information such as your contacts in the event that your phone is truly dead and gone.

Try to get the water out as quickly as you can. Many websites recommend that you use low pressure compressed air, or a vacuum cleaner to try to blow the water out. Don’t use any sort of heat, for example a hair drier, as this can cause damage to the inner workings of the phone. Some sites also recommend first rinsing the phone in clean water if it has been submerged in salt water to reduce the chance of it corroding or the interior parts becoming coated in residue.

Once you have as much as possible of the water out, you need to absorb the remaining water somehow. The best way to do this is to leave the phone (and the removed battery) in a bowl of uncooked rice overnight. Many people are skeptical, but many a soggy phone has been rescued in this way. If you are inclined to more professional methods, submerging the phone in packets of silica gel can also work to dry it out fully. However, rice works just as well, and it is important not to waste time before drying your phone out.

If, after following all of these steps, and leaving your phone to dry for the recommended period of time, it doesn’t come back to life, you will probably have to buy a new one. However, many can be saved in this way. If you are one of the unlucky few who have to spend the money to get a new phone, take it as an incentive to stop texting in the hot tub! And if your phone does come back to life, please try not to drop it in again!!

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The Ultimate Reason to Maintain Your Hot Tub

Posted on November 14, 2011 by jessica

large pool and hot tub

Do you sometimes slack off in keeping your hot tub clean? Are you a little bit lazy when it comes to sanitizing procedures? Well, this article by the Edmonton Journal should provide you with the ultimate motivation to keep things spick and span!

http://tinyurl.com/7jv9dyg (http://tinyurl NULL.com/7jv9dyg)

The article deals with the trial of an Austrian hotel manager, who is on trial for manslaughter after a women died, allegedly as a result of using the hotel’s unsanitary hot tub. It is alleged that the woman acquired a deadly bacteria while relaxing in the hot tub, and died 10 days later of multiple organ failure. The defence argues that the woman was seriously ill prior to using the hot tub, and although they acknowledge that the hot tub was unclean, argue that it was not responsible for her death.

It remains to be seen whether the hotel manager is criminally responsible for the woman’s death, but one thing both sides agree on is that the hot tub in question was not clean. And not only can a dirty hot tub be dangerous, but it sure won’t win you any favours from your guests.

We don’t want to scare you here, just give you a little extra motivation to keep your hot tub spic and span! Dirty hot tubs can harbour dangerous bacteria that can make you and your guests seriously ill. In addition, trying to impress someone by showing them your hot tub isn’t all that effective when there is nasty foam and sludge floating in it! So invest the time on a regular basis to keep your hot tub clean and sanitary, and you can relax without having to worry!

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Hot Tub Cover to the Rescue!

Posted on January 31, 2011 by david

Think about what you do when you get to the parking garage.  You park your car.  You turn off the engine. You check your lovely grin in the mirror.  You grab your purse or your papers or your shopping list or whatever you need to take with you.  Finally, you close the door and lock it.

Close.

Lock.

Safe.

Yes, that last step is pretty important.  You don’t just leave the door open.  Why?  Because anything can get in or out. (Don’t look at me funny like that; how would I know what you keep in your car?)  Closing the door means that until you return, you know that no would-be burglar, speed-happy teenage joy-rider or curious animal will just mosey on into your car.

Close and Lock the Hot Tub

In your backyard, you have a vehicle, too.  It’s called a hot tub…and it can take you places that your car simply can’t.  It can carry you off to a world of relaxation, perhaps in a planet the other side of Elsewhere.

And when you return from that trip – back in your back yard – there are certain steps you take.  You grab your towel.  You step out (maybe do those two things in the reverse order?).  You grab your drink or your crossword puzzle, and you head into your house.  Oh, wait…before heading into your house, you put the cover on your hot tub.

Close.

Lock.

Safe.

Just like your car, you don’t want to let anything in or out while you are away. (Stop looking at me funny.)

What might fall in while you are in the house or out running errands?

  • Leaves blowing in from nearby trees and bushes
  • Trash blowing in the wind (the more debris, the more chemicals you need to use, the more frequently you need to clean, and the more often you’ll need to replace the filter, which might not work as well as it should with all the debris accumulating.)
  • Creepy crawly things (Yuck!  Bugs!)
  • Small animals (You don’t want to wake up to a dead skunk in your hot tub, do you?)
  • Children (Yes, just like swimming pools, hot tubs can drown a small child who wanders in by mistake.)
  • Vandals, who are just wandering the neighbourhood looking to make mischief

What might escape from the hot tub while you’re gone?  I know, I know – you’re looking at me funny again.  But you do keep something in your hot tub that can escape…two things, in fact: heat and money.

Keep Heat and Money Hostage

You spend quite a bit of money heating your hot tub.  Even when you turn down the heat during the week or while you are away, keeping the hot tub hot is a fairly costly proposition.  Leaving your tub exposed allows the heat to escape in several ways:

  • The wind blows across the hot tub and cools the water.
  • The sun evaporates the water, which needs then to be replaced and heated.
  • The night air also cools down the water, along with everything else.
  • Steam may rise, taking heat with it.

As heat escapes, so, too, does your money.  There it goes.  Bye-bye money.  The more heat escapes, the more money it costs to reheat the water.  So a hot tub cover (http://www NULL.hottubcoverscanada NULL.ca/) is not just an investment in keeping all sorts of unwanted items, creatures and people from falling into your hot tub.  It is also an investment in lowering your hot tub energy costs.  In fact, when you look at the net cost, a hot tub cover (http://www NULL.hottubcoverscanada NULL.ca/) costs you nothing; it actually makes you money.

If you own an outdoor spa or hot tub,buying a cover is a no-brainer decision.  There are many styles to choose from, and they can easily be custom-fitted for any size or shape of tub.  Whatever your spa is, wherever it is located, a hot tub cover (http://www NULL.hottubcoverscanada NULL.ca/) is a wise investment.  Close it.  Lock it.  Keep it safe.

And if you hear banging on the cover coming from inside your hot tub, just remember…I really don’t want to know what – or whom – you keep in your hot tub.

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