Hydrogen Peroxide?

[wannabubble]

Have any of you had success with using hydrogen peroxide as the main chemical in your tub?
I saw the following article and wondering if anyone has experience.
Thanks for your input!!
PS  I am enjoying my first winter bubbling every nite!!!
 

    HOW TO USE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE IN YOUR POOL OR SPA Hydrogen Peroxide Pool and Spa discussion.

For a spa, we do recommend you drain it to get rid of all chemicals. However, H2O2 will not adversely interact with current pool chemicals and some will transition to H2O2 usage. If your pool is highly organically fouled, you may want to use a much higher initial level of H2O2 to kill the organics, drain this, and then go to the same maintenance levels as for a pool.

For a pool, it is not necessary to drain the pool if you do not want to until when you would regularly drain the pool while using pool chemicals. Or you may want to transition to H2O2 at that time. Hydrogen peroxide will not have any adverse reaction or interaction with pool chemicals. The level of H2O2 suggested below will vary by the amount of organic material that comes into the water (leaves, dust) and by pool usage that then also brings contaminating organics into the water. Within the context of the water volume in a swimming pool, increasing concentration to address high pool usage or high organic content can not reach a harmful level no matter how high a concentration you decide to use.
Below are the recommended levels. You may then adjust this later as you feel necessary.

NOTE - There are no hard and fast rules for pool and spa maintenance. Each pool or spa is unique and depends on the following factors:

Area of the country... heat levels, organic material entering pool or spa.
Type of water... hard, soft, etc.
Ultraviolet radiation levels... is pool or spa covered when not in use?
Level of use... how many times a day or week is it used.
All the above will affect maintenance programs. You will need to customize your own program to each pool or spa. Keep in mind that there is no danger of health problems even if you use H2O2 at too high a level for what is actually needed. Store bought H2O2 is at 3%. To get pool or spa levels to a 3% solution would be extremely expensive. You are looking at 100-200 parts per million for proper dosing, and even if you got to 1000 parts per million, you'd be nowhere close to 3%.

Getting started:

Many recommend shocking your pool or tub to start using hydrogen peroxide. Either Food Grade or Technical Grade can be used.

To “SHOCK” your pool or hot tub, a relatively high level is used at a ratio of 1 cup of 35% concentration for every 250 gallons. DO NOT RUN your pump continuously. Rather, run it only long enough to circulate the water and then turn off the pump. Ideally, you should add the H2O2 at sunset and allow the water to sit 24 hours before turning the pump back on. The tub or pool may be used afterwards.

It is NOT necessary to shock your pool or hot tub if you are starting with fresh water. H2O2 will not adversely interact with other pool chemicals.

POOL AND HOT TUB MAINTENANCE:

This depends quite a bit on the water source and the amount of organic materials that enter the water (dust, leaves, number of people using the pool etc.)  If you are starting with new water, a good starting point is 1 cup of 35% H2O2 for every 500 gallons of water.

H2O2 interacts with and oxidizes organic materials and decomposes with UV light.  This is a reason that H2O2 must be added time to time to maintain its level in the water. There is no danger of H2O2 levels increasing or forming dangerous residual chemicals.

H2O2 TEST STRIPS:

Peroxide test strips are a plastic strip with a reactive pad on one end. They are used to test the concentration of hydrogen peroxide in a solution. You can obtain these strips by doing a search on Google for "Hydrogen Peroxide Test Strips." Ideally, you would keep the concentration level measuring between 50 and 100 ppm. For areas with high levels of organic contamination potential, this can be safely increased to as high as 1000 ppm. You can find test strips doing a Google search for "hydrogen peroxide test strips."

NOTE: Be sure to check with your pool or spa manufacturer regarding H2O2 use on their equipment. Some systems have natural rubber which will be degraded by H2O2. More modern systems use a synthetic rubber which is not affected by H2O2.

CHECK YOUR FILTERS OFTEN: As with any pool or hot tub with a filtration system, you should regularly check your filter(s) as clogged filters will damage some pumping systems.

STORAGE: For best results, keep the H2O2 in a cool and dark place... either in a basement or frig. You can empty the gallon or 5 gallon bottles into 1 gallon or quart plastic containers and refrigerate or freeze them for optimum storage. UV light causes H2O2 to decompose.[/color]

[Vanguard]

I'm not a chemical expert, but I do know that the basic component of Baqua Spa shock is Hydrogen Peroxide.  Some people really like the Baqua Spa program and others don't like it at all.

I've been on the pool side of the business more than the hot tub, so my point of reference comes more from that.  I can't stand this type of system.  I have much better results with chlorine based systems.

However, I've never just used Hydrogen Peroxide as a shock.  Some of the chemical experts will be able to speak to that much better.

What is your reasoning for wanting to look at a system like this?

[wannabubble]

Number 1 is dry skin!!!  Number 2 is the appeal of lighter chemicals, from what I have read, very little clorine is needed.  Number 3 is the possible cost reduction of chemicals.  
Just looking for feed back right now, my husband has access to high powered HP through his employer.  
I have the ozone system and it appears that the HP will would great with it!!  According to some articles I have read....we'll see.  I'm not putting any in until I get some opinions of people that have used it with success!!!  

Why do you dislike the Baqua system?

Thanks for your reply!!!

[Vanguard]

I don't like Baqua because of the added difficulty in keeping the water clear.  To me, I've never seen the water look as good.  Plus, it tends to cause the water to effervesce more than chlorine.  I believe that is the HP doing that, but I'm not sure.

I keep very little chlorine in my spa.  I use ozone, silver cartridge and dichlor.  The only time I have high levels of chlorine in my water is when I need to shock it.  But with shocking, the residual chlorine amount goes down within a day.  I never get dry skin.  In fact, the water always feels nice.

[hottubdan]

Consider SilkBalance.  http://www.silkbalance.com

We have dozens of new users.  They love it.  Still new in US, but it is growing.

[chem geek]

Consider SilkBalance.  http://www.silkbalance.com

We have dozens of new users.  They love it.  Still new in US, but it is growing.

SilkBalance is, among other things, a phosphate buffer that will remove much of the calcium in the water (see here).  It is recommended to be used with an ozonator and silver ion generator (see here) if you want to use the minimum amount of product and it is recommended to add non-chlorine shock regularly to oxidize bather waste.

This is not a sanitizer, so if you don't have a silver ion system along with regular MPS dosing, then bacteria are not getting killed quickly.  This may be one of the reasons why it is not recommended for commercial use (see here).

Richard

[chem geek]

Have any of you had success with using hydrogen peroxide as the main chemical in your tub?

Hydrogen Peroxide is an oxidizer, not a fast-acting sanitizer.  It does not kill bacteria as quickly as chlorine, bromine or Baqua/biguanide/PHMB which are the three primary EPA-approved sanitizers (along with silver ion in conjunction with non-chlorine shock, MPS at the high temperatures in a hot tub).  Hydrogen Peroxide is normally used as the oxidizer in a Baqua sanitized spa/pool, but it is the Baqua that is the primary sanitizer.

Hydrogen Peroxide and chlorine are not compatible.  Chlorine (or bromine or MPS) will oxidize hydrogen peroxide to oxygen gas.

Richard

[Gary]

H202 also can a negative affect on the plastics in the spa, I have seen jets, light lens, control panels all crack from H202. It is mainly Lexan it attacks, several manufactures use Lexan as it is a very strong polymer. Most manufactures have made concessions for this but my thought is if it will break lexan how long before it breaks down PVC?

There is also a lot of older hot tubs out there that have Lexan jets, if you used H202 in those you could ruin the spa.

It also is very hard on pump seals.

Read your owner's manual and only use what the manufactures recommends.

Myself I cannot recommend it from what I have seen on the pool and spa side when used.