First party...the aftermath....

[Gibson00]

So my wife had her staff Xmas party at the house last night.  Towards the end of the evening, 4 or 5 ladies went in for a soak for about 25 minutes.  So figure a good dose of cosmetics, hair spray, etc...
Before the party, I believe the FC was about about 3ppm, maybe a little less (using bleach now, cya is around 40 to 50 I think).
When I checked the water this morning, the FC was bottomed out, and the combined was around 3 or 4 I think!  That said, I did add a small amount of non-chlorine shock a day or two prior, I understand this may register as CC on the Taylor test?

So.....from a quick google search, it seems that the way to get rid of the high CC is to basically do a big chlorine shock.  But the amount I read online is 10x your CC.....that would imply raising my FC to like 30ppm?!
OK, for the time being, I've added enough bleach that the FC is up around 9 or 10 I think, and for good measure, I added about 2 caps (50 grams) of Arctic Refresh non-chlorine shock. Also added about 3 buckets of fresh water..

Am I on the right path here?  Think I'll need a lot higher FC to clear out the CC?  And, how long does it take for the new chlorine to get rid of the CC (ie. when should I retest it to see how its doing)?  And also taking into consideration the Refresh non-chlorine shock and what effect it would have on the CC readings?
And yes, this time I've left the cover open while this stuff does its work....     Warm day here in Nova Scotia anyway!


Thanks!!!

[Hottubguy]

You should be on the right path. 4 or 5 ladies you say, hope they left room in there for you!

[Gibson00]

lol, yeah, right.....daddy was responsible for taking the 5 & 8 year olds out for the evening!!   

[Vinny]

For future use - just use non chlorine shock (MPS). Run the jets for 20 minutes and you should be good to go. BUT you will still be registering CC if you test, it has something to do with the chemical makeup of the non chlorine MPS. I see that you added 2 caps (50 grams) and that was probably enough for a shock dose if your tub is not too large (gallon/liter wise). I use Sea Klear Brand and it says use 2 oz (28 g) for up to 500 gallons (1900 liters).

I certainly would add a little extra chlorine to not get cooties though! 

And don't be surprised if you get some cloudy water.

I used to hate it when I had a fresh fill and my sons would invite their friends over to soak ... the next day to a week after were horrible trying to clean up their mess (this was before I invested in a sump pump for pool/spa). They're older now and have no interest in hanging out at my house ... I miss those days now!

[Gibson00]

Vinny,

Any idea about how long it takes for the MPS to burn off?
My chlorine levels are not nearly as high as I used to run them at, only going up to maybe 4 after most usages.  But I am finding today that the burning smell from the steam is back...
I'm wondering if maybe it is the MPS I added yesterday.  Also, I did give it a good shock dose of bleach yesterday morning, brought it up to about 9 or 10ppm.....when I tested it this morning, it was back down to 2, which I guess is fine, but when I tested for CC, it was still registering as 3!  I wonder if that test result is being caused by the MPS though...

Thx

[Vinny]

Well ...

The fact that you hit it with a lot of chlorine and it's almost gone indicates that the chlorine was used up because it was fighting something - could be bacteria, bather gunk or whatever. Anyone who doesn't own a hot tub and some that do use a lot of products that will make chlorine usage go crazy high. Sweat (and yes women do sweat even if they deny it - LOL) will be full of bacteria - MPS doesn't do anything on that.

The fact that your CC is 3 may be the MPS but also the chlorine usage indicates that you still may have high CC even though you can't reliably measure it. All that chlorine used up is in the water. Just a FYI  - I put 5 PPM chlorine after my soak on Thursday night and there was still about 3 PPM yesterday morning ... there may have been a little chlorine to the amount I added after my soak but in my case the chlorine wan't used up so quickly (and I didn't have 5 people in the tub!)

I would try airing out the tub - use all the jets with air engaged and cover off - see if that helps. If not add another shock dose of MPS and after 20 minutes of pump run time (again with air) hit the tub lightly (2-3 ppm) chlorine just to add enough to help fight anything if there still a need. Let the MPS work first to burn off the CC (even though you can't measure it) so that the chlorine is not used up trying to burn anything up.

One other thing - if you are getting a lot of foam - scoop it out - it's the best way to get rid of that crap in the water.

[Gibson00]

OK, thanks.
I went ahead and added a little more bleach, took it up to about 6ppm, and added about 50 grams of MPS (2 capfuls of Arctic Refresh).  Have it running with all jets and the air intake on. 
I've never had much foaming at all, but do notice a few more sitting on top now when jets running and for a minute after.
Yeah, the high reading of CC has me a little concerned, but maybe just the Refresh.  Overall the water feels fine for bathing in, not stopping me from getting in...   But still learning, trying to get things dialed in...

[Vinny]

Unless you are partying regularly in your tub it is hard to get the water back to "correct". As you become use to it and find out what works it then becomes easier because of that learning curve.

We know not to wash our suits often but if you have people (a lot?) in your tub with freshly washed suits, put lotions on and hair products up the wazoo and possibly a little grimy from the day's activities - you now have a soup of who knows what. My son's friends would go in with cut off shorts, shirts and if there were young girls - I'm sure lotions and my tub would be a mess. Add in that although I would always say "add chlorine" I would hear a few days later as I opened the tub to milky water - 'I forgot'. So it became this quest to clear up this soup.

I might have reversed the process - MPS then bleach but that is just me. My thoughts are let the MPS work without the bleach interfering and then let the bleach do it's thing. Not saying you did it wrong but that is how I think.

[Letran]

Just lurking and reading all sorts of threads.

After reading this thread. It's making me regret buying a hot tub!!!.

Please tell me it gets easier. Or do I just get used to cleaning up soup :-)


Note On the side:
Does this verification protocol disappears after a few posts?

[sksmoker]

it gets easier. Way easier. And then you just don't make a big deal about it anymore and put the bleach to it until the chlorine stops dropping

I was exactly like this when I first got our tub. Now, meh, throw some chlorine in there and measure it in the morning. Still drops or used up? Put some more in

[Vinny]

Just lurking and reading all sorts of threads.

After reading this thread. It's making me regret buying a hot tub!!!.

Please tell me it gets easier. Or do I just get used to cleaning up soup :-)


Note On the side:
Does this verification protocol disappears after a few posts?

Lets put this in perspective - soaking with 2-4 people and knowing how to handle the situation is different then having a party and having people with all sorts of whatever on them. I have soaked with my family of 4 and it wasn't anything like having 5 kids in the tub with shorts, t shirts and all sorts of lotions, perfumes and hair products on.

It is easy, once you've learned water care. if you never had a party in your tub then you will have no clue how to clean u the mess. Have someone or someones soak and forget to add chlorine and you do get a soup ... had the correct chlorine was put in originally then it wouldn't have been too soupy. Don't fret, it'll get better!!

[amy2421]

We're brand new to hot tub ownership and so far we haven't had any major issues, just following the dealer's instructions and we're finding it pretty easy. One time I forgot to add chlorine after using it and then didn't use it for a day, the following day I went to get in and had cloudy water. I didn't go in, called the dealer the following day and he gave instructions for shocking it to clarify the water, and everything has been great since.

We're due to drain and refill for the first time at the end of this month.

[wmccall]

lol, yeah, right.....daddy was responsible for taking the 5 & 8 year olds out for the evening!!   

5-8 kids in my hot tub, I'd be likely to dump the water and start over again.   You might be pouring several dollars of chemicals into water that costs a few cents to replace, then the cost to re-heat it.

[Gibson00]

Agree. 
I know it would be based on a few variables....air temp, starting water temp, specific heater...
Anyone taken the time to calculate how much it costs to heat a fresh fill from something like 60 to 100 degrees?  I didn't track it too carefully, but I think it took my tub about 6 or 7 hours to get up to temp.  Not sure how much power the heater in my Arctic Spa uses...