Hotsprings Prism, saltwater question

[kajtek1]

Seems to me this creates an endless loop therefore causing premature burnout of the cell? Am I missing something?

I think you must since manufacturers of double-duty units would not sell them for self-destruction.
However I am still confused what is difference of "fresh water" system v/s "salt water" system

[Spatech_tuo]

Seems to me this creates an endless loop therefore causing premature burnout of the cell? Am I missing something?

I think you must since manufacturers of double-duty units would not sell them for self-destruction.
However I am still confused what is difference of "fresh water" system v/s "salt water" system

Well I'm not portending a cascading nuclear meltdown but do think the addition of the ozonator lessens the life of the salt cell for the reasons mentioned.

[castletonia]

I can’t explain the specifics, but ACE did produce active oxygen which is partly why ACE and ozone, while not recommended, could co-exist.  The Freshwater Salt system does not produce active oxygen and is also plumbed different changing the point where the ozone is introduced into the water if installed.

Long before I ever sold Hot Spring and Caldera and ever thought about salt, I would experience quicker chlorine loss on my display model spas with ozone than without.

Freshwater is the water care brand by Watkins for Hot Spring and Caldera.

[Ralith]

I can’t explain the specifics, but ACE did produce active oxygen which is partly why ACE and ozone, while not recommended, could co-exist.  The Freshwater Salt system does not produce active oxygen and is also plumbed different changing the point where the ozone is introduced into the water if installed.

Long before I ever sold Hot Spring and Caldera and ever thought about salt, I would experience quicker chlorine loss on my display model spas with ozone than without.

Freshwater is the water care brand by Watkins for Hot Spring and Caldera.

Active oxygen is o3, or ozone, so I don't see how ACE system can make it unless there is an ozonator built in...

So any ozone will decrease chlorine levels? So I wonder if it works better on low chlorine systems or worse...

After some quick reading, looks like with regular use, ozone does help reduce chlorine use, but if you aren't needing ozone to clean the it can increase chlorine use?

[d00nut]

The long and skinny is this.  In order to sell the system (Freshwater Salt or ACE) Watkins needed to make sure there was a chlorine residual to pass EPA standards.  That is it.  If we put an ozone into the water, it oxides the chlorine residual, which means their marketing claims of being a sanitizing system goes out the window, as the EPA tests for chlorine, not bacteria.

My take has always been this.  Using a Nature 2 cartridge allows you to have very little chlorine in the water, where we shock with MPS and just dichlor once a week.  I could sell a salt cartridge and it would consistently produce a small amount of chlorine while ozone oxides it.  Ozone we can all agree lowers the amount of maintenance in your hot tub. 

As a user, I could give a crap about chlorine residual.  I just care about clean water.  I keep my output low (cell/cartridge life is based on output level and CH, not ozone in the water.)  My cell lasts longer, and my water stays clear.

Now if you were trying to maintain a chlorine residual, you would not be able to easily do so if an ozone system was installed.  Therefore, what most homeowners do, is they panic, and increase the output of the salt system, resulting in shorter cell/cartridge life.

Again, this is what I do in my personal spa.  I have not switched over to a Freshwater Salt System yet, as it is pretty darn close to ACE.  However, I've been running my ACE cell (same cell) for about 4 years (just shy) and my water is always perfect.

Either way, if you use ozone with salt, or ozone without... it still is an amazing system

[kajtek1]

As a user, I could give a crap about chlorine residual.  I just care about clean water.  I keep my output low (cell/cartridge life is based on output level and CH, not ozone in the water.)  My cell lasts longer, and my water stays clear.

that idea seem to work in my swimming pool (where I have chlorine and ozone generator in single unit).
I have only 1 season experience, but for winter I shut everything down and with 50-60F water  did stay clean. In spring time I see algae showing up in the corners.
So I start running pump with the generator. Theoretically I should keep chlorine level at 1, but normally the test kit would not show anything, even generator work for 7 hr a day.
I add chlorine 1 time to bring it to 1, but that was it.
So with no-traceable residual, the pool is crystal clear and after some brushing the algae is gone.
I also have UV unit, but did not start it at the time till we start using pool this week.

[castletonia]

As a user, I could give a crap about chlorine residual.  I just care about clean water.  I keep my output low (cell/cartridge life is based on output level and CH, not ozone in the water.)  My cell lasts longer, and my water stays clear.

that idea seem to work in my swimming pool (where I have chlorine and ozone generator in single unit).
I have only 1 season experience, but for winter I shut everything down and with 50-60F water  did stay clean. In spring time I see algae showing up in the corners.
So I start running pump with the generator. Theoretically I should keep chlorine level at 1, but normally the test kit would not show anything, even generator work for 7 hr a day.
I add chlorine 1 time to bring it to 1, but that was it.
So with no-traceable residual, the pool is crystal clear and after some brushing the algae is gone.
I also have UV unit, but did not start it at the time till we start using pool this week.

One thing to keep in mind is that pool water is cooler than hot tub water.  Things tend to grow slower in it.  My only experience with ozone and salt is with ACE.  I did it on my floor models and it worked.  Low output, clean water, no measureable chlorine.  I had a few customers try it.  Even though I told them there would be no chlorine residual, they freaked out and we disconnected the ozone.  YMMV. 

[Aquatub88]

I have ACE and Ozonator in my Envoy and love it.  If you use the test strips you will not show a chlorine residual however if you use the Taylor reagents ( chem drop test) you will see the yellow indicating chlorine.  There is nothing like enjoying the silky smooth clean hottub water and getting out and not smelling like chemicals!