What's the Best Hot Tub

Author Topic: The Salt Dellima  (Read 14658 times)

chem geek

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Re: The Salt Dellima
« Reply #30 on: April 10, 2014, 10:57:29 am »
Chem Geek,
My comments were by no means meant to offend you...as I've said, you really have nothing to gain so your sharing of knowledge is greatly appreciated!

You've made my point much better then I did...many other systems are much harder to manage then dichlor and your way of using bleach may be effective but again, I would never recommend it to the average customer. I see people every day that still have their balancing agents from the start up kit in a box by their spa a year or more after delivery and yet they tell me "I check the water every week and it's always perfect. Then they don't understand when I tell them their pump seals have failed.

I would also agree with you on CYA, I'm currently testing the system out with borate to see if it lessens the corrosion. I would love to get the salt gen manufactures together with the chem experts and the field techs to see if we can't make it work more effectively!
e...Wow...I think with the reputation I've earned over the last 30 years doing this I really don't have to low blows like that from anyone!

No offense taken.  Just trying to explain the different perspectives.  You are absolutely right that there are some spa (and pool) owners that just refuse to do proper chemical maintenance so keeping things simple and safer is better for them.

You also picked up on the fact that the use of 50 ppm Borates makes sense to have in a saltwater chlorine generator spa.  Lowering the TA to around 50 ppm and using 50 ppm Borates is a combination that significantly lowers the rate of pH rise, especially if you don't try and lower the pH below 7.5 and you let the pH settle in near 7.8 if it wants to.  Saltwater chlorine generators output hydrogen gas bubbles and the increased aeration forces more carbon dioxide outgassing that causes the pH to rise.  TA is a measure of the over-carbonation of the spa so lowering the TA lowers the rate of such outgassing, but since it also lowers the amount of pH buffering that's where the 50 ppm Borates come in.  The borates not only buffer pH, but do so more strongly as the pH rises so are ideal in situations where the pH tends to rise such as when using saltwater chlorine generators or when using bleach (or any other hypochlorite source of chlorine).

As an added benefit, the borates cut down the amount of pH rise at the hydrogen gas generation plate roughly in half so that helps to prevent calcium carbonate scaling at the plate though that is more of a problem in plaster pools where one is trying to balance the calcite saturation index.  It would also apply to spas where the CH is high in the fill water.
« Last Edit: April 10, 2014, 10:59:45 am by chem geek »

Hot Tub Forum

Re: The Salt Dellima
« Reply #30 on: April 10, 2014, 10:57:29 am »

stuart

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Re: The Salt Dellima
« Reply #31 on: April 10, 2014, 12:46:25 pm »
I was a fan of borates before I tried salt...it gave me a very similar feel. Still not much of fan of CYA but I understand that it can stabilize chlorine generated by salt probably better then borates.

UrbanUtah

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Re: The Salt Dellima
« Reply #32 on: June 06, 2014, 04:20:16 pm »
We converted to a Salt System Chlorine Generator (Saltron Mini) about 3 weeks ago.  We have only used the hot tub once since it was installed.  Our PH and Alk are right on target and our salt is at 3000 ppm.  Our hot tub is 550 gal.  We have not added any stabilizer since the hot tub is covered and not exposed to sunlight.  Initially, we ran the unit for 3 hours a day, then 4 and now we're up to 7 hours a day and still no free chlorine is registering on the test strip.  The unit's max run time is 7 hours so we can't go up any further.  Does anyone have any idea why we can't get any free chlorine levels?  Please help.

Hot Tub Forum

Re: The Salt Dellima
« Reply #32 on: June 06, 2014, 04:20:16 pm »

 

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