What to do when away?

[bud16415]

yea i've run dichlor then bleach too and yes its really a matter of preference. Glad to see you're dialed in with dichlor.  out of curiosity are  you switching to bleach to keep CYA levels down?    no argument that CL will decay faster than Br esp. when ozone is in use.  ozone eats CL.    I've slain the bromine shock monster as well --   ironically its a problem only for well maintained spas that don't need to be shocked... you end up goosing it too much and then it can be DAYS before things calm down enough to get in!   if you your spa is well maintained (I even use the serum stuff that ahh-some is selling now.  let me tell you it works) then you just learn not to shock very high when you leave, and when you get back you have like .5ppm or some just barely measurable amount.  you'd be surprised at the spa mfgs and retailers that do not understand this. 

and yes to the starter routine as well, for those of us running bromine.  i don't like floaters or tabs -- just put the required amount of salts in there to begin with, and then use bleach for the oxidizer.  pretty cheap -- no expensive metal cartridges either!  this way the bromine spa becomes just like a CL spa in terms of adding sanitizer.

after having discovered ahh-some frankly things are just so much easier. for a variety of reasons, sanitizer level can go to zero or a spa was shipped with contaminants, whatever and bingo you've got bad guys.  and I'm not making this up, ahh-some is the real deal it will release stuff you never knew was in there --- and I've proven this on a well maintained spa as well, after I got my manufacturer-installed biofilms under control!

I’m taking a little different take on CYA control and doing it with water alone. The solution to pollution is dilution method, lol. When my CYA hits 100 I drain off about 8” of water and refill. I have my drain plumbed right into my waste water line and I have both hot and cold water right next to the tub. If I’m going to be using the tub right away I can add in hot water if not cold and let the tub heat it. My hot water source is 40 gallons so I could easily add as much as 60 gallons if I wanted to. I can do the water exchange in 10 –15 minutes. It is a nice way to do it in the winter when it is too cold out to mess with a total drain and fill. Stretches the water out longer so in the end I figure it is about the same amount of water used per year.

One other trick I have been using that ties in with this. When I clean the tub weekly I have a 2” pool hose with a 3’ pvc pipe added to the end. I stick it in the tub fill it with water and use it as a siphon to suck up any sand or stuff that might be sitting in the foot well that the filter wont get. That drops the water an inch or so and gives a little extra water exchange and is a easy cheap way to make a tub sweeper. 

[dlleno]

nice system you got there, and the constant water changes have other benefits as well besides CYA accumulation. no substitute for clean water thats for sure.  You could even use straight bleach as well, target  50pmm CYA and do even better.  Ive put in a dedicated, valved drain line that empties into a french drain, and wished for a dedicated hot water supply line... For those of us with portable spas and no convenient hot water supply nearby, the "dichlor then switch to bleach" method for CL spas, and pure bleach for bromine spas works really well to extend the drain interval just from standpoint of CYA moderating sanitizer strength.  I get an additional boost from using the periodic serum watercare maintenance treatments as well.

[bud16415]

nice system you got there, and the constant water changes have other benefits as well besides CYA accumulation. no substitute for clean water thats for sure.  You could even use straight bleach as well, target  50pmm CYA and do even better.  Ive put in a dedicated, valved drain line that empties into a french drain, and wished for a dedicated hot water supply line... For those of us with portable spas and no convenient hot water supply nearby, the "dichlor then switch to bleach" method for CL spas, and pure bleach for bromine spas works really well to extend the drain interval just from standpoint of CYA moderating sanitizer strength.  I get an additional boost from using the periodic serum watercare maintenance treatments as well.

When I put water to the outside tub area on the deck I connected to both my hot and cold supply line inside the house thru a mixer valve I can set for temp inside the house. I mounted the hose bib about 6 foot off the deck out of kids reach and put a quick connect fitting on there for the hose. I also added a quick connect to a shower head I can pop on for an outdoor shower. I leave the mixer set normally to lukewarm for the shower. If I need to fill the tub I use cold and for a part fill I often use straight hot. Hot I also find cleans the filter a lot quicker for some reason. We live on the great lakes and get temps as low as -30 in the winter. The hot water is a blessing when it comes to getting ice off the cover or the deck. Little hot water and it shovels right off. One thing I made was a short hose about 10 foot long. A must for winter use it’s long enough to reach the whole deck and easy to get all the water out when done. Nothing worse than a 50 foot hose coiled up in a snow bank.

People are amazed we have a deck shower and it was only about 50 bucks more than a cold water line would have been.

We pay for our water and also sewer. And I asked about a discount for filling a tub. They do it for pools but you have to use 1000 gallons or more to get a discount. I figure I’m paying full price for the water why make a mess of the yard dumping it so I send it back thru the sewer line. They said no problem. So that’s a nice feature having a quick drain setup and easy fill.

I haven’t tried the serum or equivalent products yet as of today the tub is one year old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Hot Tub.