How Often to Clean or Replace Your Inflatable Hot Tub Filter
Here’s the short answer: a common owner routine is to rinse the filter about once a week (more with heavy use), deep-clean it when a rinse no longer gets it looking clean, and replace it when it stays dirty no matter what you do. The SaluSpa manual is stricter: check and clean the cartridges daily, and change them every week. Treat that as the careful end of the range and adjust for how hard your tub actually works.
If that sounds like three different answers, that’s because it is. The reason filter advice online is so contradictory — “clean it every two weeks!” “replace every three months!” — is that people are talking about three different operations without saying which one they mean. Untangle that, and the whole thing gets simple.
Safety note: check your pump against the 2024 recall. In September 2024 the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a recall of about 866,000 Bestway AirJet and HydroJet spa pumps sold with SaluSpa, Coleman and Hydro-Force spas from May 2021 to May 2024, because they can overheat and catch fire (recall 24-359). Before doing anything below, read the model number on the label on the side or back of your pump. The recalled models are P05332, P05339, P05711, P05807, P07000, P07001, P05511, P07034 and P07572. If yours is one of them, stop using it and follow the CPSC recall notice or Bestway’s recall page for a free replacement or a refund. The SaluSpa pump recall guide walks through the label check and what to do next.
The three filter jobs people mix up
| Job | What it is | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Rinse | Hose or tap water through the pleats to flush loose debris | Many owners do it weekly; the SaluSpa manual says check and clean daily |
| Deep clean | A longer soak in a filter-cleaner solution to dissolve oils and scale | When rinsing stops working — many owners land on roughly monthly |
| Replace | New cartridge | The manual says every week, and to replace any cartridge that stays soiled and discolored; many owners stretch this further with good rinsing |
So when someone on a forum says “every two weeks” and someone else says “every three months,” they’re probably both right — about different jobs. The two-weeks person is talking about cleaning; the three-months person is talking about replacing (and rinsing regularly in between).
The reason it matters: that little cartridge is what physically strains debris out of the water. It’s only part of the job — the manual is clear that cleaning the filter alone isn’t enough, and you still need sanitizer, balanced water and a clean spa. But let it clog and you invite flow errors and cloudy water — more on that below.
How often should you clean an inflatable hot tub filter?
Unplug the pump before you touch the filter. The SaluSpa manual’s filter-care section is explicit: “CAUTION: You must ensure the pump is unplugged before beginning spa maintenance to avoid risk of injury or death” (p. 19). That goes for every rinse, soak or swap below.
The weekly rinse is the workhorse. Pop the cartridge out, run tap or hose water through the pleats — angle the spray so it flushes debris out of the folds rather than deeper in — and put it back (or better, swap in a dry spare while this one dries). It takes two minutes and it’s already part of the 10-minute weekly routine if you’re following that.
For the record, the SaluSpa manual goes further: it says to check and clean the filter cartridges daily. That’s stricter than the weekly rinse above, and my reading of that cadence is that these small cartridges load up fast. My take: a quick visual check whenever you use the tub, a proper rinse weekly, and a rinse that evening after any heavy session (guests, kids, sunscreen day).
The deep clean is for what a rinse can’t touch. Body oils, lotion, and scale from hard water work into the pleats and won’t hose out — the cartridge looks cleaner after a rinse but feels slimy or stays dingy. That’s when many owners give it an overnight soak in a spa filter cleaner. I won’t give you a recipe here: use a purpose-made cartridge cleaner and follow the label on the product you buy. One thing owners warn against is household detergent: they report the residue foams up once the jets hit it, which is exactly the problem covered in the cloudy and foamy water guide.
How often you deep-clean depends on load. Two adults a few evenings a week? Rinsing may carry you a long way. Daily soaks or lotion-heavy skin? The manual notes that lotions and skin residue degrade water quality quickly, and owners in hard-water areas report soaking cartridges sooner too. The filter tells you — when rinsing stops bringing it back, it’s due.
How often should you replace the filter?
Here’s where I have to give you two honest numbers instead of one neat one.
What the manual says: the SaluSpa manual recommends changing the cartridges every week, and replacing any that stay soiled and discolored. That’s the official line, and if you want to follow Bestway to the letter, it’s the one to use.
What owners actually do: weekly replacement adds up fast, and many owners report stretching cartridges well beyond that — weeks or even a couple of months — by rinsing often and deep-cleaning when needed. I get it, and with light use and soft water a well-kept cartridge keeps doing its job for a good while.
If you do stretch past the manual’s weekly change, don’t stretch blindly: replace on condition. The manual’s own signs are a cartridge that stays soiled and discolored, and its E02 check: if the flow error disappears when you run the filter with the filter set removed, clean or change the cartridge. Owners add a few more:
- It stays grey or dingy after a rinse (and after a soak, if you’ve tried one)
- The pleats are fraying, flattening, or coming apart
- It feels slimy even after cleaning
- You’re getting cloudy water or flow errors that clear up whenever you put a fresh cartridge in — that last one is the filter confessing
Any of those, and the cartridge is done. They’re cheap; the problems they cause aren’t. Keep two or three spares so replacement is never a “wait for shipping” decision — and so you can always rotate a dry one in while the other dries.
The dirty-filter tax: E02 errors and cloudy water
If you need motivation to actually do this, here it is: a neglected filter is the common thread behind the two complaints that fill every inflatable-hot-tub forum.
The E02 flow error. The pump throws E02 when it can’t detect proper water flow, and the manual’s own cause list has the filter all over it — dirty cartridge, blocked filter housing, scale on the intake grilles. A clogged cartridge literally starves the pump. And there’s a sneaky cousin: owners report that an over-tightened filter housing can cause an E02 that keeps coming back — snug is enough. If you’re staring at that code right now, the E02 fix checklist walks the whole cause tree in order.
Cloudy water. A saturated filter can’t polish the water no matter how good your chemistry is — the fine particles just recirculate. If your water keeps hazing over, test first: check the free chlorine and pH against the chlorine guide, then look hard at the cartridge. The manual lists short filtering time, a dirty cartridge and improper water maintenance side by side as causes of water that isn’t clean.
Hard-water areas get hit double: the manual notes that hard water can block the debris screens with calcium build-up, and owners report scale in the pleats too, so both the filter and the openings around it need attention more often. If your kettle or faucets scale up fast, assume your filter schedule needs to run faster too.
What filter does my model take?
This is where I’d love to give you a universal answer, and there isn’t one. Cartridge type and size vary by brand and model — SaluSpa, Coleman, and Intex each do their own thing, and even within a brand the fit can differ. Check your model’s manual (or ask the manufacturer’s support) for the exact cartridge type before you order anything.
Generic third-party cartridges are widely available and many owners use them happily — they’re often the cheapest way to keep spares stocked. Just make sure the listing matches your exact cartridge type and dimensions, not just the brand name. “Fits SaluSpa” on a listing is a starting point, not a guarantee; the photos and measurements need to match what came out of your tub.
FAQ
Can I run the tub without a filter while it dries? Not as a routine. The manual does have you briefly run the filter with the filter set removed, but only as a diagnostic check for E02, not as a way to operate. The filter is part of the flow path the pump expects, and unfiltered water means debris heading straight for the pump. This is what spares are for — rotate a dry one in.
Does a new filter fix cloudy water by itself? Only if the filter was the problem. Cloudy water can be chemistry, filtration or both — test first, then work through the 3-step fix in order rather than throwing a cartridge at it and hoping.
My filter keeps turning green or brown fast. Why? Something’s feeding it — low sanitizer letting things grow, heavy debris (leaves, pollen), or lots of bather load. A filter that dirties unusually fast is a symptom; test the water and tighten up the routine rather than just buying more cartridges.
Do I really need to bother if I change the water often? Fresh water helps a lot — the manual actually says that without chemical treatment the water should be changed every three days — but the filter still catches what’s in the water between changes. Cheap insurance either way.
Got a filter routine that’s worked for you long-term — or a cartridge horror story? Tell me. Real owner schedules are exactly what I want this page to reflect.
Jake Weber — Jake Weber is the pen name of Rookie Spa’s editor. I don’t sell spas or chemicals, and I’m not affiliated with any brand. Every guide here starts from the manufacturer’s manual, is cross-checked against the questions and fixes owners report most often, and is written in plain English for first-time owners — with a clear warning whenever something involves electricity or water safety.