How to Winterize Your Hot Tub - Winterizing a Spa

Living in a city that has four seasons is great, but when winter comes along with freezing temperatures, certain precautions must be taken to winterize outdoor ponds, water supplies, pools and hot tubs. How to winterize a hot tub spa if you decide to drain it over some of the winter requires a local spa professional or attention to the details of getting all of the water out of the spa.

In the winter months, calling a service pro is essential if the spa fails during freezing weather. The biggest possible damage can occur with a spa that is left full of water (or even partially full) outside without heating so components and plumbing freeze. It is best to become familiar with how to winterize a spa. Then if you need to completely drain the spa with a submersible pump in the winter, it can be done to save the spa plumbing while you source the part you need. Many times you will need to drain the spa anyway to have the repair completed. After the spa is drained, the jets need to be cleared out with a wet vac, or you can add a little RV antifreeze in the line.

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Critical points to consider when avoiding a freezing spa are: 

• Is all of the water out of the spa?
• Is the rest of the water blown out by either turning on the blower or using a wet vac (or both)?
• Did you open any drain plugs on the pumps and loosen the lowest union or heater union to allow for rest water to drain out?

How to Winterize Your Hot Tub - Winterizing a Spa

Now before you winterize your spa, consider that many families enjoy the use of a spa outdoors in the winter time. Remember that ski trip with the bubbling hot water outdoors and the surrounding snow-capped mountains? Sure you won't necessarily want to sit outdoors in a thirty below blizzard, but when the storm passes it is a beautiful and serene feeling to sit out in bubbling hot water with the cool air around.

Another reason to not shut the spa down in the winter for the reason of saving money on electricity is that if you improperly drain the spa for the winter and remaining water begins to expand and crack piping, you could have a much more expensive repair bill on your hands than the cost of the electricity you were saving.

So if you still decide to shut your hot tub down over the winter months, here are a few tips. First, contact a local professional to do it for you and be assured it is completely drained. For the "do-it-yourselfer", always turn the power off first when working on the spa. Turn off both the disconnect near the spa and also the circuit breaker inside the house.

Next, drain the spa as much as you can with a submersible pump or other hose. Take out the filter, clean it, soak it in filter cleaner and put it away for the winter. If the spa has an air system with a blower, those lines also need to be cleaned out. The easiest way to do that is to disconnect power to the heater, then restore power to the spa and turn the blower on so it can blast the rest of the water out. (For this you may want to put the cover back on so you don't get sprayed). Note that you should not run jet pumps for any length of time without water in them. To be on the safe side, you can disconnect the main pump from the power pack in case it comes on while you are running the blower.

Some pumps have winterizing plugs on them that you can remove to drain the rest of the water from the pump. You can also open the fittings in the plumbing systems, especially the lowest fitting which is usually the heater fitting that attaches to the spa pack. Take one end off and leave it open over the winter so any condensation can drain out.

Once you have prepared everything, complete the work with a wet-vac and blow out any remaining water in the lines. Force air into each of the opened jets from the wet-vac and blow out each jet until no more water comes out. Clean the footwell of the spa with the wet-vac and wipe up any remaining water.

To be really certain, you can put a bit of RV-antifreeze into the system which will need to be cleaned out come spring time. When you are satisfied that all of the water is out, put the cover on and lock it down. Close cabinet panels and check that the cover is on securely.

One more thing you can do is get one of those blue plastic tarps or other tarp from your local hardware store and put it over the spa cover, then securing the tarp. This can protect against water that can get in through the sides of the cover in the form of condensation.

New pumps can be expensive if you have to replace one because of freeze damage. One place to get  spa parts in Canada, online is from a large online Canadian parts supply house.

Even if you leave your spa running over the winter months, being familiar with draining and winterizing procedures is important. Even if you do not winterize your hot tub yourself, understanding how to drain and winterize the spa can save you hefty repair bills if there should be an extended power outage in the winter. Spas should be monitored regularly in the winter for proper operation to avoid damage caused by water freezing. If you are away for extended periods in the winter, the spa can either be drained, or a vigilant neighbor can check on it and call a local spa professional in the case of an extended power outage.

Check with your spa manufacturer or dealer for more tips on winterizing a spa. Knowing these procedures can save you costly repairs down the road.

How to Winterize Your Hot Tub - Winterizing a Spa

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Ever Wondered What a Body Wrap at Your Local Day Spa is All About?

Body wraps are relaxing and cleansing treatments that encourage "totally letting go". At a spa, wraps usually take place in a special room, where body coatings can be removed more easily in a private shower. Wraps are not done easily without a partner and can be quite messy since they require hot or cold sheets, along with the towels and blankets for wrapping.

Some spas even have a tent that steams you. In addition, you will need a warm place with a table or bed for you to rest on while the products used have time to make you incredibly smooth and soft.

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Body wraps come in any number of moisturizing, aromatic, rejuvenating substances, ranging from purified mud poultices, to honey, mango, apple, and pears, or other fruit mixtures, paraffin wax, aloe gel, or even seaweed.

Ever Wondered What a Body Wrap at Your Local Day Spa is All About?

When visiting a spa, and you are not sure if what you are reading about on the list of treatments they provided is a body wrap, look for words such as: botanical, herbal, honey, paraffin, seaweed, mud, detoxification, aloe, and such. Sometimes, they may replace the word wrap with mask, masque, or pack.

Read on for a perfect example of one special spa that treats you like a goddess with their herbal body wraps.

The herbal body wrap starts with the attendant giving you a robe and slippers and taking you to the women's locker room, where you dress down to nothing on. One thing you do not have to worry about when getting naked. Spa's in general will not make money if their people do anything that isn't professional. Their business depends on you coming back, so relax and enjoy.

If you have never had an herbal body wrap, the attendant who will be doing your body wraps, who is also, likely, a masseuse, will tell you what steps to expect for your treatment.

You start with a Japanese dry brushing technique. The idea is to wake up your skin and get your circulation moving. She instructs you not to move so the bowls of warm sugar scrub sit on your legs as she scrubs you down. You are never totally naked. A towel always covers your private parts.

After the scrub, you then get a body mask goes over the sugar scrub, which is also the same scent. Your front and back are scrubbed down and then a mask is placed on both sides.

As you are lying there feeling totally relaxed, a tent is placed over you from your neck to your feet. A warm steam blows over you for about twenty minutes. Under the tent, you can remove the towel, if you wish. After your steam bath, you will be feeling so relaxed you won't want to move. The attendant will come back into the room and ask you if you are totally covered up before the tent is lifted. You then get up and rinse off the scrub/mask, and then she lathers your total body with a body crème.

That would be the shortest 60 to 90 minutes ever and you will, for sure, want to go back just to be totally pampered again.

Short note - After three days, don't be surprised if your skin still feels as soft as a baby's skin.

Body wraps not only relax and pamper your body, they relax your mind. The whole idea of someone else pampering you is a treat you must give yourself as often as you can. Give a spa body wrap to your friends or family as the gift of a totally relaxing experience. They will thank you.

Ever Wondered What a Body Wrap at Your Local Day Spa is All About?

Copyright 2007 Kim Snyder, owner Overall Beauty Offering natural/organic skincare bath & body products. Pure mineral makeup, nail polish and more. Never happy without trying to make the world a little prettier for all. Visit her at Overallbeauty.com sign up today for a free beauty ebook for all who love learning about new ways to do your makeup.

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How to Grow a Salon Or Spa in a Challenging Economic Environment

Making your salon or spa stand out above and beyond your competition has to be your number one priority as an entrepreneur, and small business owner. You must be diligent and relentless in this pursuit. With every new day more, and more hair, and nail salons, are labeling themselves spas. So, you will need to be bigger, better and different. No matter how well-designed your location (salon or spa) website, or sales presentation, without proper budgeting, you will more than likely, run out of money, or energy and fail. My motto in business is: "Anyone can get lucky. Not everyone can get smart." This article is to help you with your smart business thinking.

First the facts.

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Seventy percent of all small businesses close their doors within the first two years of operation. What's really scary is that ninety-one percent of all salons and spas, are owned and operated by small business owners. This means that only thirty percent of these entrepreneurs, who open a spa or salon will still be in business after two years of operation. The single, biggest reason for this is under-capitalization. In laymen's terms; they simply run out of money.

How to Grow a Salon Or Spa in a Challenging Economic Environment

Sometimes this,(under-capitalization)can be attributed to lack of education; other times, just plain-old wishful thinking. But I digress. When I speak of education, I am not just referring to an individuals formal education, in obtaining their Business Management, International Business, Business Marketing, or any of the other specialized Business Degrees. But most importantly, to salon operating experience. Don't take me wrong, getting a degree certainly helps, but is not a fundamental prerequisite of being a successful entrepreneur; The education model in which I refer is operational management, and an individuals ability to manage, and hire a great staff.

You may be asking yourself what exactly does operational management, and professional's ability to manage a staff have to do with under-capitalization. The answer is everything.

A common (major) mistake when writing a business plan(assuming you have a business plan), is slanting plan numbers to make our dreams become a reality. This often results in under budgeting (under capitalization), based on best case scenarios. If you can't make your worse case scenario numbers fit your plan, stop and re-evaluate. My advice is to save a little longer, and get into a stronger financial picture, to save yourself a lot grief, stress, and heart ache later.

I have many friends who have opened ultra-chic, hip, swank, spas and salons. And, I am sorry to say, that many had no idea of what it takes to stay competitive. I would guess a majority of salons, and or spas usually have same, or similar visions of what's cool. So, if all you have is a pretty location. You will lose your market share when the next (nice, pretty, swank, hip)location opens, or remodels.

So, I think it all comes down to this. It's easy to see our dreams. It's difficult to plan our dreams into reality. I think my friends, and associates visualized themselves working in a beautiful location, and knew what tools, they need to make that happen. They themselves already possessed the skills needed, to get started, but generally what they lacked, was knowledge. The knowledge to keeping going, and grow, and still love what they do. (Yeah... you can work, and hate what you do. But, then what's the point of being a entrepreneur, if you hate the job stress.) It takes a lot more than talent, to maintain a sustainable business.

The truth, in a nutshell is this. In today's salon and spa environment you can't do it all yourself and grow. You will need a few things. First and foremost, you will need a unique selling proposition(what makes you stand out from the crowd), and team that supports your visions and core beliefs. To build an amazing team you need capital. Having a great team will set you apart from you competition.

Employee investment, is as important as an investment if not bigger, as having a knockout (pretty) location. Think about this. Have you ever been to a cool-looking business whether it be, a clothing store, or restaurant, and the service sucks. How did you feel? You probably hated it, and swore never to go back. I bet, you definitely won't be recommending it to a friend any time soon. As a spa, or salon owner you are in the people service business, and referral business is a big part of it.

So, one of the keys of maintaining your S.C.A (Salon Competitive Advantage) means you need to allocate enough money to retain the best quality people at your location. If you have ever lost someone who was great employee, to another salon based on a few bucks; even a thousand bucks, in the grand scheme of things, you deserve a (firm) finger waving, shame on you! Every employee you hire, and train is an investment in your future success. You spend money, time, and emotional energy, in training employees; and every time you lose one, you have not only thrown money away, but you spent your money, training another salon/spas employees.

I would like to end by telling potential entrepreneurs to follow, and visualize your dreams. If your dream is worth following, write a solid action plan, so all your dreams can be realized. Dream big, and think smart.

How to Grow a Salon Or Spa in a Challenging Economic Environment

This article was provided by Wayne Henderson on behalf of Sweetface Beauty Source, Canada's exclusive Entity Beauty provider a professional nail and spa product distributor.

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