Buy a hot tub in safety?

The hot tub industry is very much a powder keg of dealers and distributors, knowing who to ask for advice and who to buy from without experiencing problems or worse post sale is hard at best.

For a start I would recommend reading an earlier post of mine Hot Tub Buying - Other Considerations? if you haven't already, this is a great starting point in weighing up dealers.

Moving forward from this there appears to be confusion around safety and what questions should people be asking when looking into a purchase.

Whats CE and why should I care?

CE approval is a legal requirement for any product that wishes to be sold in the EU these days and you will find it on products from any industry be it toys to spas to televisions. What this mark means is that it has been tested as safe to be used in the EU and safe to be used on 240v mains if the product requires it, for true CE approval the fully assembled product should be tested as this then covers all workings not just a few components.

This means that the dealer has a leg to stand on should something go a miss but more importantly the consumer has the confidence the product meets EU standards and is safe to be used in our country. CE ratings are expensive to obtain for manufacturers and need to be done on each product they make so don't feel that CE doesn't mean a lot as manufacturers can spend many thousands of £$Y on having an approved product.

Bishta, who are they and why should I care?

Bishta membership does not mean a dealer is financially sound or they sell a good, bad or ugly product, what it does mean is that you as a consumer will receive correct information on looking after your spa to prevent illness from contaminated water post sale. Added to this should you receive bad service or after sales care and the dealer in question is a Bishta dealer and still in business you have a direct mediation service that will resolve the dispute for you and get the best service possible, so in a way it is after sales piece of mind.

Electrical who cares who wires a spa up?

Any electrical connection these days to your home should be undertaken by a registered electrical installer who can issue you with a certificate that you would need if you were to sell the house at a later date or to prove under insurance that the installation was competent. All spas requiring over 13amps should be run directly from the fuse board on its own RCD/MCB breaker for a clean supply to avoid brown outs.

In summary always ask these three questions when viewing spas.....

1. Are your spas CE approved (ask for proof!)

2. Are you a Bishta member (FYI there are dealers out there who are solid and not bishta approved but do your homework first)

3. Do you offer electrical installation, are they NIC registered and what paperwork will I receive on installation.

Simple but effective to weed out fly by night dealers!

Child Safety in Hot Tubs

There is nothing more enjoyable than watching a child play in water. Hot tubs are especially attractive to children because of their depth, which is usually not as deep as the swimming pool and because of the warm temperature. But there are dangers when children and hot tubs are mixed and there isn’t a clue as to what may happen if precautions are not followed.First child safety tip in regards to a hot tub is to not allow access to any child to the water, especially in the absence of adult supervision. How is that achieved? That safety precaution is kept by having a lockable hot tub cover that will not allow a child access to the water.

No matter what, under any circumstances, should a child be left alone near a hot tub, if a phone rings and you need to answer it, take the child, too. There isn’t any reason for a child to be near a hot tub without adult supervision and many potentially fatal accidents have been prevented by the attention of an adult.

It is important to keep the temperature of a hot tub in mind if child safety is an issue. While most adults can tolerate high temperatures, children are less likely to because among other things, their skin is thinner than that of an adult. With thinner skin, a child is more likely to become over-heated, which can cause dizziness and light-headedness, which can lead to drowning. Children should not stay in a hot tub, with a temperature more than 104 degrees than five minutes or so. Again, this is where adult supervision comes in because a child will not know what is happening to them if they become disoriented as a result of prolonged time in a hot tub; and they may not be able to communicate that they are feeling over-heated or nauseous. As an adult, the monitoring of a child is entirely up to you, no excuses.

The environment in which we enjoy hot tubs can also be a breeding ground for all kinds of bacteria and if not treated, can cause serious illness. If there is any child with an open wound, they should not enter the hot tub, in their own best interest. If a child is too young to tell someone that they need to go to the bathroom, or if they are still in a diaper, they should not, under any circumstances be allowed in a hot tub. Any fecal matter in the moist, warm environment of a hot tub is a dangerous mixture and can cause many, many illnesses. Be safe with this one by keeping the pH levels balanced and having the proper chemicals on hand, if they are needed.

Because children are more susceptible to germs and have not been around long enough to have produced the antibodies it takes to fight some infections, it is imperative that their safety and the safety of those around them, not be compromised by not adhering to the point that children not yet able to express the need to use the bathroom be put in a hot tub, where they may cause fecal matter to be introduced to the atmosphere.