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Our Best Salt Water System for Hot Tubs

Our Best Salt Water System for Hot Tubs


Caldera Spas Blog Post1


Freshwater Salt System Logo Reg Grey

The FreshWater® Salt System is our best salt water system for hot tubs.


Introducing the revolutionary system in hot tub water care. The FreshWater Salt System Reduces the time you spend on cleaning and maintenance so you’ll have more time to spend unwinding in the water. When you follow our simple, intuitive water care steps, your hot tub actually takes care of you. This breakthrough salt water system automatically generates its own cleaning power.


With that soothing water just a few steps from your back door, you don’t want to worry about water maintenance. Instead, focus on the relaxation, rejuvenation, and wellness benefits of hydrotherapy as a part of your inspired daily routine. Choosing a hot tub with the FreshWater Salt System makes water care simpler, reducing maintenance and opening the door to a more stress-free soak.


Caldera Spas Paradise Reunion Arctic White Ash Lifestyle Couple1


With our best salt water system for hot tubs, you’ll spend less time maintaining and more time enjoying your hot tub.

Meet the FreshWater Salt System


All 2019 and newer Caldera® Utopia® Series and Paradise® Series ship from the factory ready to use with the new FreshWater Salt System**. Hot tub water stays clean and fresh up to three times longer than with any other system*. While bather load and water chemistry affect the life of the hot tub water, when these factors are accounted for and the spa is properly maintained, the FreshWater Salt System will keep water clean and clear for up to a year*.


The FreshWater Salt System generates chlorine automatically from salt, using a replaceable titanium cartridge that lasts up to four months. Fewer chemicals are used to make the water last and each cartridge can be replaced in seconds directly from the spa’s bar top, without tools or dealer assistance. Plus, with the FreshWater Salt System, hot tub owners can save money and conserve water by reducing the frequency of water changes.


All of this adds up to softer, cleaner, and more natural feeling spa water that is easier on the skin and eyes. Less maintenance also means more time to spend with your family or to relax alone to enjoy a transformative, restorative, and rejuvenating massage.


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Enjoy ease and comfort using the best salt water system for hot tubs.

The FreshWater Salt System Simplifies Water Care


Pure performance and simpler maintenance are why the FreshWater Salt System is our best salt water system for hot tubs. By creating small, steady amounts of chlorine from salt, the titanium cartridge-based FreshWater Salt System purifies spa water. To keep your water fresh, simply follow the prompts on the control panel every 10 days, change the cartridge every four months, and replace the water once per year. This reduces the need to add chlorine by hand, saving time and using fewer chemicals.


Since less sanitizer is used, spa water feels softer, smells better, and won’t irritate eyes or skin. Residues are reduced, so the water lasts far longer before it needs to be drained. Designed for ease, the system’s features work together to remove the need for time-consuming upkeep:


  • System integration. The FreshWater Salt System is integrated with the spa’s plumbing for seamless design and operation. No extra parts to install.
  • Titanium cartridge. The titanium cartridge housing is built into the spa’s bar top and the cartridge itself needs no cleaning. After four months of normal use, simply remove it from the housing, throw it away, and replace it.
  • Intuitive control panel. The Advent® LCD Touchscreen Control Panel, engineered into all 2019 Utopia Series spas, makes monitoring and maintaining sanitizer levels simple. Notifications help spa owners keep an eye on the water, and adjustments can be made with the touch of a finger.


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You’ll be likely to use your hot tub more often if you have our best salt water system.


Getting Started with the FreshWater® Salt System




All major components of the FreshWater Salt System are factory-integrated into 2019 and newer Caldera Utopia Series and Paradise Series spas. Once you opt for the system, your local spa dealer will complete the setup using the FreshWater Salt System Start-up Kit, which includes:


  1. Freshwater Vanishing Act® Calcium Remover
  2. FreshWater Salt Test Strips
  3. FreshWater 5-Way Test Strips
  4. FreshWater Spa Salt
  5. Phosphate test strip Pack (2 strips) and tube
  6. Salt Cartridge
  7. Salt Controller
  8. FreshWater Salt System Owner’s Manual FreshWater Salt System Owner's Guide


In areas with above-average levels of calcium in the water, it’s important to use the Vanishing Act calcium reducer included in the start-up kit to prevent scale and ensure smooth system operation. If metals are present in the water, which is common with well water, the Clean Screen® prefilter or Monarch® Stain and Scale Control should be used prior to starting the FreshWater Salt System. Your local Caldera hot tub dealer will know the best start-up procedure for your area.

It is also important to test for phosphates in your fill water using a phosphate test kit. Phosphates contribute to algae growth and will reduce the effectiveness of your salt system. If phosphate levels exceed 300 ppb, your dealer will recommend a phosphate removal product like Phosfree, Phosphate Remover, and Nano-Phos.


Even with the FreshWater Salt System installed and in operation, hot tub owners can continue to supplement water care. By inserting a silver cartridge into the hot tub filter, they can treat their water with ionized silver. The anti-microbial silver ions created by the low-maintenance Silver Stick cartridges work with the chlorine generated by the FreshWater Salt System to eliminate viruses and bacteria. The Silver Stick cartridge lasts up to four months, so it can be replaced at the same time as FreshWaterSalt System cartridge.

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Everything needed to get started with the best salt water system for hot tubs is included in a kit.


Enjoy Up To a Full Year of Clean Water


With the FreshWater Salt System, spa owners only need to drain and refill their hot tubs as little as once every 12 months with normal use. With traditional chlorine systems, spa water needs to be drained every three to four months. The FreshWater Salt System not only extends water life, but it also provides these rewarding benefits:


  • Water conservation. Hot tub owners using the FreshWater Salt System enjoy longer water life, resulting in the conservation of hundreds of gallons of water a year. Over the lifespan of a spa, this adds up to serious water savings.
  • Energy conservation. It takes more energy to heat hot tub water each time a spa is refilled than to keep it hot consistently. Draining and refilling hot tub water only once a year also saves on energy costs
  • More time for hot tub bliss. Without less time needed to attend to hot tub water, spa owners can slip into a comfortable soak any time they desire. This means they use their hot tubs more often, enhancing the wellness benefits of daily hot tub use and the effects of warm water immersion on health, mood, relationships, and sleep.


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Our best salt water system for hot tubs helps conserve water and electricity.



Saving Water with the FreshWater Salt System

Preserving and reusing our natural resources is more important today than ever before. The FreshWater Salt System was imagined, designed, and manufactured with water conservation as a top priority.


Since spa water purified by the FreshWater Salt System lasts longer, it cuts down on water use. Depending on local regulations, used hot tub water may be reused as grey water. If gray water use is permitted in your area, let the spa water sit for a few days without generating chlorine to allow the sanitizer to completely dissipate. When ready, you can use the gray water in several ways:


  • Washing a car, recreation vehicle, or house Using a submersible pump, garden hose, and a nozzle, hot tub owners can use their spa water to wash their cars, recreational vehicles, or their homes. A submersible pump is the simplest way to generate enough pressure for washing. If the hot tub is at a higher elevation than the house or vehicle, gravity itself can be used to provide pressure as well.
  • Watering a lawn or garden. Using a garden hose and sprinkler, hot tub owners can water shrubs, trees, vegetables, and even their lawns
  • Wetting a home’s foundation. Gray water can help prevent home foundations in drier parts of the United States from cracking when dry soil or rock shifts beneath them.


Using our best salt water system helps hot tub owners feel great every day.

Everyday Wellness with the FreshWater Salt System


Soaking in warm, clean water every day provides many powerful wellness benefits. The soft water and low levels of chlorine present in hot tubs using the FreshWater Salt System help enhance the positive effects of hot tub use:


  • Improved hydrotherapy. Salt water increases buoyancy, which is one of the pillars of hot tub hydrotherapy. Hot-tubbers can feel less weight on their joints, temporarily relieving some of the pain of arthritis. Massaging jets reinforce this effect and help ease muscle tension.
  • Elevated emotional well-being. With simpler maintenance and cleaner, softer, more inviting water, hot tub owners using the FreshWater Salt System will take advantage of their spas more often. Frequent hot tub use can improve sleep, provide an opportunity to connect with loved ones and help reduce anxiety.


Knowing the hot tub is always ready and waiting gives owners something wonderful to look forward to any time of day.


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Having our best salt water system for hot tubs means relaxation is always just a step away.


The FreshWater Salt System Means Fresher, Softer, More Natural Feeling Water


Hot tub shoppers have more to love about a Caldera spa than ever before, thanks to the innovative FreshWater Salt System.** The new system delivers on our commitment to Pure Comfort®, design, and performance. Designed for simplicity, the system turns simple maintenance into up to a year of clean water. Engineered for comfort, water purified by the FreshWater Salt System is fresher and more natural feeling than water cleaned by other methods. And built for performance, each titanium cartridge lasts for up to four months without needing to be cleaned or service. The only thing a hot tub owner needs to do is relax.


*Factors such as bather load and water chemistry can impact water life. When the spa is properly maintained, a 3-pack of cartridges with the FreshWater® Salt System will keep water clean and fresh for a full year. Not available in Canada.


**The FreshWater Salt System cannot be used on Caldera hot tubs manufactured prior to 2019.