We sell HDPE hot tubs, so treat this page accordingly. That said, most people who land here are trying to fix an acrylic tub they already own, and the useful thing we can do is tell you honestly which problems are worth fixing and which ones are the tub telling you something.
How to Clean an Acrylic Hot Tub Without Damaging It
Acrylic is softer than it looks and most of the damage owners see is self-inflicted by cleaning products.
- Use: a dedicated non-abrasive spa surface cleaner, or a weak solution of mild dish soap, with a soft cloth or microfibre.
- Never use: abrasive pads or powders, bleach, acetone, ammonia-based glass cleaner, or general bathroom cleaner. All of them either scratch the surface or attack the acrylic itself.
- Rinse properly. Detergent residue is the single most common cause of a fresh fill that foams for a week.
- Scale needs chemistry, not force. A dedicated spa scale remover dissolves it. Scrubbing just puts fine scratches in the surface, and scratches hold biofilm.
That last point is the one worth sitting with. Every scratch you put in an acrylic surface is somewhere for bacteria to establish, which is why an older acrylic shell gets progressively harder to keep clear even when you are doing everything right.
What a Repair Kit Actually Fixes
Two-part acrylic repair kits are genuinely useful for the right damage. Shallow surface cracks, small chips and light gouges can be filled, colour-matched and polished back so they disappear, and that is worth doing because water sitting in a crack makes it worse.
What a kit cannot do is restore structure. If the crack has gone through the acrylic into the fibreglass backing, or if it flexes when you press near it, filling the surface hides the problem rather than fixing it. Water is already reaching the substrate at that point, and in a foam-insulated cabinet you will not see where it goes.
Crazing: the One That Is Not a Repair Job
Crazing is a network of fine cracks spreading across the surface, often looking like the glaze on old pottery. It is not impact damage. It is the acrylic itself failing after years of thermal cycling and UV exposure, and it does not stop.
You can fill individual cracks. You cannot fill a shell that is generating new ones. When crazing appears the honest question shifts from how to repair it to how much longer you want to keep paying to run it.
The Repairs Genuinely Worth Doing
None of the above applies to the equipment, which is a different story entirely:
- Jets: almost always cheap and replaceable. Weak or dead jets are usually a clogged filter or trapped air rather than a fault.
- Pumps, heaters, control packs: standard replaceable parts on any brand.
- Covers: replaceable, and on a foam-core cover you will be doing it every three to six years at around $800. See hard cover vs foam cover.
- Plumbing leaks you can reach: fixable. Leaks inside sprayed foam insulation are the expensive kind, because finding one means cutting the foam out.
When Repair Stops Making Sense
A rough rule owners find useful: if the failure is in the shell, the frame or the foam, you are fighting the design rather than a fault. If it is in a component that bolts on, fix it and carry on. Acrylic shells, wood frames and spray foam all fail in ways that are predictable rather than unlucky, which is the entire reason we build differently. Our HDPE vs acrylic page lays out the material difference, and how long do hot tubs last covers the timeline.
If you are trying to decide whether to repair or replace, tell us what failed and we will give you a straight answer, including when the answer is that your current tub has years left in it. We also service and supply parts across BC, so this is not a conversation that only ends one way. Ask us.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you clean an acrylic hot tub?
Drain, then use a non-abrasive spa surface cleaner or a mild dish soap solution with a soft cloth. Never use abrasive pads, bleach, acetone or household bathroom cleaners, all of which attack acrylic. Rinse thoroughly so no residue foams the fresh fill. Stubborn scale needs a dedicated spa scale remover, not scrubbing.
Do acrylic hot tub crack repair kits work?
For shallow surface cracks and small chips, yes, cosmetically. A two-part acrylic filler colour-matched to the shell will make it disappear and stop water sitting in the crack. What a kit cannot do is restore structure. If the crack goes through the acrylic into the fibreglass backing, you are sealing a symptom.
What causes acrylic hot tub shells to crack?
Usually heat cycling over years. An acrylic shell is a thin acrylic layer bonded to a fibreglass backing, and the two materials expand and contract at different rates every time the tub heats and cools. Add unsupported spans, a hard impact, or freezing water and cracks start at the weakest bond line.
Is it worth repairing an old acrylic hot tub?
Depends what failed. Jets, pumps, heaters and covers are all replaceable and usually worth it. Shell delamination, spreading crazing, or a leak you cannot locate inside spray foam are the point where repair cost starts approaching replacement value, and the underlying cause does not go away.