Watkins FreshWater IQ system monitors and treats spa water
Watkins Wellness has been perfecting its saltwater sanitization system since it introduced ACE Saltwater in 2010. In 2019, the company launched a reimagined saltwater system under the FreshWater brand and has been building on its capabilities since. In 2024, it added a Smart Monitoring Sensor, giving the system the ability to monitor and report on the water quality, taking away the guesswork and chore of using test strips. And now, in 2025, it’s adding the option to dose the water with the proper chemicals to keep water balanced. The combination of all three systems is called FreshWater IQ and can be controlled from the newly updated spa apps.
“Fundamentally, we’ve been trying to remove all of those barriers to entry and pain points that consumers have traditionally had in spa ownership,” says Steve Stigers, executive vice president at Watkins Wellness.
“It’s a paradigm shift for the industry because there isn’t anything else out there like it,” says Rob Anderson, vice president at Olympic Hot Tub. “We’ve had enormous success with the salt system, ever since ACE first came out. FreshWater IQ helps automate sanitizing the water. The smart monitoring system dials in exactly what [customers] need to do to adjust the water. And then with the dosing, it’s almost going to be hands-off.”
How it works
A canister, about the size of a printer ink cartridge, with three compartments containing pH up, pH down and a phosphate remover attaches underneath the filter lid. A medical-grade pump injects water into the housing, converting the granular water care product into a liquid, which then doses the spa water with the amount of product instructed from the app or topside control. Depending on usage, the water care products need to be refilled about once every three months.
Stigers says the phosphate removal product was necessary to ensure the chlorine generated is used optimally. “A lot of municipalities are putting phosphates into their water because it helps prevent corrosion in public sewer systems,” Stigers says, explaining that phosphates eat up chlorine. “You need to manage your phosphate levels so you can maintain a residual chlorine.”
Field testing
Watkins dealers and their customers have been beta testing FreshWater IQ with Dosing and the new spa apps for several months, giving the company insight into how the product will be used and perform in the field.
George Dalhamer, owner of Hot Spring Spas of Dayton, has been testing it on his own hot tub along with eight of his customers. “From my personal experience, it’s worked very well,” he says, adding that his customers like that they have another vehicle to simplify water care.
“With FreshWater IQ, you can see on your screen what your water needs,” says Sky Matula, owner of The Hot Tub Store in Northern California. “And then just press a button, and it doses your pH up or down to make your water always beautiful and lovely.”
New app design
Watkins will also be launching newly redesigned apps for Hot Spring and Caldera spas in 2025. The apps offer full remote control of the water temperature, jets and FreshWater IQ. Users can check status updates and receive notifications. Additionally the app offers AI assistance, giving users troubleshooting tips and recommendations for water care.
“The new app is super user-friendly and allows you to control a lot of components that the consumer wants to be able to do,” Matula says.
The FreshWater IQ dosing system will be available in the coming months on all Hot Spring Highlife and Limelight Collection spas and all Caldera Utopia and Paradise Series spas.
Ongoing maintenance
“It’s a 10- or 15-minute install and it’s done,” says Kyle Mueller, owner of Snake River Pool & Spa in Idaho, whose customers also participated in beta testing. “It takes the human error out of the equation and puts it into the computer’s hand or the phone’s hand.”
The ongoing maintenance is fast as well. The FreshWater salt cartridge needs to be replaced every four months, the monitoring sensor once a year and the dosing products once every three months depending on usage. But all of that can be done by the customer at the topside of the hot tub — no need to open the cabinet.
“One of our product principles is the only person who should be inside that spa compartment is the service technician,” Stigers says. “We do not want the consumer in there at all.”
There’s a one-time hardware purchase to buy the dosing system, which can then easily be installed at time of delivery.
“Our FreshWater Salt System and our Smart Monitoring Sensor are a third of the price of the competitive products in the market,” Stigers says. “It’s a very comprehensive, affordable system.”
A move forward for the industry
As Watkins celebrates selling its two-millionth hot tub, its dealers are looking forward to offering a new product with capabilities that no other spas on the market have.
“I’m really excited for the people coming in to get a hot tub for their Airbnb property or their second home,” says Aaron Sunderland, operations manager at The Hot Tub Store. “This is a system that adds that extra notch for that premium customer, for the premium experience, to take the hassle, take the worry and put the experience back in the hot tub rather than the maintenance.”
Stigers says that as consumer prices keep increasing, differentiation becomes even more important.
“For example, if we’ve got this closed loop water management system that nobody else has, that’s a reason to pay a little bit more because on the backside, you’re going to have a much more enjoyable ownership experience,” he says, adding that while this advantage benefits Watkins dealers directly, he hopes that it has a trickle-down effect across the entire industry. “We want people who buy hot tubs to use them a lot and spread the good word to their friends. Whether they buy one of ours or not, we want more hot tubbers out there, and delivering these technologies is going to improve the user and ownership experience and ultimately enable more people to be purchasers.”