Had tub about 6 weeks now - a few basic questions...

[WhO2]

We've had our hot tub for about 6 weeks now. I had quite a few questions but was able to answer most of them by reading through the forums. I would appreciate it, though, if we could get help verifying what we learned is accurate and get help on a few remaining questions. Thanks in advance for your help.

1) I was a little concerned that I was putting in sanitizer (chlorine) after each use, but it looks like most people do the same. If this is too often, please let me know.

2) When we first got the tub I tested the water daily. After a few days. the only thing that changed was the chlorine. I am now only testing once every 7-10 days. Is that enough?

3) The company I purchased from recommended draining and refilling after 6 months. Should I do it every 6 months (or sooner if the water starts looking/smelling bad)?

4) I would assume I turn off the power (at the box) when draining?

Thanks again for your help.

[bud16415]

You said you were using chlorine daily I presume you are using dichlor. Depending on water temp, how many gallons of water you have, how many people are using it and for how many hours a day will determine how much sanitizer you will add. That will also determine how often you will need to change the water. For most people the time is between 3 and 6 months. You will get a feel for when to change the water even without it ever smelling bad it kind of loses its sparkle and my experience the numbers start bouncing around more when I check it. cleaning your filter often just hosing it off well helps a lot. without some kind of automatic sanitizer dispensing system like bromine or a salt system, I check mine almost every day after work. normally it is reading low but not zero on chlorine and I wait to add any until after we use it that evening. then I add about one tablespoon of dichlor. About every other week for us maybe sooner I give it a non-chlorine shock and I try and do it at a time I know we most likely won’t be in it right away.   

I have a friend that hasn’t checked his tub for 15 years and measures by eye what he adds to it and his water I have to say always looks nice. I’m just a person that likes to know and I’m also sensitive to if the levels get off more so than others.

That’s my take on it the pros will be along to tell you the proper ways.

Yes turn off power before you drain the tub at your GFIC breaker.

[Sam]

You said you were using chlorine daily I presume you are using dichlor. Depending on water temp, how many gallons of water you have, how many people are using it and for how many hours a day will determine how much sanitizer you will add. That will also determine how often you will need to change the water. For most people the time is between 3 and 6 months. You will get a feel for when to change the water even without it ever smelling bad it kind of loses its sparkle and my experience the numbers start bouncing around more when I check it. cleaning your filter often just hosing it off well helps a lot. without some kind of automatic sanitizer dispensing system like bromine or a salt system, I check mine almost every day after work. normally it is reading low but not zero on chlorine and I wait to add any until after we use it that evening. then I add about one tablespoon of dichlor. About every other week for us maybe sooner I give it a non-chlorine shock and I try and do it at a time I know we most likely won’t be in it right away.   

I have a friend that hasn’t checked his tub for 15 years and measures by eye what he adds to it and his water I have to say always looks nice. I’m just a person that likes to know and I’m also sensitive to if the levels get off more so than others.

That’s my take on it the pros will be along to tell you the proper ways.

Yes turn off power before you drain the tub at your GFIC breaker.

Good post

[Tman122]

We've had our hot tub for about 6 weeks now. I had quite a few questions but was able to answer most of them by reading through the forums. I would appreciate it, though, if we could get help verifying what we learned is accurate and get help on a few remaining questions. Thanks in advance for your help.

1) I was a little concerned that I was putting in sanitizer (chlorine) after each use, but it looks like most people do the same. If this is too often, please let me know.

2) When we first got the tub I tested the water daily. After a few days. the only thing that changed was the chlorine. I am now only testing once every 7-10 days. Is that enough?

3) The company I purchased from recommended draining and refilling after 6 months. Should I do it every 6 months (or sooner if the water starts looking/smelling bad)?

4) I would assume I turn off the power (at the box) when draining?

Thanks again for your help.

1) I was a little concerned that I was putting in sanitizer (chlorine) after each use, but it looks like most people do the same. If this is too often, please let me know. To get it perfect you should switch to bleach if your water gets hard to manage. Straight beach will keep your acid better under control.

2) When we first got the tub I tested the water daily. After a few days. the only thing that changed was the chlorine. I am now only testing once every 7-10 days. Is that enough? This is plenty, test as much as you need to until you learn how it moves. But don't loose track of it. How are you testing your water?

3) The company I purchased from recommended draining and refilling after 6 months. Should I do it every 6 months (or sooner if the water starts looking/smelling bad)?Sooner, 3-4 months works for me, use has a lot to do with this

4) I would assume I turn off the power (at the box) when draining? Yes, first

Thanks again for your help.

[WhO2]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. There were a few questions in the replies I wanted to answer, and also have a follow up question:

"...I presume you are using dichlor" - Yes, I am using Dichlor (All Clear Spa Sanitizer 56). It was provided by the company we bought the spa from and seems to work pretty well.

"Depending on water temp..." - I had been keeping it at 85 and turning it up when needed. Now I keep it at 98
"...how many gallons of water you have..." - 450 gallons
"...how many people are using it..." - usually 2 adults but occasionally as many as 4 teenage boys
"...and for how many hours a day" - about 1 hour/day for 3 days a week so far

"To get it perfect you should switch to bleach if your water gets hard to manage" - water hasn't been too bad yet. More curious at this point if I am chlorinating too often, not enough. Still would be curious about using bleach. How much do you put in and how often? Could you use bleach in an emergency (out of granules) then go back to granules?

"How are you testing your water?" - Using Aqua Check strips. They were provided by the company we bought the spa from.

I think I will change the water at 3-4 months this first time.

[Tman122]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. There were a few questions in the replies I wanted to answer, and also have a follow up question:
"Depending on water temp..." - I had been keeping it at 85 and turning it up when needed. Now I keep it at 98
"...how many gallons of water you have..." - 450 gallons
"...how many people are using it..." - usually 2 adults but occasionally as many as 4 teenage boys
"...and for how many hours a day" - about 1 hour/day for 3 days a week so far

"To get it perfect you should switch to bleach if your water gets hard to manage" - water hasn't been too bad yet. More curious at this point if I am chlorinating too often, not enough. Still would be curious about using bleach. How much do you put in and how often? Could you use bleach in an emergency (out of granules) then go back to granules? Yes you could use bleach, but make sure it's not scented or have any additional stuff in it

"How are you testing your water?" - Using Aqua Check strips. They were provided by the company we bought the spa from. You should get a re-agent test kit to get more accurate and just use the strips for a quick test or to check your chlorine.

I think I will change the water at 3-4 months this first time.

[bud16415]

I’m not a pro and I replied above and you answered a few of the questions I asked so I will reply with a few more thoughts. Your tub and usage sounds really close to ours. The information on maintaining the chemistry in a hot tub can sometimes be overwhelming trying to take it in at first.

I find dichlor to be quite easy to use and with my tub about the same size as yours I find when the tub reads close to zero on sanitizer I add one tablespoon of dichlor to the skimmer basket when we get out and turn the tub on clean cycle. The trouble with dichlor is it has what they call CYA “Acid” added to it and it is a great thing to have in swimming pools as it helps with sunlight removing the chlorine The water is cooler and more of it etc. the bottom line is you need a little in a hot tub but adding it daily you end up with too much. Too much prevents the chlorine from doing its job. Another name for CYA is stabilizer and that should be on your test strips. A good number is 30-50 and up to 100 isn’t that bad over 100 your levels start getting wonky and don’t react to adding dichlor like they did when the water was fresh. Some people use dichlor till they get to 50 stabilizer then switch to bleach to hold the CYA / stabilizer lower.

I have been doing it a bit different and find it stretches my water life and keeps the tub nice and fresh. When I hit 100 I have a 2” pool hose that’s about 10’ long I throw it in the tub and fill it with water and throw one end out of the tub to siphon off some water. I use the other end to suck anything that might be on the floor of the tub that’s too heavy to float to the filter like a little sand and such. I drain the tub down about 6-8” and refill with cold water if I’m not going to be using it and as I have both hot and cold outside if I don’t want to wait a couple hours for the tub to heat it I use hot water. The whole process takes about 15 minutes once a month. The big pool hose and dumping it on the yard is just because I’m in a hurry. I also have a hose that’s plumbed straight into my household waste water that I use to drain the tub and I could use that but it would take a little longer. I think doing a little water exchange isn’t a bad idea and I do it about once a month. In the summer the big hose and in the winter the slower drain hose.

I still do a total water change 3-4 times a year and without doing the drain down my guess is it would be 4-5 times a year. so really not wasting any water in the long run. Whenever we do a total drain we get in the tub when empty with vinegar and microfiber cloths and give it a good cleaning so doing that one or two times per year is way more time spent than doing the drain down.   

[aquaman617]

1) I was a little concerned that I was putting in sanitizer (chlorine) after each use, but it looks like most people do the same. If this is too often, please let me know.
My dealer recommended 1/2 oz of sanitizer after each use.  Based on my family's use (we may go a few days without using it, especially during the work week), I toss in 1 oz of sanitizer every couple of days and run the jets (lid open).  The chlorine level usually stays pretty stable.


2) When we first got the tub I tested the water daily. After a few days. the only thing that changed was the chlorine. I am now only testing once every 7-10 days. Is that enough?
Same.  I learned that I only need to test it about once a week, based on our use patterns.

3) The company I purchased from recommended draining and refilling after 6 months. Should I do it every 6 months (or sooner if the water starts looking/smelling bad)?
Mine suggested every 3 months, but that assumes consistent use.  We didn't use our tub much this past winter (not as much as I thought), so I changed the water in November (I took delivery in August), and plan on doing so again in May.  My plan is to do it 3x per year rather than the recommended 4x.  There was only one period this winter where the water started getting a little murky.  It was over the winter when we weren't using it so much and it had been several weeks since I had last cleaned the filter.  I powered down, removed the filter and cleaned it (you ought to do this at least every 2 weeks year round depending on use), and gave it a heavy dose of chlorine.  Within a day or two, the water was almost back to normal.  I cleaned the filter a second time and by the next day, it looked like new again.

4) I would assume I turn off the power (at the box) when draining?
Yes, turn off the power at the circuit breaker.  I bought a cheap sump pump at Home Depot, which works like a charm.  You should take advantage of the empty tub by cleaning it, especially around the water line.  Refill per your manufacturer's (or dealer's) specifications, and then power it back up.  You'll be amazed how sparkly clean fresh water is.  Enjoy!