Hot Tubs are like boats and pools. Best when close friends and family own them. Not you.

That said, the BEST thing to do is keep it TIP TOP. That way no one gets chemical burns or conversely--Some nasty fuggin' disease like chlamydia.

You should visit your county health dept and get "The List" of nasty diseases you can get from pools and hot tubs with inadequate chems.

There's a few on there that are incurable and lethal.

Thurston Co's. "list" was posted on the bulletin board at The Valley Athletic a couple summers ago. I damn near yanked my daughter out of the kiddie urinal and rinsed her in rubbing alcohol on the spot.

Here's a few of the juicy ones:

Typhoid
Dysentery
Cholera
Botulism
Cryptosporidiosis
Giardia
E. Coli
Leptospirosis
Salmonella