hydrogen peroxide use for chemical

[pikergal]

Hi...we just bought a artic spa used and a friend of ours was telling us that all she puts in her hot tub is hydrogen peroxide and she says its the best.  Her husband suffered an allergic reaction from the other chemicals and so they went to this and loved it.  I am a little hesitant though as you don't see that being recommended as a chemical use.  Just wondering if others have any experience using hydrogen peroxide.  Thanks

[Brewman]

I don't think I'd mess with it- is it even approved for use as a sanitizer?  I vaguely remember reading that one of the components of Baqua Spa had it as an ingredient, and if that's the case, it's an even better reason to stay away from the stuff.  
How does your friend know how much to use and how often?  How do they measure the level?  

[tony]

I don't think I'd mess with it- is it even approved for use as a sanitizer?  I vaguely remember reading that one of the components of Baqua Spa had it as an ingredient, and if that's the case, it's an even better reason to stay away from the stuff.  
 How does your friend know how much to use and how often?  How do they measure the level?  

Peroxide is approved for use as a sanitizer, but you can't just buy some at the drug store and dump it in your water.  I am also fuzzy on the details, but I believe there are issues with concentrations, etc.  If it was that easy and that good, everyone would use it.

If you want peroxide based sanitizers, use biguanides...Baqua, Soft Soak or Free.

[HotTubMan]

Pump seals and rubbergaskets and O rings will have their life dramatically reduced by the use of hydrogen peroxide.

It will void any and all warranties.

It does require daily applications.

Other than that, its a great way to sanitize your tub.

[galen]

To address your concern as to if it is safe. I use it straight as a mouth wash. I put it right on cuts. But as how it reacts to rubber and other seals I don't know.

[tony]

To address your concern as to if it is safe. I use it straight as a mouth wash. I put it right on cuts. But as how it reacts to rubber and other seals I don't know.

Well, I don't think that you use it straight.  In the bottle it is mostly water.  Household bleach is mostly water, too, but you wouldn't rinse you mouth out with it.  So that makes you think the sanitizing power of household peroxide is much weaker than that of bleach.  To get proper sanitation levels you need a much higher concentration of peroxide.  This, if I recall correctly, is the issue.  High concentrations of peroxide become dangerous to handle, much less what it does to the spa.  Every once in a while the peroxide issue comes up, mostly from people looking for a source of potent enough peroxide to sanitize with.

[galen]

Tony is correct. Household peroxide is like 2%. Its excellent for what I use it for. But you could dump the whole bottle in and not make any difference at 2%. But to use a full strengh h-p could be dangerous. Baqua Spa is a Hydrogen peroxide based  product that is chlorine and bromine free. This maybe what you are asking about. I'm not using it so don't know the pro's or con's of it.

[TattedVenus]

As someone had mentioned you want to use it as part of a non-chlorine system. I would recommend trying Bromine or Chlorine first, if you or someone in the family is allergic then thinking of using this as an alternative. It is a great system (BaquaSpa or Soft Soak) for those who have a Cl or Br allergy or those with extremely dry skin. You actually use the Peroxide as a "shock" that coexists with a Sanitizer made of a Biguanide. The Biguanide is similar to what srugeons use to scrub up with before surgery. There are testing strips out there to test the Perox and Biguanide in the tub. Check your warranty first or talk to tyour dealer before starting up with the product as it may void the warranty. Good Luck!

[Steve]

Poor choice. How do you test for it and what are safe levels? Talk to your dealer for better advise and get new friends!

Steve

[drewstar]

Hmmm. I never heard of using Hydrogen peroxide, and found this article:

http://www.ozonelab.com/articles/008.htm


From what I understand Hydrogen Peroxide; H2O2, It sanitizes much like Ozone (O3) releasing it's extra oxegen molucule into the water to oxidize bacteria.

[Chas]

I had a competitor in town about fifteen years ago who was big on this. He was making his own ozone system and selling high concentration H202 in large, brown bottles.

When his biz bellied up, I got a lot of customers who came to me looking for the supplies. I did my best to steer them over to chlorine. Most of them made the jump and never looked back.

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

After a few days of chuckling, and shaking my head, I guess I should add a few things.

HEY! You test for H2O2 with......... a test kit. They even make test strips for this stuff...geezz steve... oh, I forgot, still frozen up there eh?

Peroxide was a lot more common in spa sanitizing 15 or so years ago. Oh, and it's one of only three recognized and approved sanitizers by the EPA.

The peroxide used for spas though is/was typically of a 35% concentration. This is more than 10 times more concentrated than what you buy in the drug store. At 35% if you get it on your skin it will immediately burn you. Spill it on your clothes, and where it spilled will be a hole in about 12 hours. The warning label says FIRE and EXPLOSION danger. The instructions for required clothing to ware when handling approaches a full HazMat suit. Another "down side" was the containers needed to be vented. This made transporting then a bit tricky to prevent them from spilling.

My recollection, and it's been close to 20 years since I worked with it, was an average spa required about 1/2 cup a day. The spas I worked on with this had a peristaltic pump, with timer, feeding in small amounts throughout the day. The stuff worked VERY well.

Probably the biggest reason you don't see much of it these days is due to the liability issue.

[stuart]

One of my best freinds swore by it...He would not listen to me when I warned him against it. After a few years we replaced seals and some gaskets on his intake. After about 6 years he called and had several leaks...His plumbing was to brittle to do anything with, every jet had leaks, his impellor was about half the size it should have been and all of his pump unions where leaking.

He actually bought a system that fed H2O2 constantly

[Chas]

Baqua tends to have problems with polycarbonate plastics. I have a suspicion it might be the Hydrogen Peroxide they use for shock. It is 7%, BTW.

HS does not recommend using Baqua products in their older tubs because the impellors and light lenses were made of polycarbs. The newer tubs are fine.

[Chris_H]

Baqua tends to have problems with polycarbonate plastics. I have a suspicion it might be the Hydrogen Peroxide they use for shock. It is 7%, BTW.

HS does not recommend using Baqua products in their older tubs because the impellors and light lenses were made of polycarbs. The newer tubs are fine.

They better be fine because Hostpring is introducing that great new auto-dose system using Baqua Spa...