Just started on hydrogen peroxid

[ericelyse]

Me and my husband bought a nice 450 gallons spa last august and just found out after 4 month that he is allergic to chlorine.  So we decided after many research to swich to hydrogen peroxide.  We just change the water and are trying to mainting a 50-100ppm of peroxyde.   So far so good.  Been 4 days now and we love the experiences.  My husband can enjoy the spa again!  Amazing!

Would like to know who is using hyd.peroxide and what problems you got so we can prepare ourself in advance or avoid them.  I'm located in Québec, Canada.  Never heard anybody around me using it but I know in certain area in the world it is a common way to treat spas.   I bought 35% h2o2, very expensive, would like to know if cheaper 27% h2o2 without phosphate for laundry would work.  Order test strip on internet at www.indigo.com, works really well. 

Thanks for your help!

[Quickbeam]

Hello Ericelyse,

We bought our first hot tub earlier this year, and as my wife has some serious chemical sensitivities, we knew before we bought our tub that we could not use either chlorine or bromine as a sanitizer. We had a friend who was using hydrogen peroxide in her tub and once we tried it we loved it. We have been using it quite successfully since early spring, 2014.

From my experience, you won’t find many problems with hydrogen peroxide. I do find that in really hot weather the tub uses a lot more hydrogen peroxide, but other than that it has been very easy to use. As for what product to use, we use 27% H2O2 and we do not use food grade. I bought a 5 gallon bucket of the 27% non food grade H2O2 for about $50 when we first bought the tub, and it is just now getting close to empty. I should also clarify however, that our tub is at a vacation cabin so we are not always at the location where the tub is. That being said, we used the tub a lot during the summer and while we are using it this winter, it is not getting near the use it did during the summer.

The only thing I can find against using hydrogen peroxide, is that there are reports the H2O2 is hard on the hot tub plumbing and may reduce the life expectancy. Only time will tell for us, but I can honestly say that even if my wife did not have the chemical sensitivities, we would still be using the H2O2. We really do like it.

And one final comment on your test strips. I don’t know about those specific test strips, but my advice would be to spend the money and get yourself a Taylor Test Kit and then get the specific reagents to test for H2O2. I bought a Taylor Test kit when we first got our tub to help me balance the water. I was originally using test strips to test the H2O2 and then decided to buy the specific reagents from Taylor so I could properly test the H2O2. It was expensive but well worth it. I know the test strips I was using were not near as accurate as the reagents from Taylor.

Good luck with your H2O2. If you have any other questions please feel free to let me know. Also, if you would like to know where I get my H2O2 I’ll send you a private message. We also live in Canada (in British Columbia), but I believe the place I got my H2O2 was a national distributor, although without looking it up I can’t be certain.

[chem geek]

Though not in Canada, you can get Baquacil Oxidizer which is 27% hydrogen peroxide at a reasonable price.

[Rotten1965]

What are you using for a sanitizer??? The hydrogen peroxide acts as your oxidizer but you still need a sanitizer. The Baqua spa chemical system uses Hydrogen Peroxide as it's oxidizer. My customer base that has skin allergies with Chlorine have had good results using Baqua Spa products. Some manufactures will void your warranty for improper chemical use. Just a FYI for you!

[Quickbeam]

Hydrogen peroxide does act as a sanitizer. I have a Jacuzzi spa, so we also have a UV bulb, but I know others who use nothing but H2O2 and do so quite successfully. It is my understanding that while it is not approved as a sanitizer in either the U.S. or Canada, it is approved as such in Australia. As for the warranty, I did hear this could be an issue, so before we bought our tub we got our dealer to put it in writing that using hydrogen peroxide would not affect our warranty.

[ericelyse]

I have an ozone system in my spa.  It is really weird that all the informations we have on internet about using H2O2 in a spa is never unanimous.  I just look for the Baqua Spa thing and I don't think it is available in canada.  In my location, people are using bromine or chlorine.  If you can't handle these, then sell your spa...options we don't want to do of course!!  The 3 dealers i went told me it was almost impossible for my husband to have an allergic reaction to chlorine.  It took us 4 month to discover it because of that.  We tried all the other possibilities.  And then, down to chlorine allergy. 

Also, I thought about the warranty problem. I know that Ozone can corrode. I'm not in the chemistry business at all but thinking about how ozone works and how H2O2 works, the common basis is oxygen.  Oxygen can errod metal, we all know that.  But if my spa was deliver with an ozonator, I hope the builder thought about putting the right components in the spa to comply with ozone.  If so, it should works with H2O2 too.  But I can be wrong too...

What are the ppm you guys are keeping your spa?  I saw all the possible numbers on internet 30-50ppm, 50-80ppm, 50-100ppm, even got 200-300ppm!

[Rotten1965]

I would do some research before using 35% Hydrogen Peroxide. It can be very risky to use. It sounds to me it's not cost effective either. This is a sample of information I found with a quick google search. 35% Hydrogen peroxide is extremely corrosive and a strong oxidizer. It can cause severe burns. Handle with care and keep out of reach of children. The vapor is extremely irritating. Avoid contact with skin, eyes, and hair. Do not take internally. For fire or spill flood with water immediately. Toxic or fatal if swallowed at full strength. I have heard many stories throughout the years from people using only a ozonator to sanitize spa water to people using a capfull of laundry bleach. There are many good and cost effective sanitizing systems on the market right now so do you research and ask questions before jumping to using Hydrogen Peroxide.

[ericelyse]

the thing is that chlorine is very bad too.  I wouldnt smell it right out from the bottle either or let kids play with it.  We are very cautious with the handling of peroxide. 

[Quickbeam]

35% hydrogen peroxide is fine to use - you would just use a little less of it. The trouble with it though is that in Canada, I think it is anything over 29% is classified as a hazardous substance and there is a lot of paperwork that needs to be filled out to get it. And yes, hydrogen peroxide is a chemical so it is corrosive. But as the OP said, so is chlorine. And so is muriatic acid. And so are a lot of other chemicals people put in their hot tubs. You just need to be careful and take the normal precautions you would take with any of the other chemicals you are using.

I believe I said in an earlier post that I was using 27% H2O2, but in fact I'm using 29%. This keeps me under the hazardous substance designation. Not sure how much more expensive 35% is, but I do know that if you use food grade that will be quite a bit more expensive, and food grade is not necessary in a hot tub. As I said earlier, I purchased a 5 gallon bucket of 29% hydrogen peroxide for $50 and it has lasted me from early in the spring until now, and I still have some left. I don't consider that overly expensive.

As for what ppm to use, the most common concentration is between 50ppm and 100ppm. Our hot tub is at a vacation home so we are sometimes away for two or three weeks at a time. As a result, I need to really increase the ppm so it continues to have a concentration while I'm away. I have taken the ppm up to 400 to keep the tub sanitized while we're gone. Have been in the tub with concentrations over 200 ppm with absolutely no ill effect.
And I'll say it once again. Going in a tub with H2O2 is a different experience. It almost feels like your skin is moisturized. Not trying to convince anyone, but we certainly like it.

[ericelyse]

Thank u very much for ur help and understanding.  I really appreciate it and it is very useful.  I really think we gonna buy the 27% next time, once we finish our bucket.  The 35% we bought was really really expensive but worth it for the spa experiment.  We love it too. Thanks

[ericelyse]

And btw, we did had to fill out paper for the 35% so they make sure i dont want to make a bomb out of it!!! But it was just normal and not complicated paperwork. They wanted to know the use i was going to make of it and a picture of me. Nothing else.  Took 5 minutes.

[Quickbeam]

Thanks for the information on the paperwork. I guess it is not as bad as I was led to believe. And sorry if I confused you earlier, but it is 29% hydrogen peroxide I'm using, not 27%.

[Quickbeam]

Ericelyse,

I just sent you a private message.

[chem geek]

By the way, if you want a non-chlorine (and non-bromine) system that is approved by the EPA, then you can use either Nature² with silver ions and non-chlorine shock (MPS) or you can use Baquacil/biguanide/PHMB with hydrogen peroxide as others mentioned.  Quite a few people use the Nature² system with MPS and it works well for them though to keep the water clear you may need to shock with chlorine every other week or so, but the chlorine will go away (or you can dechlorinate with hydrogen peroxide to make it go away faster).

[ericelyse]

Thanks for ur private message. Very helpful. Really appreciate it.