Vacation Treatment

[Snowbird]

J385 w/ozonator and Nature2 stick

Just got back from a 10 day vacation and the spa was in great shape!  

We are pretty excited about this since we were having some problems with the chems.  The advice I received from this forum really helped me out and I thank you all.

The night before we left I set the temp at 85 (normally 100).
Set TA to 100 and ph to 7.4.
Dosed the spa with 4 oz Activate and 4 oz Dichlor and covered it up.

Got back today and readings were:
TA 70
pH 7.2
mps OK (whatever that means)  

I added a few oz of baking soda and set the temp to 100. It had only dropped to 95 after 10 days of no heater so it was back to 100 in less than an hour. (Note: it is an indoor tub so it might have dropped more outside.)

Gonna soak tonight before bed than add a little Dichlor.  

[Vinny]

Hit it with dichlor before soaking as well ... 10 days is a long time! I would put in a little (1 PPM) and see if it lasts the 20 min, if it disappears then there's something in the water that needs to be treated.

[Snowbird]

Hit it with dichlor before soaking as well ... 10 days is a long time! I would put in a little (1 PPM) and see if it lasts the 20 min, if it disappears then there's something in the water that needs to be treated.

Thanks Vinny.  I use Nature2 rest strips almost exclusively because they are simple.  I am a big believer in the KISS theory!  

But I do have a Taylor test kit.  I will read the instructions to see what it has about your suggestions since I do not know how to do that test.  Any hints?

When I first got the kit I over complicated the process by testing for everything.  I had so many chemicals in the tub chasing numbers that I ended up with a real mess.  Had to drain and fill to get back to normal.

A man's got to know his limitations.  

[Vinny]

I'm suggesting testing for Chlorine.

To do that put 1 teaspoon of dichlor into tub.

For the Taylor - cap the vials, open up the chlorine vial under water (about mid forarms length down and recap under water. Do this twice and on the third time flick out the water in the chlorine vial until it matches the line. The water will be a little concave - the bottom is the reading. Add 5 drops R0001, cap and mix water, open cap, add 5 drops of R0002, put cap on, mix and put a white object behind the vial ... this is you free chlorine.

I would wait until 20 min after adding chlorine to test.

Do not dump any of those test chems into the spa's water.