Foam.....how much is too much???

[jenn]

Hi everyone....let me start by saying I've searched the forum, and tried my best to wade through all the postings regarding foaming problems.  Unfortunately, the word "foam" brings up all those topics of foam vs. thermopane.....so I decided to go ahead and post and hope for some responses to our problem.

We're getting a replacement tub on Monday (for those of you who responded to my previous posts re: leaking).  However with our current tub, we're having a problem with the water foaming.  It dissipates once the jets are turned off, although when the jets are on, it really starts piling up!  Since we'll be starting over on Monday, I haven't tried any chemical solutions.  My question is.....(finally!):

Is there any danger in a foamy tub with 1 week old water in which the water is crystal clear otherwise?  We still want to use it until the new one arrives but for obvious reasons don't want to drain and refill  

For what its worth, we've shocked once, used chlorine after use (we have a spa frog)...we have an ozonator.  Test strips have been showing Ph level fine, alkalinity way too low, bromine high (so we've turned down the spa frog to "1").  I'm sure we've screwed up something, but for the replacement tub, we don't want to run into the same issues.

THANKS!!!!!

[stuart]

When you stop being able to see the other people in the spa because of the mound of foam in front of you -
You might have too much foam in the spa!!


Honestly though just hit it with a little "foam out" it will go down, then check to see if you PH is a bit to high.

When you wash the suits you use for the spa don't use a commercial cleaner like Tide or Surf, instead get something that is enzyme based. In fact, I reccomend just rinse and hang them, no need to wash.


Just a guess but do you have Daughters with long hair? quite often I see people with girls that dunk their heads under the water and the soap and conditioner residue from their hair causes foam.

[bulmer4nc]

I would also check your hardness of the water.  I think the ideal range is anywhere from 150 to 400 ppm.  If your water is too soft (low calcium) then that may also cause foaming problems.  If your hardess is low try adding some calcium increaser to see if you can get it within the range.

[jenn]

Stuart - I think you nailed it....I did wash the suits on Tuesday and I use Tide....arghhhhh.  I feel stupid.  Once we get the new tub on Monday, I will for sure not wear the "tide washed" suits in it or ever wash any of our suits again!!!!!!

Bulmer4nc:  how do you check the hardness of water??  Just curious in case the Tide issue isn't the solution.

BTW, we're already missing hockey too!  We're Avs fans...who are you mourning for?

[jenn]

Bulmer4nc:  duh, maybe your a Hurricanes fan?

[bulmer4nc]

We're LEAFS fans all the way.  Grew up in Toronto area and now living in NC.

As for testing hardness, we have a $15 test kit from Walmart that can test for hardess.  I've also got some 7-way test strips that test hardness as well but I think the 'chemical' test kit is more accurate.

GO LEAFS!!!!

[stuart]

Stuart - I think you nailed it....I did wash the suits on Tuesday and I use Tide....arghhhhh.  I feel stupid.  Once we get the new tub on Monday, I will for sure not wear the "tide washed" suits in it or ever wash any of our suits again!!!!!!

Bulmer4nc:  how do you check the hardness of water??  Just curious in case the Tide issue isn't the solution.

BTW, we're already missing hockey too!  We're Avs fans...who are you mourning for?

jenn,
Don't worry about using those suits now; the soap is in the spa! Kinda makes you worry about all those toxins from your clothes that you wear all of the time and absorb into your skin.

Sadly, I was mourning for the Av's during season!

[jenn]

Oh, I could talk about hockey all night, or the lack thereof....I guess I need to find the forum for sad hockey fans....with foam problems.  

Thank goodness for the tub, otherwise we would have nothing to do with our hockey-less evenings!!!!

Thanks for all the help guys!

And, Bulmer4nc, for what its worth, If I didn't have the Avs (I live in Colorado, season ticket holder, etc.) I would be (was) a LEAFS fan!!!!!

[wmccall]

Stuart - I think you nailed it....I did wash the suits on Tuesday and I use Tide....arghhhhh.  I feel stupid.  Once we get the new tub on Monday, I will for sure not wear the "tide washed" suits in it or ever wash any of our suits again!!!!!!

Bulmer4nc:  how do you check the hardness of water??  Just curious in case the Tide issue isn't the solution.

BTW, we're already missing hockey too!  We're Avs fans...who are you mourning for?

We have dedicated suits that we use just for the hot tub. After a couple weeks use we run them through a normal wash cycle with no soap at all. Then once every six months we wash them normally and then again with no soap at all.


PS, this was the year that last year's scoring leader would lead the Blue Jackets to the playoffs with the other young guns!

[HotTubMan]

Since we are on the foam topic I have a couple of foam sources to add the list. BTW the causes listed (detergent, hardness and pH) are the most common causes. Others causes of foam include: under arm deodorant/antiperspirant, moisterizing lotion, suntan lotion, gel, shampoo, dead skin, body oils. Basically, just about anything that comes off of our bodies, especially the things we put on our hair and skin, cause foam.

HTMan

[tony]

When you get suds in your spa, scoop them out (with your hands, a net, a clean dust pan) and it will help rid the water of the cause.

[Drewski]

Hi Jenn:

Ya, Tide for the suits is a problem -- been there done that (see other thread started by Wmccall)!

BUT, another problem is dissolved solids (not the chemical type) that Hot Tub Man pointed out.  Generally, I find that foam is a "symptom" of "dirty" water.  Think about it -- for foam to occur, something has to be in the water to create it.  When I have foam forming, I know the water is about to become cloudy or will already be cloudy when I'm done with the tub.  Foamaway is good for temporary fixes.

To eliminate foam, I use a product called "Super Clear Clarifier" by AquaEZ when I clean my filters each weekend (see link below). It's a "cationic polymer" that causes all the suspended stuff to clump and come out of solution.  Just before pulling the filters, I put 3 caps of this stuff in the water and run the tub for one cycle (my spa is 500 gal).  I keep a small bucket of water and a cotton rag handy to wipe out the stuff that forms in the filter box (usually fat solids).  After the tub runs one cycle, I pull the filters and clean them.  I then let the tub run an additional cycle, followed by shocking it with an all-in-one vinyl pool shock treatment that also contains a de-flocculating agent.

About Wednesday of each week, I add one cap of this stuff for maintaining the water. Using this method, along with Nature2, my water is almost always crystal clear.  You can also use this product, along with multiple filter rinses, to "scrub" your water if it ever REALLY goes bad on you.  I've had water so bad that you couldn't see the bottom of the tub and made it crystal clear in less than 2 hours using multiple applications of this stuff.

Hope this helps!  Here's the link:

http://www.aquaez.com/chemicals/sc.html

Good luck...

Drewski

[wmccall]

A bunch of great posts.  One part of Jen's post was how much foam is too much.

My thought is any foam is too much.  Foaming is a correctable problem.  I think of it as like having flies in the house.  with people coming and going, a few will get in now and then. That is no reflection on the home owner, but tens of flies, especially in January for us northerners is a bad sign  

[jenn]

Just a quick post to thank everyone for all the advice!  

We stopped and got some foam down yesterday afternoon...worked great!  Then we drained the tub today to prepare for the delivery of our replacement, so it was a good lesson learned.  I'm certain that Tide was the culprit because the tub had only been filled for a week so we hardly had any time to get all the other filthy stuff in the tub that could cause foam!

We're thinking the new tub should be up to temp in another hour...I'm counting down!

[doodoo]

We're LEAFS fans all the way.
GO LEAFS!!!!

The only good thing about the Hockey lock-out is that the leafs won't need to show just how much they SUCK!

Grew up in Montreal with Hockey night in Canada and now a die-hard Ottawa SENS Fan with an anti-leaf passion. The old Ottawa-Montreal-Toronto rivalry lives on.