You will never use it as a spa again ? At this point there is no turning back the spa is done for as a therapy water soaking device spa. Price point and cost reasons as you may know. Remove all panels and set them to the side I'm sure you have removed all the electrical connections pumps blowers relays circuitry ect. If you can flip it on a side peel and scrape to remove the bottom insulation expose the bottom suction pipe work. They'll be PVC threaded nuts easy to cut out with a small blade hack saw and easily remove the bottom suctions completely. Blower holes (jets): These will be smaller in size to the water jets and will loop back down then up as a Heartford Loop. While flipped you can remove every connection to the blower holes You shouldn't have to worry about the blower manifold it is under the Heartford Loop and closest to the actual blower motor Same removal tool a small hacksaw blade for these back underside nuts as well a wrench may do the job here too just cutting them will be easier If you care to try your hand at some plumbing then you could even re-plumb some of the water jets to the bottom suctions as well. One person can lift 900 pound spas from the ground to any of it's sides and up to a 3-4 foot high deck all day long alone but that's only because the one person who can do it knows how. I'd suggest you have 2-3 even 4 VERY CAPABLE people to help flip it and depending on size of spa. How to flip a spa on it's side: When drained and ready to flip place a 2x4x6inck long block of wood on a corner of the narrowest side ( less weight) 2) Use two people to lift a corner where block of wood is 3) kick the piece of wood under the corner leaving some of the 2x4x6inch wood exposed 4) Use the remaining 2x4x8 as a lever placing it into the spa bottom and 2x4x6 inch 5) PUSH the lever upward to again flip the corner 2x4x6 inch corner block so the spa sits on the 4 inch side of wood You can repeat these steps again to set it on the six inch side of a 2x4 but should be easy to lift the rest of way on side by sheer lifting by using 3-4 peoples hands and arms. If one person is to lift best advice is to let the center of gravity be your best friend now. Okay ? At this point if you want to continue walking the spa up ( and over on it's side) use a second 2X4 on the same lifted side of other slightly lifted corner. A shop type vacuum cleaner will help remove any residual water in all the pipes. If the pipes dont get cut vacuum the inside of each jet. When bringing back to ground move slowly with good communications and slowly down with same steps as lifting in reverse to set on piles wood blocks or cinder blocks as rest stops to ground level area. Panels : Remember those things you set to the side ? Before you put them back on you still have a chance to cut the backs of each nut of each water jet and remove them as well with a small hack saw blade. You may have to remove some pretty hard tuff foam sprayed insulation here. Use a pry bar and go easy if you want to prevent prevent cracking of the spas fiberglass shell You can also drill a couple 4-6 inch holes in the bottom of the spa as well but you will also be going though unseen surfaces other than fiber glass. Understand the hole saw blade on the end of drill might not be deep enough to reach a visually safe hole for drainage of future raised bed gardening spa. Personally I think what your doing is the best thing to happen to any spa.

What is the pool made out of? If its aluminum, or steel wall I would pass, unless you want it to be a disposable pool.

Hi Nick-- We have a similar situation with our pool, if I understand your question correctly. If your plumbing is set up like ours, the spa and pool run independently through the pump and heater. When the spa is on, the pump is only pulling water from the spa skimmer and floor drains then returning that heated water to the spa jets. Our gas heater has separate settings for either spa or pool mode, so we can run different temperatures on each. When the spa is off and the pool is on, the pump is only pulling water from the pool skimmer and drain and returning to the pool via in-floor cleaning heads. There is no cold water from the pool coming into the spa (unless we change the valves to purposefully do that). Your question is finding a cover to put on the spa that will help maintain the temperature while the spa is not in use, from one night to the next. We live in Kansas City where the nights have been getting down to freezing, so our spa water temperature has been dropping about 20 degrees from one night to the next. We haven't started covering it yet, but we also have a blue "bubble wrap" pool cover (from a previous pool) that we are planning to try to see if it helps any. Our PB did recommend a floating foam cover made from material similar to foam pool floats but thinner. I think he said it is about 1/2" thick, so it can be rolled up when taken off. The price range was a couple hundred dollars he thought (our spa is semi-circular about 10' x 15'). He didn't mention the name of the vendor he would order it from, but it does exist. This may be what you already found online, but it was the only solution our PB had for us. Let me know if you find something better. Here is a link that might be useful:

1newbie, I would not cap the air fittings. You can stub up each fitting above the water level and add an air fitting that can be turned off. Overflows are normally installed just above the tile line. Keep in mind that several bodies in a spa can raise the water level up a lot. I would install an auto-fill as well. If your detached spa operates off the same wquipment as the pool, you can over flow into the pool using a skimmer. Good luck.