How To Get Rid of Foam In Your Hot Tub

Foam can be fun. For instance, have you ever been to a rave or a dance club and been involved in a foam party? I haven’t, but I heard it’s fun. But too much foam can be a problem. Like, too much foam in your beer, or even worse, too much foam in your hot tub. But fear not my fellow hot tubbers, foam is easier to manage than you may realize. First off, we need to discuss how foam can form in your spa.

How Foam Can Form

Here are some reasons how foam can occur in your hot tub:

Hair Products

All types of hair products can cause foam including, shampoo, gel, mousse and more. If you are wearing any of these products, I would advise taking a shower before entering your hot tub to remove these chemicals. If you don’t want to shower, just make sure you hair doesn’t have contact with the water. Don’t go underwater or wear a swim cap.

Deodorant, Lotions and Other Skin Products

If you use lotions or any other type of skin product, it’s best to take a shower before entering your hot tub. Again, if you don’t want to shower and you know you will be using your spa later, try not to apply so much product to your skin. However, after you use your hot tub you can use all the product you want, and it’s even helpful to rehydrate your skin after a long soak.

Laundry Detergent

This may be a hard one to avoid, but it’s doable. Washing your bathing suits in laundry detergent can cause foam in your hot tub. Consider running your bathing suits on an extra rinse cycle without laundry detergent. Or, rinse your bathing suit off in your sink or swimming pool before putting them on and entering your spa. It may be possible to look for better laundry detergent that won’t cause this issue. If you know of any, please add to the comments below.

Cheap Chemicals

This one hits home for me. If you are an active reader of this blog or website you’ll know how important it is to buy good chemicals. I know it’s cheaper to get your chemicals at Home Depot or (god forbid) Wal-Mart, but you should really find a local hot tub store and trust them. They sell quality chemicals that don’t have “filler” in them, which can sometimes cause foamy water (in a pool or spa). Also, adding too many hot tub chemicals is not good either. Make sure you follow the instructions before adding any chemical to your hot tub. Be sure to read our site or contact your local hot tub store for good instructions on how to use the chemicals.

Spilling Drinks

I know! Drinking in the hot tub is awesome. I will never deny that fact of life. But spilling drinks in your hot tub can cause foam. So the next time your drinking in the hot tub, using PLASTIC CUPS INSTEAD OF GLASS, be very care not to spill anything in the water. No wants to swim in a pina colada. I take that back; but don’t do it.

Not Draining Your Hot Tub Regularly

This is very important, and not just for foaming either. TDS or Total Dissolved Solids is basically the build up of chemicals in your water over time. It’s important to drain your hot tub every 3 or 4 months depending on use. If you want a more accurate time frame as to when to drain your hot tub, use our handy dandy hot tub water replacement calculator.

Now that we discussed all the ways foam can form in your hot tub, let’s talk about getting rid of it!

3 Ways To Get Rid of Foam In Your Hot Tub

The first way is to do it by hand. Take a PLASTIC cup or a pool skimmer and skim the foam off the top of the water and dump it out of the hot tub. You may not get all of the foam, but you should get a good amount.

After you have gotten most of the foam out you can use a little spa pH decreaser, which is acidic and should dissolve the foam. The same concept works if you have a foamy beer and put your finger in the foam. The acidity from your finger dissolves the foam fast.

The third way is to just use a hot tub defoaming chemical like the one below…

Leisure Time Foam Down Spa Defoamer

This is not a permanent fix. Foam can always reform at anytime. Always keep this chemical on hand in cause your spa wants to foam up again.

If you have any further questions or comments, please add them below. Happy Swimming!