Hi all,
I'd like to make reference to an interesting article, in Aqua Magazine, about drain intervals. I've posted this information in another forum as well, but I wasn't sure if it was acceptable to cross post so I'll repeat my text below:
Those who have followed my posts here know where I stand on the subject of drain intervals and especially purging, and this post is about that subject as well. The Aqua magazine site, "features" section contains an article on this subject, emphasizing the consequences of high bather load in heated water. These are not new details for those who are aware, but frankly the article was a good reminder for me as to what the water must endure. It even opened my eyes a little more. Here is a link to the full article:
http://aquamagazine.com/features/spa-soup-why-we-dump-spa-water.htmlHighlights from the article include a long list of things that are contained in the various bodily fluids that end up in the water -- and we're not talking just the 3 pints of sweat per person per hour -- we're talking, for example, pharmaceuticals that accumulate. The author concludes with this statement: " That relatively small liquid base, to which all the ingredients we've discussed are added — from live bacteria to creams and oils to disinfection byproducts — makes for a rather dense spa soup. Which is why, on a regular basis, you should dump the water and start from scratch."
Anyway the article is quite a good read, and for me it solidly ratifies the need to drain. The author didn't discuss purging ,unfortunately, as I suppose this subject has too many opinions, but I will say from personal experience I learned to purge at least every other drain interval and sometimes every drain, and this article just underscored the need to do that. Adding an effective purge product to the water just before draining is a no brainier to me because it takes such little incremental effort. There's just so much information that is now known which, combined with what I personally discovered and learned, makes me more determined than ever to purge regularly.
I won't clutter the forum with my "purge" story again but of course I will post a link to it again if there is interest. I will highlight that I'm glad I "clean the soup out and wash the bowl" regularly. with apologies for the analogy, draining without purging is (to me) like eating from a dirty plate without washing it first: you can put new water in the tub but that doesn't scrub the pipes.
happy draining and purging,
-dlleno