A hot tub is a luxurious item to own, but you have to be prepared to put it together once it has been delivered. Once the jets, heater, blower and pump are in place you will have to do the work to connect them. You can follow the steps below to learn how to do this.
Step 1: If you have friends or family with a hot tub, talk with them to brainstorm ideas to make this job easier. Use your resources! At least have someone present, if possible, who has done this job so he or she can supervise you and make sure you don’t make any mistakes they made.
Step 2: Assemble all of the pipe, connectors and glue before starting the connecting work.
Step 3: Choose a PVC pipe that is flexible and matches the connectors on your jets. The pipe can be 1 or 1.5 inches in diameter. The jets will require water and air, which is why they have four connections. The top connections are for air and the bottom are for water.
Step 4: Run the pipe close to the tub, making sure to connect each jet on top and bottom and be sure to avoid sharp right angle turns.
Step 5: Now you can connect an air regulator to the top of the tub. This will allow for air to come into it. Then, seal off ends of the water and air lines to close the system.
Step 6: Connect some of the pipe to air passages under the tub and also to the blower. Also connect your hot tub in the following order to ensure proper running: skimmer, pump, heater, filter.
Step 7: Connect the drain to the skimmer’s rigid pipe of the right size. Rigid PVC pipe is needed due to pressures necessary to make the pump work in an appropriate fashion. Flexible pipe will allow loss of pressure. Rigid pipe also can be 1 or 1.5 inches in diameter.
Step 8: Now you can install the cut-off valve before the pump, and one after the pump and one on both sides of the filter so the pump and filter will be isolated. This will make tub-cleaning easier. You also will want to install a drain faucet before the filter because it helps in tub-draining during the cleaning process.
Step 9: Once everything has been properly connected, glue it. When glue has dried, fill the tub with water and turn on the tub. If any connections leak, reglue them.
Tips
- Rigid pipes are important during the drain connection because flexible pipes do not hold up to pressures that are required to run those pumps. You should also try to avoid 90-degree angles during that connection process.
Items Needed
- Flexible PVC pipe
- Rigid PVC pipe
- PVC pipe glue
- Connectors for heater, blower and pump
- Elbows and other PVC pipe joints
- Cut-off valves