water hardness

[nicker]

what do most of you use to test the hardness?  I do have strips but find them hard to read.  My taylor kit didn't come with the ability to test hardness.  Any good recommendations?

[Brewman]

If you have city water, your water utility may be able to give you specs on your water, including hardness.
Or you can go to any big box like Home Depot, and purchase a hardness test kit.  Also, the $15 Walmart (HTH Brand) test kit I use has a hardness test.
Brewman

[wmccall]

Ditto what Brewman said.  I refilled Saturday, so I have to recheck today.

[doodoo]

My dealer, about 10 minutes away does alllllll that for me. No need for test kist.

[Brewman]

Good point, there too.  My dealer tests water also.  
They even clean my filters for no charge, since I get my chemicals there (didn't buy my spa from them, though)
Brewman

[bulmer4nc]

We have the $15 test kit from Walmart and it tests for hardness.  The kit is from AquaChem.

http://www.aquachem.com

Go the products page and look under Accessories.  It's the 6-way kit around the middle of the page.

Ken

[HotTubMan]

The TDS meter we use at the store would sell for around $125. For that money, most spend the $.5 or less to drive to the store and let us do it for free.

[SJK]

I am a little confused here.  Does a TDS meter check for total dissolved solids, hardness, or both?  In the same vein, I've heard it said, depending on usage you should change your water every three or maybe four months.  Can my dealer tell me definitively by testing for TDS?  Being in a northern climate, timing my refills by the season is going to be an issue.  

[Brewman]

I also live in the north, where you don't want to do a total water change in the dead of winter.  You'll know by experience when it's time to change your water.  All are rules of thumb, your actual spa usage and maintenance will guide you.  

You can do partial water changes if necessary, I believe Bill does, and perhaps he'll say how that works for him.

I usually do 3 or 4 changes per year.

Brewman

[wmccall]

I
 You can do partial water changes if necessary, I believe Bill does, and perhaps he'll say how that works for him.

I usually do 3 or 4 changes per year.

Brewman

I usually try to change my water towards the middle or end of November depending on how the weather goes. That is about the time I have to bring the hose inside. I try to go three months with my water. I don't want to totally empty my spa, when it is below freezing. We usually get a thaw in Feb, but not this year.  As Brewman said, I will do a partial change. This allows me to leave power applied to the spa and the temp doesn't drop that much.  I have a 425 gallon spa. I will bail out 50 gallons with a 5 gallon bucket. This brings the water level down to the point that the shoulder jets in the lounger are above water.  I shut off every jet on pump #1 except these and turn it on high. I set the jets so they throw the water out into my back yard.  It drains another 100 gallons of water in just a couple of minutes. I then drag out the hose and refill.  This has helped me extend the need to do a total change for an extra month.

[SJK]

Thanks guys, thats good info......but if I can't figure out how to save this post I'll be asking again in February!

By the way Brewman, the little descriptor under your name is a good one.  I don't know where mine came from or even what the h*** it means.

[Brewman]

Go to the top of the frame, and click the profile link.  
Then scroll down till you see the personal text field, and you'll see where you can type in something else.  What you have is some default, and come to think of it, I'm not sure what it means either!
Brewman