Plasticky water smell

[CCC]

So I just changed my water for the first time last week. Everything is balanced, according to the test strips. TA, Hardness, PH, all good. There is a very pungent plastic kind of smell that I cant really nail down. It doesn't smell moldy. The tub is only four months old so I can't imagine what it could be. I had no such smell from the first batch of water. I am using chlorine, if that matters. Shocking once a week. It's just the wife and I we use it 5 or so times a week, give or take. Do I need to just drain it and refill?

[wmccall]

So I just changed my water for the first time last week. Everything is balanced, according to the test strips. TA, Hardness, PH, all good. There is a very pungent plastic kind of smell that I cant really nail down. It doesn't smell moldy. The tub is only four months old so I can't imagine what it could be. I had no such smell from the first batch of water. I am using chlorine, if that matters. Shocking once a week. It's just the wife and I we use it 5 or so times a week, give or take. Do I need to just drain it and refill?

That is an odd one and I'll admit to having no clue, but since the tub is new I think I'd take the outside covers off and see if you can smell it more then, like insulation laying on a hot pump or something. (total guess0

[someguy]

Hello CCC:  Your plumbing needs to be purged and cleaned with a product specifically made for hot tubs.  Even though the tub is like new, there may be biofilm so growing inside the plumbing infrastructure.  Factories test the system with water during the manufacturing process to,look for leaks.  Some of this water stays in the plumbing for extended periods before the tub is used and chemically treated.  This is a recipe for biofilm growth.  Just clean the system every 4-6 months with a good hot tub plumbing cleaner and your hot tub will be easier to maintain and more enjoyable.

[Jacuzzi Jim]

So I just changed my water for the first time last week. Everything is balanced, according to the test strips. TA, Hardness, PH, all good. There is a very pungent plastic kind of smell that I cant really nail down. It doesn't smell moldy. The tub is only four months old so I can't imagine what it could be. I had no such smell from the first batch of water. I am using chlorine, if that matters. Shocking once a week. It's just the wife and I we use it 5 or so times a week, give or take. Do I need to just drain it and refill?

  Before you go and purge you spa after only 5 months (FWIW I don't believe a spa needs purged that often) but to each his own.    That being said I would drain it at this point because the spa has seen a lot of use in 4 months.  And I can guarantee anyone with there first spa has gone through a learning curve on how to maintain a spa.   Hit it with a good dose of chlorine before draining, then refill with fresh water and enjoy!  Try to stay as consistent with what you have been doing chem wise.

  Might post on here what you are doing, it's a pretty knowledgeable group here if you have questions.   

  Should add,  would be a good time to do a good filter cleaning as well!

[bud16415]

 Sounds like you did just change the water and now the smell with fresh water in the tub.

I am by far not an expert. I treat my tub daily with dichlor based on usage and have at times got a different smell after a water change similar to that plastic smell.

Are you just filling from your city water supply or a well? Also where we live it has been quite hot the last week and you get a bit of a vinyl smell sometimes when I open the cover. When I got a smell shortly after a refill I didn’t want to change the water as it looked perfect so I shocked it good with dichlor and followed up in a day with a non-chlorine shock the next day and gave it a good run with the cover off after each. That totally took care of the smell. My thought was you never know what you are getting with the water change in the new water. You changed the water and gave it some sanitizer but did that sanitizer that would be your normal dosage not have enough to do the job. Now I always start off with a little more than I think I need and it is mostly used up before the water reaches temp.

[Jacuzzi Jim]

  I missed the part you just changed the water, so skip what I said. Except the no need to purge every 5 months     Curious if you have an ozonator on your spa, while it doesn't smell like you are describing, it is an odd smell. 

[CCC]

Thanks, Jim, and yes, it does have an ozonater. I don't know if plastic is the right descriptor, but it is a unique smell and I can't think of a proper analogy. It doesn't smell moldy or foul, just a chemical kind of smell, not chlorine.

When I filled it two weeks ago, I used city water which is very good here. I did the recommended sequence for hardness, alkalinity, ph, and then sanitized. It was fine until a few days ago. I usually dose it with chlorine right after using it. I use the shock once a week. I let it sit with the jets running and the cover open after I shocked it, hoping the smell would go away but it hasn't.

Also, and I know this sounds like a stupid question, but how clear can you expect the water to remain with regular use. I've been much more vigilant about laundered swim suits and lotion and what not, but my in-laws were here last week and we had several people in the tub. I notice a soapy kind of residue in the water for several minutes after I turn the jets off. Do the clarifiers work? (See Clear?)

Thanks!

[Jacuzzi Jim]

  My guess is you are smelling ozone.  And yes clarifiers work very well, when you add it in small doses you will be amazed at what collects at the water line.  My water stays really clear, till I lax on it for a week or so and it goes south.   Everything revolves around sanitizer, so with the extra people, it's possible to have dingy water.  The foam is normal, you have to imagine you are putting people into a big washing machine.   Everything on you and them is coming off, lotion, perfume,
 antiperspirant and hair products. I wont get into what else but you get the msg.   
  More people = more sanitizer, you fall behind and your water goes south.  It's why many people like bromine.  Personally I can't stand it, I am willing to stick with chlorine and Nature 2.   As long as your proactive about chem maintenance and checking your spa it should be fine.   

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

 I let it sit with the jets running and the cover open after I shocked it, hoping the smell would go away but it hasn't.

Because of this, I highly doubt you're smelling ozone. When the jets are running the ozonator should be off, and ozone dissipates quite rapidly.

I would suspect the smell is off-gassing from the cover.

[CCC]

Well, took a soak tonight and the smell seems to be gone. I'm slowly but surely getting the hang of this. It was a weird smell and my wife was a bit freaked out.

Jim, is the Nature 2 the same thing as the HotSpring silver ion thing you put in the circulation filter area?

I'll hit up my local store and buy some clarifier.

I've gotta say, almost 4 months in, I use the damn thing almost every day. Why is it so wonderful to just sit in a vat of hot water? My back went out on me this week and it is amazing how much better I feel after soaking. I like (scratch that, love) the jets, but I think it would be just as therapudic without them.

[CCC]

Oh, yeah, and I've been cleaning the filters, too.

[Jacuzzi Jim]

  Good deal!    Nat 2 is the same thing that HS uses.

[bud16415]

Like I said above I think your water just got a little ahead of you and started going south when you caught it. After a few more months you will have a feeling when you need to hit the chlorine a little harder and when you are good. The heavy bather load it sounded to me like you added chlorine and it got to work and was used up before it had killed everything. My tub is about 500 gallons and I typically add 1 tablespoon of dichlor after we soak, or if my test strip reads low. When I get others in I factor in the load and swimsuits etc and will hit it extra hard and often check again the next morning and if it needs it give it a bit more. It is pretty easy when it is just the two of us we always shower before getting in and it is always about the same. But when you get company and such it’s worth the effort checking it again.

As to how clear the water stays it should be as clear as tap water. I find it loses its sparkle after a couple months when the CYA starts to build up. Once my CYA gets higher than 100 I have been draining off about 8” of water and refilling. Doing that about once a month allows me to keep using the water that much longer. Only takes a couple hours to get back to temp, or I have hot water I can use to refill if I don’t want to wait.   

[CCC]

OK, I've been going nuts with my cloudy, soapy, plasticky stinky water. I finally decided to dump it after only a few weeks and start over. Well, upon giving my filters a cursory rinse I discovered that my silver ion cartridge was in backwards and it looked like it may have been blocking the circulation pump filter. There was some nasty gook in there, and my water was dirty as hell. That must have been it. Total bonehead rookie mistake, but when they were showing my how to do stuff when they delivered it, it looked like he just threw the thing in there in a haphazard fashion. Turned out he didn't, but I did when I changed the water. I hope that was the issue. It also explains all the foamy soapy stuff because the ozonator probably wasn't doing squat.

My question is, if that thing was plugged up for three weeks did I burn out my circulation pump? How would I know in the short term?

[BullFrogSpasMN]

OK, I've been going nuts with my cloudy, soapy, plasticky stinky water. I finally decided to dump it after only a few weeks and start over. Well, upon giving my filters a cursory rinse I discovered that my silver ion cartridge was in backwards and it looked like it may have been blocking the circulation pump filter. There was some nasty gook in there, and my water was dirty as hell. That must have been it. Total bonehead rookie mistake, but when they were showing my how to do stuff when they delivered it, it looked like he just threw the thing in there in a haphazard fashion. Turned out he didn't, but I did when I changed the water. I hope that was the issue. It also explains all the foamy soapy stuff because the ozonator probably wasn't doing squat.

My question is, if that thing was plugged up for three weeks did I burn out my circulation pump? How would I know in the short term?

well if the spa is heating, then the circ pump is working, buuut if you want you can pull the door off the spa, feel the circ pump and visually look at the 3/4" hose on the front and top of the pump..do you see water moving? feel the pump, is it vibrating, does it have any "burn marks" on it? and since you have an ozonator you should see circulation/bubbles coming out of the bottom drain of the spa as well.  Those are fairly simple visual ways to verify the pump is working, however, if you really want to know if it's moving as much water as when it was new you'll have to have a tech come out and perform a GPM (gallons per minute) test