Hot Tub Cover Repairs
Repairing a hot tub cover is not a hard thing to do, yet people often avoid it, even though the project doesn't take much time or energy. If you don't repair a busted hot tub cover, you could end up dealing with reduced energy efficiency, dirty hot tub water, or bacteria growth.
Luckily, we're here to help make sure that your water stays healthy and fresh at all times by restoring your hot tub cover back to excellent condition!
Come dive in with us as we explore the ins and outs of fixing damaged hot tub covers.
How to Save a Waterlogged Hot Tub Cover
Sometimes, the vinyl lining or vinyl covering that is present on a hot tub will start deteriorating. When it deteriorates, your hot tub's water will begin seeping into the cover's foam.
If you pick up your spa cover and it feels much heavier or soggier than it usually does, then you can probably guess that it is waterlogged.
The good thing is, this is a fairly simple fix.
To save your waterlogged hot tub cover, begin by taking it off the top of your hot tub. Next, get into your hot tub cover and get rid of any foam that is damp. Once the damp foam is removed, lay it out in a sunny area so that it can dry.
During the time that your foam is laying out and drying, clean the vinyl portion of your hot tub cover using a vinyl-specific cleaner. The beauty of these cleaners is that they can stop mold and mildew from growing. No one wants to deal with a gross, cloudy hot tub. Cleaning with a special cleaner can help prevent that.
Make sure to look for the tear or the hole where the water was leaking into the foam. Prior to placing your foam back inside of your cover, you will need to repair this hole or holes.
Dealing with a Hot Tub Cover Hole
If you have a hole in your hot tub cover, you can use a repair kit to patch it up.
Patch kits are fairly inexpensive and often come with instructions that can help you patch everything up with ease.
However, there are some golden rules that you can follow with just about any patch job on a hot tub cover.
For starters, you will want to take scissors and trim around the edges of your spa cover hole so that you aren't patching atop jagged edges. Once done, trim your patch so that it is approximately one inch bigger than your spa cover hole on every side.
You can cut rounded edges around the outside of your patch to keep it from folding or curling in.
Prior to applying your spa cover patch to your vinyl, it is important that you clean the area surrounding the hole or holes. In doing so, you will allow your patch to adhere nicely to the vinyl. It is also a good idea to use sandpaper to roughen up the area where you will be placing your vinyl patch, as this will help it to stick much better than if you placed it on a smooth area.
Sometimes, you will deal with a hole that has also penetrated your foam, as well as the vinyl cover. If this is the case, you will need to patch up your foam too. Again, this kind of repair is very simple. Take a separate piece of foam and cut it so that it is the size of the hole in your foam. Any foam inserts that you use should sandwich nicely between the rest of the foam and your vinyl repair kit patch.
As you can see, it is fairly easy to repair a spa cover that is in disarray. It is much better to attempt to patch up a hole in your spa cover rather than go out and purchase a new one.
How Will A Waterlogged Hot Tub Cover Impactmy Hot Tub?
If you have a spa cover that has been waterlogged, it will still do its job by blocking out unwanted debris from getting into the interior of the spa. For that reason, many people question whether or not they need to repair or replace their waterlogged cover in the first place.
There are my reasons that you should never keep a cover on your spa if it is waterlogged. For starters, it will not keep your water insulated, meaning you will waste a ton of energy and spend more on bills each month.
One thing many hot tub owners don't realize is that a waterlogged cover will actually draw heat from a spa. Not only will you have to spend more each month on bills, but it will also take much longer for your spa to heat up. You bought your spa so that you could soak in it, not so that you could wait hours and hours for it to reach optimal heat.
Do I Need a New Hot Tub Cover?
There is a chance that your hot tub cover is beyond the point where it can be repaired. The top layer of material might be torn to shreds, or the liner might have such a large tear that using patches to repair it might not be the most practical choice.
If you have tried to patch it up and you realize that it's not going the way you planned, you'll need to replace it with a new one.
The Cover Guy is one of the best companies on the market for hot tub covers. Visit our The Cover Guy Reviews article if you'd like to see their 3 most popular products.
If you decide to go with another hot tub cover manufacturer, just make sure that when you buy one, it fits nicely on your hot tub and is made out of thick, high-quality materials. Measure out the edges of your spa and determine what type of shape it is. The shape and size of the spa cover that you decide to get is extremely important.
The biggest problem people often face with hot tubs is the lack of energy efficiency. A low-quality cover can reduce how energy-efficient your hot tub is, especially if you live in a cold climate with high winds or snow.
Not only can a quality hot tub cover lower your monthly energy bills, but it can also extend the life of your hot tub overall by blocking out unwanted debris.
Whatever you decide to do, it is important that you create a cleaning routine. Keeping your cover clean is one of the best ways to extend its lifespan so that you don't have to replace it every year. You can stop tears from forming in the liner and keep the inside from retaining moisture.
We hope that this little guide was helpful in providing you with easy DIY methods of repair. Keeping covers in check is one of the main ways to enjoy happy and healthy hot tubbing experience for a long time.
