Chlorine readings in new tub fill and start up chemistry

[Botswana]

In switching from bromine to chlorine today I did the following:

Used ahhh some jet purge
drained the tub
blew out all the jets and filter stand with leaf blower
put some water in (1/5 of the tub) and drained that (to dilute and push out any old water still in)
leaf blew everything out again
Dried everything with beach towels
Filled whole tub back up


In my start up balancing, im reading chlorine in the tub...more than just .5.  Is this just because municipal water has chlorine in it? For what its worth, that reading was with a test strip, not the drop kit (just didnt do it and now its raining).  I was pretty careful and did all the steps i could to get all the old stuff out.

Also, in my initial chemistry (after tub was  higher than 90 degrees) i read 40 for alkalinity with the drop kit.  I raised it to 90 using the calculator online and retested and confirm it was 90.  pH seems high, like 8.2 per my drop kit, but only 2 drops of the solution gets the pH down to like 7.2.  Seems weird.  The pink colors on the pH scale are all very similar.  The lower numbers on the scale are more distinct because they are yellow and orange.  Is it likely that the pH isnt quite as high as I am thinking if only 2 drops gets it firmly to 7.2?

I am using the
Poolmaster 22260 5-Way Test Kit with Case - Basic Collection

[bud16415]

Yep that sounds about right for city water and chlorine. Mine is usually higher than that. I more or less try and start off a little high with the chlorine to kill anything left in the tub. It will come down quickly with heating the water back up.

Sounds like you might have had a misreading with the first ph.   

You will be going with the @ease so you will have to play with the settings to get it to match up with the usage at first. I haven’t used the @ease all that much but with the bromine canisters I felt they dispensed more when they were full and as they got used the rate went down. Just supplement for heavy bather load days with dichlor.   

[Botswana]

This seems like a somewhat silly question, but I do still need to add some dichlor or mps after each soak, right? That's what I was doing with the bromine cartirdges

[bud16415]

There are many ways to look at it. Being as how sanitation is tied to time but also tied to usage. You could set your inline feeder to maintain the tub assuming no usage and then hit it each time you use it based on how many people, how long, rinsed swimsuits or not, if you shower or not before, kids or adults etc. and dose based on the extra amount as you are at the tub anyway how hard is it to scoop out a tablespoon or so. If you use it exactly the same every day then you could set the feeder to take care of it all and just check it and adjust here and then.

For me it was more of the first case and I figured if I’m in it everyday why not just do it all manually.

Everyone is different. 

[Botswana]

I'm now at like 7 teaspoons of bisulfate and pH still doesnt want to come down at all. Alkalinity was at 80 -90 when I started so I'm sure its fallen too. Aggravating

[bud16415]

This is odd. That part of your water chemistry shouldn’t be much different than when you were on bromine. I’m no expert maybe others will offer advice. You filled the tub with tap water just as before? I guess you could test your tap water straight from the hose. That would tell you if your pH was high from the start or something you did.

[Botswana]

Yea, same water as usual, straight from the outdoor backflow unit. When I filled I got like 50 for alkalinity so I added enough to get it to 90. Guessing that caused pH to go up too much. After some toying, I think I have alk at 80  and ph at 7.8. Preferred 7.6 but I'm tired of the going back and forth. Shocked and installed @ease and mineral cartridge, will see if my skin holds up

[bachman]

I'm in the early stages of everything on my tub but getting more acquainted as I read up water, chemistry etc....
Did you ever hear of or read of a write-up by someone as "Nitro" ? Not sure if it's 100% the gospel but it's just technical enough and not too lengthy to possibly be of some help or even great help. He explains he is not well experienced in bromine so his subject is centered on chlorine but he offers a link to a good write up on bromine as well.
The good take I get from it is it covers all parts of the chemistry within the interaction of each item you add or adjust and it's effect on the whole system. They way it's written up seems to get into the nitty gritty details, yet he has a very handy summary at the end to recap the important parts. I'd guess it's 4 -6 pages if printed off but I think he has worthwhile info for any type of adjustment challenge one faces.
If you haven't seen it and want the link, I'll track it down.

~bach

[Botswana]

Thanks for the response. I've seen it before. Cant say i read it word for word but it seemed like good stuff. I get the general fist of the chemistry but it's still just somewhat frustrating. I feel like the hot tub industry as a whole is still like 15 years behind the curve with everything, including chemistry products. (Not a mean dig). Atleast chlorine doesnt seem to be effecting my skin like bromine was so I can actually use the spa! I'll reference nitros stuff if I stop using the smartchlor/mineral combo

[bachman]

I plan on keeping a file for some ref stuff as I go through things. I just know months down the road or sooner, I'll think to myself that I read something about this or that but won't know how to fix or remember the source.
It seemed Nitro and his other link in there spells out what effects what and if this is too high or too low then you need to do this or that. Just the kind of cheat sheet or summary I need to keep handy.
Aeration was mentioned for controlling or tuning ph , that was news to me.

I know I'll get things a bit sideways and have some hands on experiences soon myself. I'd say our bather load is 2 - 3 people (same ones and same suits) 4 x week for the past 2 weeks.

[bud16415]

First off congrats on the switch to chlorine and it’s great to hear it is compatible with your skin. I had the exact same thing switching from bromine. All you read is how bromine is easier on the skin and such but I hardly ever hear of people going the other way.

The thing that got me thinking about chlorine is we used it a lot on the dairy farm for cleaning bottles and such. I remember putting hot water a little Dawn soap and a cup or two of bleach in the sink. People were scrubbing away getting that on them and no problems. That’s like 1000 times as strong or more as a hot tub. Looking back it was also crazy overkill.

Hot tubs are kind of behind the curve I agree. They are luxury products and they are all about fancy on the outside and keeping the cost down on the inside.

Salt generated chlorine IMO is the way to go and the tubs that offer it made it expensive to buy and expensive to maintain. Almost so it would appeal to wealthy people.

My plan is still to buy a Saltron-mini. I have been talking about it for a year and have tested salt in my tub for several fills. Now I just have to do it.