UPDATE: A while has gone past now, and I’ve learned A LOT about keeping up with water quality, etc… Here are some points you may want to consider before heading down to this road….

• PH/Chlorine levels are key! Get test strips. You are going to need them! Also, you will need the small chlorine tabs and a small floater. Set your floater on the minimum flow level. This has been my method of keeping chlorine levels where they should be after a lot of trial and error. (Links below).
• Cloudy water = bad chemical levels.
• Filters need to be changed weekly. You can clean them, but trust me, you DO NOT want to breathe in that mist that the cleaning spray generates. Even though its wasteful, its easier just to replace and toss the filters. I hate single-use plastics, but, cleaning these small filters is a pain!
• Rope lights! They are your friend here 🙂 Meross makes decent stick-up color changing rope lights that are homekit enabled. Get them immediately!
• I ended up covering the surround in the same carpet that I layed down.

You’ll want to get these products:

• Meross color-changing homekit-enabled string lights
• Extra filters
• Chlorine floater for spas
• 1 inch chlorine tabs
• Chemical Test strips
• Baking soda (Any grocery store)

Here is a non-tech related kinda post for once, I bought a hot tub!

Its nothing crazy, just an inflatable hot tub. But, I have to say, I’m loving it so far. This actually fills a major gap in my life. For most of my life, I have been around water. The ocean, pools, spas, etc… These things are a major thing for me. When I was a kid, I used to just chill in the pool for hours on end. Since I moved to the north, I have only had regular access to a pool for a brief period of time here and there (mostly in Philly). There has been almost no access to water since returning to Baltimore in 2017. Its a loss I’ve often felt in my life, and it was about time that I did something about it.

After looking into my options and considering budget, portability, space available, and as many honest reviews as I could find, I ended up settling on the coleman spa from Saluspa/Bestway. To be clear, this is actually a saluspa product, but for some reason, coleman has licensed the use of their name. Almost all of the reviews on Amazon were positive for this spa, with only minor issues as the unit ages. It seemed like the best option, and Amazon had it on sale for $499. I waffled for a bit and took the plunge.

It arrived early a day after placing the order. They must’ve had it locally or something. Here is how it arrives:

According to the reviews on Amazon, it pays to prepare the site where you are installing this with insulation. This unit measures 7″ outer diameter, and the pump housing projects out about 28″ from one of the sides. Using these dimensions, I decided to use two pieces of 2″ thick foam board for the base, and to put indoor/outdoor carpet over it. I also opted to insulate the sides with a custom insulation blanket made from two layers of bubble wrap insulation, and then covered with more carpet. Here are pics of the setup process.

First impressions after letting it heat up for 24 hours: ahhhhhhhhhh! OMG, this is nice! Especially having it indoors right now. This winter has been brutally cold for some reason. Having this available has been very relaxing. I highly recommend this system so far. After a few months or so, Ill do a follow up post to let you all know how it is doing.