How much chlorine

[DnG]

I’m going to be purchasing a hot springs pulse. They said it has the ozonator and ionizer. Any idea how much this reduces chlorine? I’m looking to keep chlorine amounts very low.

Also any thoughts on last year’s pulse compared to this year? We are getting a great deal on last year’s model (floor room sample but not filled). This year’s model would be $900 more.

Thanks!

[Sam]

You can get away with maintaining 1ppm of chlorine.  Look into the @ease system.  It's only .5ppm and easier to regulate.  Can't answer your other questions.

[DnG]

Thanks - I’ll take a look! Assuming that’s probably the amount (or less) that we have in our tap water?

[Sam]

Yeah, it's close to a lot city water chlorine level.

[bud16415]

City tap water is kept in a huge tank the water is about 60 degrees it is treated and monitored 24-7, it is millions of gallons in a for the most part closed loop system. It is not 101-104 degrees open on the top to environmental items like bugs and pollen getting in the water and more importantly it doesn’t have up to six people sitting in it giving off sweat and body oils or people bringing in soap on their swimwear and all kinds of personal body products that get rinsed off in the hot water.

I started off with very lofty goals hoping the minerals and ozone would allow me to keep chlorine super low. I was using a frog inline dispensing system that I had hoped would control everything very precisely. We mostly have two bathers in a 400 gallon tub we shower every time before we use the tub and don’t use any swimwear.

Doing everything right to the best of my abilities I found it very hard to keep both my levels super low and the tub clean. When you have a process working at the lower limits like that all it takes is the slightest miscalculation on bather load and then a day of inactivity and you will open the tub to find it skunked. Of course this is just my opinion based around owning a tub for 3 years now.

I can’t give a percentage of how much the other things built into a tub reduce sanitation demands as I’m sure something like an ozone generator does help when the unit is brand new. Most people assume if they are making bubbles they are making ozone and that is not the case. I personally don’t think the minerals do much if anything.

Chlorine or bromine are your sanitizers if you look at the level used in public pools and tubs you would faint, but then again compared to how much Clorox people put in the laundry public pools is just a trace amount.

The method I found that works best for us is dosing the tub right after evening usage and then allowing it to come down over night. If done right the next day you will see the low level you desire. If usage was really heavy say 4 people with swimwear and more time in the water, you will get used to knowing how much additional to add.

Just my 2 cents on the subject. Be prepared for a learning curve.         

[Sam]

The @ease system legit works at .5 ppm.  It's a great program and super easy.  It's different than what you've tried and it works.  Keep your ph in the proper range, replace the cartridge when it flips, and shock weekly, and that's it for most people.  Very heavy bather loads may require the addition of a small amount of dichlor occasionally but we've had fantastic luck with this program.

[bud16415]

That’s good to hear. I have tried the @ease product in my inline frog dispenser. You are talking about the floater I think. I have to say the @easy cartridges were easier to adjust a steady level from than the bromine cartridges.

I would most likely be happy with @ease as my sanitizer and it is what I use now when I’m going away for an extended period of time because it’s automatic. The reason I don’t use them full time is one the cost, and two if I have to test and add a little dichlor why not just add more and let it be the dose. You are still checking and maybe adding something so the work is still about the same.

In a dealer setting I would think it would be super simple to maintain a low and effective level. As many times as I have been to the dealer I have never seen anyone in a tub doing a wet test. I’m sure there are but I doubt it’s close to home usage. If I was starting again and know what I know now and @ease was around back a few years ago I’m sure I would have had better luck with it and may be still using it.

In general I think most newcomers are too concerned about chlorine levels and see 2PPM as a huge amount and strive for numbers like .5PPM.
.5PPM is very close to zeroPPM and something you don’t want to see happen. It is just my preference and maybe old school to see it at 4 or 5PPM when I finish with my evening soak and the next morning it is about 1 or 2PPM and when I get in, in the evening it is down to .5PPM.   

[Tman122]

Our municipal systems are .2 or less at the tap.