Since we're all Watkins tub owners, for the most part, thought I would open a topic on ongoing maintenance with the freshwater system to help each other out.
Have a Caldera with the Freshwater Salt System installed just about two months and really have been enjoying this tub with the lady but starting to see some changes in the salt system sanitizing results.
After install shocked the tub with Chlorine, added 7 cups of salt by dealer recommendation which tested at the high end of ok on the test strip and ran the salt output at 8 on initial start up. Within 3 days I had a residual of 3ppm chlorine. Most of the time there's just two of us using the tub once a day. Found after the weekends of heavy use and running boost I would need to supplement some extra chlorine dichlor to keep the residual up but mostly avoiding chemicals during the week. My output gauge stayed around the 9oclock lower left green with an occasional dip to the yellow 8oclock level. Dealer says as long as the system is ok just keep the salt level below the 2000ppm.
Now the system has been struggling to build a residual of 1 to 2ppm chlorine running on output level 10 without manually adding chlorine a little more often to get back to 3. My gauge is now stuck at the left yellow just above red position but showing ok. After adding 30 gallons of water over the last two months from spill off and evaporation I added another 3 quarters cup of salt and still have a gauge reading stuck in the yellow. Test strip shows salt at around 1750 to 1850ppm.
Dealer suggested using some shock non chlorine oxidizer to help with the sanitizing. Water has always been clear and I find myself enjoying the tub the most when the chlorine is low at the 1 to 2 ppm but the salt system is not performing as well into the third month. My first guess is the tub needs more salt but the test strips say otherwise. I also don't know how the salt cartridges perform over the advertised 4 months and if you lose some sanitizing and need to run a higher output the last month or two. I use the mineral cartridge and clean the filter every 3 weeks. All other levels have been fine for the most part with very little balancing needed.
Would love to get some input on experiences with the freshwater system from anyone who's had one for several months or a year. With just two people using the tub average I don't see why it needs to run on high output all the time at this point.
