Please help! Baquaspa problems

[gregandkelly]

Baquacil in pools is wonderful!  Very easy and no bleaching of hair, suits or pool liner!

We do use the test strips and they always read normal or very close.

We might need to buy another filter and rotate one while we're chemically cleaning the other.

[tumbleweed]

Gotta put my two cents worth in, I know I am not going to change anyones mind, but here it goes...
I have been in pool and spa service for over 15 yrs. and my experiance with biguanides (Baquacil, SoftSwim, etc) has not been good.  Pools in this system tend to be dull, never have the sparkle that a well balanced chlorine pool has.  As for spas,  you get the same problem, plus a "locker room" smell.

A properly ballanced pool or spa on chlorine will never bleach hair or suits.

Never ever ever mix chlorine with Baqua,  the result is a greenish cloudy pool or spa that will take days to clear up.  So if you really want to keep your pool on baqua, you will need to keep your spa on it as well, or make everone shower when going from pool to spa.

Personaly, I prefer chlorine or salt chlorine generators on pools and bromine on spas.  The bromine has a higher sanitizing effect in water over 95f than chlorine.

[gregandkelly]

Tumbleweed,

We've had our pool for 10 years and it's been on Baquacil the entire time.  It is always sparkling clean and we've never had a problem.

My wife had a pool growning up (before Baquacil) and had to use the chlorine, etc.  She is amazed at how easy the Baquacil is over the chlorine and says our pool water is as clear or clearer that theirs ever was on chlorine.

Now.........back to my original problem...........

We finally have the probelm fixed!  I bought another filter and we have begun switching them out.  We chemically clean one, let it dry and switch it with the other filter once a month.

Before, we had been taking the filter out, spraying it with the hose, running it thru the dishwasher, etc, and it just wasn't coming clean enough.  We would chemically clean it every time we drained/refilled, but that wasn't enough.  Now we have a chemically cleaned filter every month and out water is now sparkling clear......even on Baquaspa!

Thanks for all the suggestions!!

Greg

[Chas]

With Baquaspa, the filters get coated with an oily substance. So you have to chemically clean them regularly. I would not put filters through the dishwasher or even give them a real hard rinse with the garden hose unless I had cleaned them first. Doing so will just drive the oil into the filter surface, and then you get cloudy water.

I also have to break the news to our customers on Baqua that they will be buying new filters FAR more often than our other customers, assuming that they want clear sparkling water.

[The_Bends]

It sounds to me like your biggest problem is particulates in the water.  Baqua has a water clairifier that will help clear the water right up.  If you have the 50 sq. ft filter then I recomend you replace it with the micron filter.  It cost about 25 bucks and lasts about 6 months.  Never clean it just drop in a new one.  

I am so glad someone finally mentioned a micron filter.  Typical spa filters are good, and definitely cleaning them is better than not.

   Micron filters work differently, instead of surface area, they filter by depth and surface area.  Not that I want to start another one's better than the other, but if you care to spend the time testing different chemicals, try a micron filter.  

They are disposable so you never have to clean them, they catch finer particulates (Pleated filters 20 microns, micron filters 1 micron), so fine that they will catch metals (no more flocculants or metal and stain eliminators) and bacterium, plus some of them are coated with Microban. They even make a pre-filter to catch bad stuff right out of the hose.   The best part, if you don't like it, just change the filter.

I have got a micron filter in one tub, and a 50sq ft. pleated filter in another.  Both at 100 degress, and both were just recently 'wet tested' by the same individuals.  I can keep you posted  

[tony]

The bromine has a higher sanitizing effect in water over 95f than chlorine.

This is absolutely not true.  Chlorine is fully effective to (and even optimally effective at) 130 degrees F.  However it does start to neutralize at 160.

[sandiego]

Baqua is very expensive, very labor intensive and many people have problems keeping the water clean, plus as chas mentioned you have the filter issue.

Honestly, I don't know why you couldn't use chlorine in your spa and Baqua in your pool, although I am not a pool person, but I can't see how a 20,000 gallon pool would be affected by trace amounts of chlorine on people's skin. I think that the dealer is just telling you that, but again, that's just my opinion.

Many dealers only sell Baqua, because the revenue is significantly higher to them if they put their customers on it.

I would ask a second pool store in your area if they agree with that assestment.

[gregandkelly]

sandiego,

I disagree with the Baquacil being labor intensive.  We find it much less intensive and wouldn't use anything else.

.......now as far as expense....well, that's another matter!

We'll stick to baquacil.

[sandiego]

sandiego,

I disagree with the Baquacil being labor intensive.  We find it much less intensive and wouldn't use anything else.

.......now as far as expense....well, that's another matter!

We'll stick to baquacil.

I'm sorry I just said Baqua, I meant Baquaspa. I find it to be much more labor intensive and rigid than using chlorine, bromine or nature 2. that's what I meant to say

[Zep]

greg....

if ya get a chance.....

post some pics of your tub

[hottubdan]

sandiego,

I disagree with the Baquacil being labor intensive.  We find it much less intensive and wouldn't use anything else.

.......now as far as expense....well, that's another matter!

We'll stick to baquacil.

I'm sorry I just said Baqua, I meant Baquaspa. I find it to be much more labor intensive and rigid than using chlorine, bromine or nature 2. that's what I meant to say

Our customers who follow the recipe find that BaquaSpa is not labor intensive at all.  when it works, the water is much nicer than a chlorine or bromine spa...silkier, softer, does not dry out skin.

[Brewman]

WHEN it works seems to be the key phrase.
  
Glad to hear that some people can figure that stuff out, but I never could.
All 3 of the dealers in this area I talked to, and the Baqua people themselves were no help at all.  

 One dealer even told me that the fizzy cough water was normal for a spa.
Right........

Another one suggested another really expensive product to use along with the Baqua.
No help.

The third one suggested I use bromine instead.