New J-345 tub questions about operation and chemic

[TASTEofVirginia]

Just got a brand new J-345 hot tub and our dealer is not very helpful in answering questions and the service is crap.  They set us up with Simple Blue.  The hot tub is cloudy and we took a water sample in and they said to add half pound of calcium and also to add some power boost after soaking.  Also noticed that there is a ring of scum going around the hot tub, what to do about this?  Also how does one change the setting to by pass the manufactures set temp of 100 degrees, we tried reading the manual and doing what it says in there but doesn't seem to work.  We set it for like 95 degrees and it will stay above that.  We need a good temp for the summer, any suggestions? Any sites or step by step instructions with chemicals also would be helpful?  Thanks.  

[NJVinny]

You can't trust some dealers!

You may have to drain and refill....

I use 2 cups of calcium chloride in 400 gallons of water, don't know if that's 1/2 pound or not.

Get onto either chlorine or bromine, there are proponents of both here and either way you can be helped. AND get a Taylor test kit! You need to know you water chemistry ... don't leave it up to a dealer. You need to measure PH, alkalinity, calcium and sanitizer. Most kits will have a stabilizer test ... change the water every 3 or 4 months and don't worry about this.

Bromine and chlorine are the two sanitizers that are used mostly and we all have great success with both systems. Non chlorine shock is useful for your weekly or biweekly shock.

As far as temp ... hopefully some Jacuzzi people will come along and chime in.

[bhziii]

Congrats on the J-345.  We just got our J-355 a couple of weeks ago.  I will say that our dealer has been very helpful, but we have done a lot of reading on this forum and experimented ourselves and I think we got it.  I can't comment on the Simple Blue.  We use Bromine.  I will say that we dumped the water the first week.  It's a learning game.  We also drained a little b/c the PH had gone too far down.

As far as temp goes, it all depends on where you live.  I am assuming you know how to lower the temp, but if the ambient temp gets too hot which happens where I live (Texas) it gets really tough to control the temp.  If you are in a warm climate then you might want to change the filtration settings to economy.  This will not solve the problem 100% though.  Another option is to shad the tub.  We are looking into SPA umbrellas, but haven't decided yet.  The other thing that I learned on this site it prop the lid with tennis balls or a bigger ball.  We do this every night so that the temp drops.

Hang in there.

b

[Jacuzzi Jim]

Just got a brand new J-345 hot tub and our dealer is not very helpful in answering questions and the service is crap.  They set us up with Simple Blue.  The hot tub is cloudy and we took a water sample in and they said to add half pound of calcium and also to add some power boost after soaking.  Also noticed that there is a ring of scum going around the hot tub, what to do about this?  Also how does one change the setting to by pass the manufactures set temp of 100 degrees, we tried reading the manual and doing what it says in there but doesn't seem to work.  We set it for like 95 degrees and it will stay above that.  We need a good temp for the summer, any suggestions? Any sites or step by step instructions with chemicals also would be helpful?  Thanks.  

I dont know too much about the blue stuff,we carried a product for awhile called Pristine blue,it used copper as a sanitizer.  Some people like it some didnt,but you should be getting more support from your dealer than it sounds like your getting??  Scream louder sometimes that works but be nice.  

 Your spa also should go up to 104*  make sure you are not in some kind of economy mode??