How to turn your hot tub into a ‘cool tub’ for summer

During the summer, the last thing you want to do is make yourself hotter by lounging around in a hot tub when it’s scorching hot outside. But did you know that you can still enjoy your hot tub during hot summer days by turning it into a ‘cool tub’?

Soaking in the best hot tub is a great way to relax after a long day. Hot tubs or spas are also said to have many health benefits, including soothing sore muscles, improving sleep, relieving pain and even burning calories. With hot tubs becoming more affordable and versatile than ever before, inflatable and hard shell models have found their way into many homes… but they still tend to be more of a winter activity than a summer one.

Rather than let your hot tub sit unoccupied and lonely during the summer, while you waste or regret the precious money you spent on it, you can use it as your very own cold plunge pool…. and here's how.

How to use a hot tub as a cool tub

You’re probably thinking “if I want to use it cold, can’t I just turn it off?” Well, it doesn’t really work that way. Instead, the best way to turn your hot tub into a cool tub is by adjusting the temperature to as low as it can go. As your hot tub’s insulation works to retain heat, it’ll also work to keep itself at your desired temperature. If you set your hot tub to its coldest setting, it’ll drop to this temperature and prevent it from heating back up.

As your hot tub is insulated,  it might take a while for the temperature to drop so you’ll need to be patient. However, there are a few things you can do to speed up the process. Firstly, make sure you allow heat to escape from your hot tub. To do this, ventilate your tub by removing the cover. If your hot tub sits in direct sunlight, keep the cover on and create a vent where the heat can flow out.

Another way to cool your hot tub down quickly is to turn on the jets. While you can technically turn off your hot tub to make it cold, the jets work to produce the fun waves and bubbles, plus they cool your tub quicker by introducing cool air to the water and circulate any cold water you’ve added into it.

Speaking of cold water, if you don’t want to wait around for your tub to drop in temperature, remove some of the water and fill it with cold water using the best garden hose. With this, you might need to adjust the chemicals in your tub so make sure to test the water’s pH balance before you jump in.

Before you start this process, it’s worth checking if your hot tub has any special modes you can use to make it cool. Some models will have cooling features or summer settings which make them cooler without you having to do anything. However, if they don’t, you can just follow the tips above.

Now, you have a cool tub! After you’ve used your hot tub (hot or cold), remember to care for it as normal by covering it up, wiping it down and giving it a clean where necessary. For more tips, see our guide on how to clean a hot tub.