A Guide to Swim Spa Accessories, Swim Spa Options and Features

Buying a swim spa can feel like renting a car and they ask you for insurance. Does your own insurance cover what you need? Should you get all the insurance they have? Some of it? What makes sense? What could I get? Do I need that?

Since most swim spa buyers are first-timers, we see these conversations time and time again in Hydropool stores. “What is available?” “What are good swim spa options?” "What do swim spas offer?"

What could I get on my swim spa is key to anyone buying. Chances are you want to know the range of options available, and you want to know what’s nice to have, what’s essential and what you can do without.

That’s why we wrote this article. We will go over every option we can think of that you can get for a swim spa.

• Some will be structural, like the size and the insulation.
• Some will be major components such as swim system and sanitization.
• Some will be practical accessories such as covers and stairs.
• Some will be fun, like lighting, fountains and fitness tools.

Let’s dive in!

 

 

What’s the Most Important Option When Buying a Swim Spa?

The first one to tackle is the size. This is entirely practical: You need a certain amount of space for a swim spa and if you don’t have it, there’s no way around it.

Swim spas are usually about eight feet wide. They range in size from 12 feet long up to 21 feet wide (there are some unusual ones larger than this, but this is the range most manufactures build in).

You need a swim spa to be at least 12 feet long to be able to swim in it – fully extended, with a current moving you around, you don’t want to be able to touch any of the sides. And in reality, 14-feet is what we’d suggest as the minimum if you’re serious about swimming.

You also need to allow for two to three feet around the entire swim spa, so that you can access it down the road for any potential repairs.

So size matters here. What kind of space do you have? That will tell you which size you have to consider.

Color is also a factor here: Almost all swim spas are sold in a range of colours, most often neutrals, so they blend well. Look for greys, browns, and blacks, with light-colored acrylic swim areas.

How do you choose after that? Cost is a factor and usage is as well. How you want to use the swim spa will decide the next set of options.

What Kind of Swim System Should You Get on Your Swim Spa?

Great question. It depends on what you intend to do with it:

• Many people buy swim spas for purely recreational purposes: a place to park the kids so they can put down their phones and play. Or they are to do basic workouts and use the massage. Basically, these swim spas are meant to be used as above-ground pools or as large hot tubs.  
• Others want to use them for swimming, recreation and fitness.
• Still others want ultimate swimming machines. This can be done with jets (if engineered properly) as well as with propeller or turnstile types of current generators.

All of these types of swim spas exist, that’s the good news. But you should know which one you’re looking for: there’s no point in buying more swim system than what you need. There’s also little point in buying a recreational swim spa that creates a rooster tail of water for its current – a huge amount of spray – and insists you use a tether to swim when you don’t have to have that.

How Many Seats Should You Swim Spa Have?

Closely related to what kind of swim system should you get is the number of seats you require in the swim spa.

• Do you want to use it as a party tub with bench seating down the sides so you can pack people in?  
• Do you want seating for four, one in each corner?
• Do you want minimal seating and the most tank you can have because you want to use it largely for swimming?
• Do you want a separate hot tub and swim spa?
• Do you want all the seats to have massage or just some? Do you want unique features like standing massage?

Again, all of these options exist for you in the marketplace. A good swim spa is fully capable of functioning like a hot tub including offering a good jet massage.

How is Your Swim Spa Going to Be Cleaned?

There are many sanitization options on the market. Here’s what to watch for. What a lot of companies do is simply move over their hot tub method of sanitization onto their swim spa.

That’s tricky. It’s a larger body of water, so you will need more filtration. It can be handled in a similar way but at Hydropool, we don’t think it should be exactly the same way. Our swim spas come with our top of the line self-cleaning and Pure Water systems, which use ozone and UV light to sanitize your water, in a similar way to how your drinking water is cleaned. They substantially reduce chemical usage, which most people like.

Salt water swim spas, which use salt to create chlorine or bromine to clean your water, also exist (we don’t sell them but it’s possible you want to consider them). 

Can My Swim Spa Be Energy Efficient?

The main way you ensure your swim spa is energy efficient is by ensuring it is well insulated. Insulation systems vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

They are important because your swim spa has to be built to retain heat in some fashion. Some manufacturers have systems that trap the heat in the cabinet, like a triple-paned window. Some stuff the cabinet entirely full of insulation. Whatever option you select, you’re going to want to be confident in it, or otherwise your winter bills will soar higher than you’d like.

What Kind of Access Options Are There for Swim Spas?

You can get stairs for swim spas, and sometimes this part isn’t considered until later in the buying process, so we’re flagging it here early.

Unless your swim spa is going to be placed in-ground, you’re going to need to find a way to get in and out of easily. This can include stairs or a deck or platform around the swim spa (a popular design has the deck just under the top of the swim spa, leaving the top of the swim spa exposed, for easily clambering in and out, see the image below). 

The lowered deck makes getting in and out of this 19-foot Hydropool AquaPlay DTAX a snap. 

What Are My Swim Spa Cover Options?

There are three main kinds:

• A hard cover which has segments. It’s very sturdy but can be a bit of a chore to take on and off.
• A rollaway cover, which can be pushed and rolled down to one end, where it sits. This is the most common cover sold over the last few years.
• What’s called a covana cover, which is like an electrical retractable hard cover. It’s the most expensive, but easily the most impressive and easy to use as well. You push a button and the cover raises, push it again and it lowers on top of the swim spa.

A covana cover lies on top of your swim spa, but then can be raised whenever you want to use it.

What Can My Swim Spa Do for Fitness?

Good swim spas have programmable fitness options, giving you a range of workouts. You should be able to use your swim spa like a treadmill – running on top of the mat, while the swim spa generates a current causing you resistance and increasing your workout (Endless Pools makes a swim spa with an actual treadmill, if you’re so inclined. We don’t make one because it becomes in the way when you want to use the swim spa any other way).  

FORM Goggles allow you to track your progress as you swim and are another option to consider.

Aquatic dumbells, weights, fins, stretch cords, rowing machines. There are a whole bunch of options when it comes to fitness. Check them out by clicking the button below:

What Accessories Can I Get With My Swim Spa?

Water fountains? Lights? Stereos? Digital apps that let you check your water temperature from far away? Floating toys? Loungers with beer holders? Floating drink holders? Boogie boards, ice buckets, towel racks, outside showers, tethers, underwater mirrors, umbrellas, floating hoops you can swim through, ball games, balls that glow in the dark, toys that sink and you can go dive after … there are all kinds of things you can get here.

There are also things like safety rails and animal escape ramps (in case a squirrel falls in and can’t get out – this lets him climb out).

Lastly, landscaping and adding furniture around a swim spa is a must! From tables to chairs to flower pots, your imagination is your limit here.

Furniture around a swim spa can really set it off and make it an extension of your living room. The swim spa here is the Hydropool 14-foot Aquatic Sport.

What Accessories Can I Get for My Swim Spa?

There are dozens of options available to you for your swim spa. We hope we provided a decent list of the choices ahead of you in this article. Some of it can be overwhelming, but the main point here is that you have a wide range of selection to make your swim spa custom to you if you want. At the same time, any swim spa maker also has “standard” models if you’re looking for one that has everything you need and nothing you don’t.

Our best advice is to know your space and what you want to use the swim spa – everything else follows logically after that.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our local dealers.