Can I Use Vinegar to Clean My Hot Tub or Spa?

You can use vinegar or any acetic acid to clean your hot tub, but we recommend our pH Down for best results.

Vinegar is an all-purpose cleaner. From the floors in your home to your favorite coffee cups, vinegar can handle just about any cleaning need. It makes perfect sense, then, that vinegar is also effective for cleaning your hot tub.

Why do you need to clean your hot tub?

Water quality in the Midwest isn’t always great. By being located in predominantly landlocked areas, the water has a higher level of calcium. In your hot tub, that leads to a film that can cover the shell of your unit. The calcium deposits aren’t going to hurt you, but the build-up may appear unsightly.

Why use vinegar?

Vinegar includes no harmful chemicals. It cleans and deodorizes, and is naturally safe to use around people and pets. Vinegar can help prevent clogs in your hot tub jets, eliminate bacteria, and clean away water spots and other residue.

Are there alternatives to vinegar?

Diluted white vinegar is great, but you can also use lemon juice, CLR, or other similar acetic solutions to clean and dissolved calcium build-up. You could even use muriatic acid, but be careful.

At Royal Spa, we prefer to use acid-based pH down. Simply add a capful of pH Down into the water of your hot tub at night and allow it to circulate while you sleep. The acid in the solution will break down any calcium deposits, which will leave the tub via the unit’s filtration system.
You can then return the next day with a terry cloth towel and wipe down the hot tub to remove any remaining build-up.

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