Hot Tub Chemistry
You’re Late! Keep Up on Spa Chemicals!
Pressed for Time?
Nobody enjoys being late, but for some of us it just comes along with being human… especially on Monday. Every morning in my house reminds me of a movie in fast-motion. One minute I am laying in bed snoozing my alarm, and an hour later I have gotten myself ready, the kids ready, packed lunches, taken the dogs out, made breakfast, drank 2 cups of coffee, dropped the kids at school, and am rushing to make it to work on time. Needless to say, it’s a miracle if I make it to work any earlier than 9:05am.
The Back Burner
Nobody likes to be rushed, but when we are we tend to put less noticeable things on the back burner. For example, I am sure there has been a time when you were planning to put spa chemicals in your hot tub, but were in a pinch and decided to use your time to cook for the family instead.
It’s vital to stay on top of the upkeep of your spa maintenance. There are agents and treatments that can be put into your hot tub with regular maintenance that can keep the water crystal clear. If you can add this chemical as a normal hot tub maintenance feature, you will enjoy crystal clear water and always be a step or two ahead of the hard water calcium build up that can turn even the cleanest water cloudy. If I have ever given good advice in my lifetime, here it is: always keep a backup supply. When you’re crunched for time like many of us are in this crazy world, a little extra stock won’t hurt anybody. I know you will be glad you did!
Keeping Hot Tub Water Clean
Are We Lovin’ It?
McDonald’s announced last week that it has stopped using ammonium hydroxide in the production of its hamburgers. This chemical, used in fertilizers, household cleaners and even homemade explosives, was also used to prepare McDonalds’ hamburger meat. While this announcement has been headlining all over the place, you may (or may not) want to know about some other disturbing additives being used in foods that you may eat daily.
It’s All About Better Ingredients
Everywhere we look: Restaurants, TV, billboards, product labels, grocery stores. Go Green, All Natural, Organic, 100% Real is the new way to go. This should not only apply to what you put into your body, but also what you put your body into! (Like your Spa water!)
So, How Often Should I Change the Spa Water?
Every person who enters your spa will leave behind sweat,dead skin and body oils (This could be referred to as the Hot Tub Industry’s “Pink Slime”) Aside from the gross factor, changing the spa water will keep this type of gunk from building up on vital spa parts. This is even more crucial if you have a large bather load.
Moral of the story, folks… Stay ahead of the game, drain your water regularly, and stay away from the Pink Slime. You will be glad you did!
The Truth About Ozone and Your Hot Tub
The Truth about Ozone and your Hot Tub
Ozone generators have been factory-installed on hot tubs for about 25 years, and in the last 12 years ozone has been standard equipment on 90% of all spa brands. Why? Have you ever thought about what’s IN your spa? Water, heated water, that’s right. When customers buy a spa, surely they don’t think, “oh, I can’t wait to struggle with water chemistry!” Hot tub manufacturers realized that installing ozone generators on their hot tubs would greatly reduce consumers’ stress when dealing with their hot tub water chemistry. They wanted to provide a powerful sanitizing component for their hot tubs as a first line of defense, protecting their consumers from viruses and bacteria, wihle making the water chemistry components much easier to deal with. Ozone does not eliminate the need for small quantities of back up sanitation, but greatly reduces the need for bromine or chlorine down to 1 PPM.
Ozone KILLS. It’s organic, biodegradable, 100% natural, AND 3,000 times FASTER than chlorine at killing anti-microbials (which is a fancy word for viruses and bacteria).
What is ozone?
Ozone is a gas made up of three oxygen atoms. Take oxygen, or O2, and split it in half. Now each oxygen atom, O1, freaks out and attaches to another O1 passing, becoming O2. They become ozone, O3, when a third O1 attaches itself. What makes this unique is its oxygen’s INCREDIBLE desire to NOT be O3; three’s a crowd and they hate it. They just want to be oxygen. So, as ozone gas is introduced to the water it looks for an organic victim to crash into, which releases the extra oxygen atom, O1, so it can find another O1 and live happily ever after as O2 again.
How Long Does Ozone Last?
Some say ozone lasts milliseconds, some say minutes, some even say 22 minutes. The truth is this: as soon as ozone finds an oxidize-able substance (virus, bacteria, mold, fungus, yeast, body oils, other sticky stuff), ozone does its job and is gone. So, if the spa is dirty, ozone’s probably done it’s job in milliseconds. If the spa is clean, ozone gets a little bored and might travel into the spa. All spas are different.
You don’t want to SMELL ozone, per se, when you lift the cover. That can be an indicator that ozone is not IN the water where it should be. After all, isn’t that what you’re trying to clean? If you do smell strong ozone off gas from the surface bubbles, there are a few steps you can take with little effort to try to improve the off gas situation. Read below for tips.
Tips on how to tame the ozone bubbles burping into the spa
First, ensure your spa is equipped with a Mazzei Injector. They are proven to get ozone IN the water with a high dissolution rate. Most spas in the last 12 years are ozone ready, and come with a Mazzei.
Second, DEL has orifices that can be placed over the air intake nipple of the ozone generator (not the inlet with the ozone hose, but the other one). There are 3 shapes and sizes available. For an MCD-50, use 9-0839-01. Remove the cover of the MCD-50, knock out the second-to-right knock-out on the bottom of the unit, and slip the tubing with orifice through the knock-out and over the electrode nipple.
When an ozone generator is installed on a portable spa or hot tub, the water smells good, looks clear, and feels soft. That’s due to ozone’s natural ability to pull yucky stuff out of the water and let water be water.
Ozone cleans the water by pulling little particles out and into the filter (this process is called micro-flocculation, which is a fun word to use at parties). Ozone also de-oils the spa. Now the spa is easy to keep up and you enjoy your water so much, you eventually buy another spa (good for the economy). Other folks, you know the story, I bought my spa 5 years ago. For the first few, we used it all the time. Then, slowly I started needing more and more chemicals. It didn’t feel good to soak in anymore.
Another benefit of ozone is the confidence you get from knowing your spa is healthier and safer than spas without ozone. Ozone kills 99.99% of ALL viruses and bacteria upon contact, leaving nothing but pure, rich oxygen in its wake. Ahhhh.
Most spas already have an ozonator when you leave the showroom floor with your new investment (the spa).
If you have a spa that is five years or older, there’s a big chance the ozone generator has lived its useful life and is now in need of a replacement.
Replacing your ozone generator is pretty easy to do. We are ozone pros at SpaPartsNet.com so please contact us if you need help figuring out:
- Is there already an ozone generator (aka ozonator)?
- Do you need 120V, or 240V? If you don’t know, we have Dual Voltage Spa Eclipse for you.
- What kind of a plug do you need? Some are white and flat with four pins and 3 wires; this is an AMP. Some are pink and kind of look like a face without a smile. The list goes on.
- How many gallons is your spa?
For more hot tub tips and advice, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Foam in Hot Tub
Foam in a hot tub can be annoying. What causes this? What can you do to eliminate it?
There are several different factors that can cause foam in hot tubs. Probably one of the biggest causes is soap, lotions, hairspray, oils and dead skin from your body. When entering the hot tub these products wash off and enter the hot tub water causing the foam. One of the best ways to combat this is by showering before you enter the hot tub. These products and by products over time cause a build up of total dissolved solids in the water. This is what causes the foam. Oxidizers like chlorine (dichlor) and non chlorine shock can help get rid of some of these products but eventually the build up is so extreme that the water is permanently cloudy and the only solution is to drain the hot tub and start with fresh fill water.
Filling the hot tub with soft water will also increase the foam activity.. take care to bypass water softeners before filling the tub.
Any time you are losing the battle with foam, its time to drain and refill with fresh water.
Chlorine Use In Hot Tubs
Chlorine Use In Hot Tubs
My favorite sanitizing chemical for hot tubs is Sodium Dichlor. I’ve outlined the reasons in other posts and the spa care guide, but what about other chlorine compounds? I’ve noticed some recent searches lately that brought to my attention the fact that some folks want to know about the possibilities of using other chlorine compounds like Calcium Hypochlorite, Sodium Hypochlorite, TriChlor,and Lithium Hypochlorite.
- Calcium Hypochlorite: Cal-Hypo as we call it in the industry is loaded with calcium and has a high hH. Now if you were filling your hot tub with soft water from a conditioner (which you should try to bypass) You could use Cal-hypo to bring up your calcium a bit. Continuous use however will raise your pH swiftly and your calcium levels as well and could cause scaling on your hot tub walls and your equipment, mainly heater elements. As an emergency sanitizer or one time use, it probably wont hurt. It just shouldnt be the chlorine you use all the time. If you do use it, you should test your water frequently and adjust for ph levels that will increase!
- Sodium Hypochlorite: You know this chemical as “Bleach.” It too can be used in emergencies but also has an extremely high pH which over time will cause scaling and possible staining. Using Sodium hypochlorite requires monitoring pH levels closely and correction will be required.
- Tri Chlor: Typically used in tabletized chlorine for swimming pools, tri chlor has an extremely LOW pH and a very high available chlorine content. It will bring down your pH and Total alkalinity quickly and should not be used for hot tubs.
- Lithium Hypochlorite: This chlorine compound is not as readily available as others but it has a neutral pH and is totally soluble. It is fine for use in hot tubs but more expensive than dichlor.
- Sodium dichlor: Dichlor has a neutral ph and is also stabilized. It is the perfect sanitizer for hot tubs. some people may argue that the stabilizer builds up over time, but if you drain your spa on a regular schedule it should not be an issue.
Hope this helps clear up the confusion on this often searched issue! Using the right chlorine compound in your hot tub is critical to both your enjoyment and the condition of your equipment!
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Using Baking Soda in a Hot Tub
Why Use Baking Soda in a Hot Tub?
I’ve noticed several searches recently on this subject so i thought i might expound on it a bit. Baking soda, (chemical name: sodium bicarbonate) can be an important additive for many hot tubs. The primary reason for using "bicarb" is to raise the total alkalinity of the water. This Buffers your Ph against change, raises it slightly and keeps your water from being aggressive to your equipment. As you probably already know.. perfect Ph for a hot tub is between 7.2 and 7.8. With the ph scale from 0 to 14, with 0 to 6 being acidic and 8 to 14 being basic, the "7′s" are considered "neutral." That being said.. the Ph scale is exponential…like the richter scale. A pH of 6 is 10 times more acidic than a pH of 7. It all has to do with hydrogen ions but i’m not going to get into that now.
Aggressive (acidic) water is the single most damaging issue that confronts hot tub owners. Aggessive water will EAT your heater element up .. fast! Even if the damage is slight… a little pinhole in the sheathing that protects a heater element’s electric core, the heater (or element) is now garbage, will cause GFCI tripping, and must be replaced!
So how, you ask, did my water become aggressive? Because certain products you may use in your hot tub affect the pH and alkalinity. Probably the biggest culprit is one of the most popular sanitizers in the industry : Bromine. Those convenient little tablets have a pH of around 2. You throw your floating bromine feeder in water that is perfectly balanced: pH between 7.2 and 7.8 with an alkalinity of 80 to 140 and guess what happens. The Acidic properties of the Bromine bring DOWN your pH AND alkalinity! Now, i realize that you have a cover on your hot tub, but when you remove it., where is your bromine feeder? Its sucked up against the skimmer or caught in your filter wier. The water flowing across it and drawing it to these suction ports of your hot tub is now pulling LOW pH water through your pump and pumping it right across your filter element! Can you say "formula for disaster?" At least to your heater element!
there are other products that can erode your pH and total alkalinity as well. Tabletized chlorines like trichlor also have extremely low pH. Anytime you CAN check the pH of a product do so!
How do you prevent this erosion of pH and Alkalinity? BAKING SODA! Good ole Arm and Hammer! Sodium Bicarbonate…YES! Since Bicarb raises you total alkalinity, it also will bring up your pH and protect it from eroding.
I often get calls and letters from people saying that their pH is high and they cant get it to come down. My question is usually: what is your total alkalinity? Many times the answer is "I dont know" My next question is how are you testing your water? Most people who are testing their water with drops can experience a phenomenon that bromine can cause: a "seemingly high" pH. The problem with many of the 2 in 1 test kits is that they don’t test alkalinity! My reccommendation is to use 4 in 1 test strips. These strips will give you a total Alkalinity reading which is very helpful when trying to decide if you water is aggressive. My experience with bromine is this… you will NEVER have a high pH and you will always be adding bicarb to bring UP the pH and TA of the water. If you use bromine and aren’t adding bicarb on a regular basis, i can promise that your water is aggressive.
Of course now you want to know how much to add. It all depends on where your alkalinity is when you start, but if you add it in 1 to 2 ounce increments and closely monitor daily you should be able to come to your own formula based on your experience. NOTE.. if your ph and alklyinity are radically low.. don’t be shy about using a third of a cup or so IF you can’t drain. If you CAN drain and refill or drain half and dilute.. that would be a good start.. Then if still low, you can add some from there.
Fresh fill water can solve many problems and one of the reasons i reccomend that over a heavy dose of bicarb is that if damage has been done.. IE you water now has dissolved metals in it, radically raising the pH can cause these metals and minerals to immediately come out fo solution and turn your water shockingly orange or blue. This indicates metals in the water and these metals are there because the acidity of the water has dissolved them.
Fill water testing is always reccommended. For those of you who have read the Spa Care Guide, you know i recommend testing Fill from the start to know from the beginning what your values are, A point to know is that municipal water supplies need to keep their water in the good and neutral range as well or else copper pipes, iron pipes and concrete pipes will be damaged by low pH. Well water is different and may vary extremely across the board. For more info Check the Spa Care Guide..
