Part 6

On our little smallholding we have a little converted container cabin and it’s let out on Airbnb and it has a hot tub.

So, one of the things we had to learn about, amongst everything else, was how to look after hot tubs. To say it was a little hit and miss at first is an understatement. The water was cloudy, the gravel kept getting in it but worst of all it kept going green! Now if you don’t know anything about hot tubs green is the worst colour it can look as usually this means algae which in hot tub land is bad.  

I remember this one particular day when we were changing the water over – which in most worlds is straightforward enough – but being off grid and served by our own well brings a slight twist to the ease. We didn’t fully appreciate it at the time, but the cabin has its own water tank linked to our house water tank. We were merrily re-filling the hot tub up when suddenly the water out of the hose pipe turned brown. Now this was 3 hours in and having used a lot of water.   

A family member was helping us and when they saw the water turned brown they quickly sprung into action, grabbed a bucket and started scooping out the brown area. The only issue with this was that the bucket had stuff in it and so before long we were faced with a green, yes fully bright green hot tub. With guests due to arrive in a few days, we had an empty water tank and we weren’t really sure what to do. This was all going on whilst trying to run business and be professional. 

Anyway what we learned was that the cabin water tank refill is triggered by our water tank calling for water from the well, and so now we only change the water at the same time as we fill the house tank to avoid the brown sediment at the bottom of the well.  

For that year John’s Christmas present was a jumper with hot tub maintenance on it, as it really did feel like a full time job in those first few months. Whilst I do have a few more hot tub tales, luckily we’ve got a bit better at it now. So there you go as well as helping you with business finances I can help with hot tub maintenance questions too!