Mold!

[LStoner]

We need help. We just discovered our air jet line is full of black chunky mold. We never run the air jets because we don't care for them. But just for kicks we turned them on today and a whole bunch of black mold came pouring out. Disgusting! I put Swirl Away in the tub and drained it. We are now rinsing and still trying to get the mold out.

What else can we do? And since we don't use the air jets, is it possible to just pull those lines out or pull the water out that got in there and close them off so this doesn't happen again?

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

If you pull the air lines you are going to have leaks and to close them all off would be a pain. I suggest that everytime you use the tub, turn the air jets on for a few minutes, this will allow some of the sanitized water to get into the lines each time you do this. We see it with people that have water falls that they do not turn on also too. the water gets bad in them, then turn them on and yuck!

Also, super shock the tub and clean the filters a couple of times while getting the remnants of mold out.

Also, while using swirla-away, even though they say to turn the air off, turn it on and off a few times allowing the stuff to get into the lines, then turn them on for a bit to shoot it all out. It will create foam, which is why they say turn them off, but it will help remove the goop.

[Steve]

I agree with Hillbilly! What you need is to shock it really well with the air lines OPEN. Swirl away is not a sanitizer and won't treat the mold/algae directly.

I don't know if I've ever known anyone not to use the air to increase the hydrotherapy?  :-?

Steve

[LStoner]

Thanks. You guys are a big help. The reason we don't use them is because it seems the pump that was put on it is a little strong and the water actually can shoot out of the tub. We are indoors, so not an ideal situation. Also, it's extremely loud. It's not very relaxing when it sounds like a shop vac is on in your ear.

Oh, and yea we did turn the air jets on even though the Swirl Away directions said not to. Luckily, the water is down right now so it didn't slosh out too much. My husband threw bleach in there as well. We've got a lot of rinsing to do. LOL!

[Steve]

So are we talking about a blower here? Tiny jets and a noisy motor right? I thought you meant the air controls at the top of the spa... Silly me.

[LStoner]

Oh, sorry. Yea, the noisy thing that makes the air come out the little jets in the seat of my hot tub. I think it makes some extra air come out the other jets too. IDK. I'm not real familiar with the tub. It came with the house when we bought it and it looks kind of old.

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

Thats what I thought also, but if it is a blower, it should be purging at least daily and it does not sound like that happened (unless its an old mechanical system)

Still the same treatment though.

[Steve]

I too am not a fan of blowers. The tiny jets offer zero therapy and as you noted, they are often noisy. They also tend to cool the water but in an indoor application, that's sometimes not a bad thing!

You should be able to remove the blower and plug off the connections.

[benalexe]

I may be the minority here but I love the air jets. I think it ads to the experience and my blower is very quiet.

[tony]

I may be the minority here but I love the air jets. I think it ads to the experience and my blower is very quiet.

I also like the air jets.  The spa should be automatically running the air blower once daily for a couple of minutes to avoid what has happened.  Either the spa is old and does not have modern controls or something is not operating correctly.  When I add chlorine, I run all my pumps for a couple of minutes to be sure santizer reaches all the water in the spa, including the plumbing.

[LStoner]

Yes, it's old and you have to do it manually.

So, it is possible to remove the blower and shut off the connections without leaks?

[Jacuzzi Jim]

Yes, it's old and you have to do it manually.

So, it is possible to remove the blower and shut off the connections without leaks?

 You can do it, what we are saying is just not sure you would want to.  You can unhook the blower but you are still going to have the blower lines full of water.    The other thing would be to plug each individual air line from the manifold then again you still have water in each line.  3rd would be follow each air line to each individual little blower jet underneath in the seat cut them short and plug them only leaving about a 1 to 2" air tube but your talking major pain in the arse and a lot of time.

 4th would be unhook the blower drain your spa and plug each little blower jet from inside the spa with silicone or epoxy the refill the spa.

 All in all its a job I wouldn't want to do and I worked on spa's for 4 years.  Wish ya luck!!  

[Chas]

Please do not take your blower out or disconnect it. To get rid of that mold will take time, but you need a working blower to do it:

1. Chlorine shock the spa to about 10 ppm
2. Turn the blower on long enough to purge all the water from the lines - air should come from all the holes.
3. Turn the blower off to let the highly-chlorinated water flow back into the air lines.
4. Repeat. For a week or so...


If for some reason you really want to remove the blower, you have to plumb in some way of moving water through the air system which is left behind or this problem with just get worse.

A small line plumbed from the jet system into the air system will work, but will take some pressure away from the jets. I have glued a reducer on the end of the air system and threaded in a drain valve - telling the customer to use that to drain the spa from then on. This only works if you remove any check valve or hartford loop which may be present.

 8-)

[LStoner]

Yikes. I think when we refill, we'll just get used to turning the blower on for a minute or two to keep that sanitized water circulating. We've left it empty for now. When we get ready to run it again, we're going to fill just past the jets and heavily chlorinate again, circulate, drain, rinse, and then fill all the way.

[Kialda]

I dont know how old your spa is or what brand, but some of the old spas used black air hose for a few years. It would break down over time and spit out black particles that kind of looked like mold into the spa. It was actually the air hose plumbing.
   Some companies actually sell replacement air jets that are solid. They also sell plugs that can be glued into the jets. I myself like the air blower, but if you have an old full foamed spa that has to be re-plumbed from the airlines breaking down, it is an option.

Even the old spas that I have worked on turn the blower on at least once a day. Usually for just a minute at the begining of a cycle. Does your spa have adjustable filter cycles, or does it just filter when heat is required.