I'm curious about if there other ways to maintain a spa for ~7days while I'm traveling? Or is the best bet to just come back and SLAM it?
Predicting FC attenuation rate in a covered spa when not being used
- Thread starter tmm1
- Start date
You beat me to it. I was going the ask the same question as I'm getting to ready to go on vacation for 7 days and was wondering if there was anything special I need to do or as you mentioned to just slam it when I get back home. Tub will remain covered, running and heated during this time frame. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 60,419
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
What temp will you keep the spa at? I would turn off the heat. The cooler the water is, the less it can sustain algae growth.
Currently the temp is at 104F. I'd hate to turn it off completely as the temps while I'm gone are supposed to be around the highs or 40's and lows of mid 20's. Even though the spa is well insulated I'd hate to take the chance of something freezing up. I could drop the temp to the low point of the control panel to 80F if that would help.
DangerBoy
Well-known member
I'm working on a low budget wifi controlled perstaltic chlorine dose pump system so I can inject a dose of bleach each day from my smartphone or tablet over the internet whenever I'm away. Not only will I be able to inject measured doses into the circulation pump line, I'll also be able to fire up both my jet pumps for a short burst to thoroughly mix the chlorine.
All in I think it's only going to cost me something in the order of $70 - $80 CAD to complete Phase 1 and I'm fairly confident it's going to work. Phase 1 is to get to where I can manually push buttons in a smartphone app to make the dose pump inject a small but known quantity of bleach into the system and push other buttons to turn the jet pumps on and off. I'm going to try and set it up so each time the dose pump is turned on for 15 seconds it will inject enough chlorine to raise the FC in my tub by 0.5 ppm. That will give me fairly precise control over how much is injected and lowers the risk of too much going in but the downside is I'll have to repeat the process several times if my objective is to raise the FC level by a few ppm. That doesn't bother me too much.
At this stage, the system will be "dumb" and won't have any monitoring system tied in with it so I'm just going to have to figure out ahead of time how often and how much bleach I need to inject in order to keep the FC level in the range where I want it. My plan for this next year was to not use the tub for at least a week, turn the temp down and see how much the FC level drops each day when it's in "vacation mode". I would measure FC every day and when it gets to 3.0 ppm I would raise it back to 6.0. I figure with week or two of data like that I should have a good idea of what schedule to set for injecting the bleach while I'm away on vacation.
If all this works as planned, Phase II would be to make the system a little more automated by just having timers in the app do the injections on a pre-set schedule. If that's successful then Phase III would be to completely automate the system using an inexpensive ORP probe to monitor ORP levels and using readings from that to trigger the dosing and circulating system. That's heaps more complicated and a long ways off in the future. Right now I'll be very happy if I can just make a system that will let me manually and remotely inject chlorine and operate the jet pumps over the internet using my smartphone or tablet. That seems pretty doable and worthwhile to me.
My plan was to document everything about what I did and post that information to this forum so people could follow along, comment and offer suggestions and maybe try to install the same sort of system in their tub.
All in I think it's only going to cost me something in the order of $70 - $80 CAD to complete Phase 1 and I'm fairly confident it's going to work. Phase 1 is to get to where I can manually push buttons in a smartphone app to make the dose pump inject a small but known quantity of bleach into the system and push other buttons to turn the jet pumps on and off. I'm going to try and set it up so each time the dose pump is turned on for 15 seconds it will inject enough chlorine to raise the FC in my tub by 0.5 ppm. That will give me fairly precise control over how much is injected and lowers the risk of too much going in but the downside is I'll have to repeat the process several times if my objective is to raise the FC level by a few ppm. That doesn't bother me too much.
At this stage, the system will be "dumb" and won't have any monitoring system tied in with it so I'm just going to have to figure out ahead of time how often and how much bleach I need to inject in order to keep the FC level in the range where I want it. My plan for this next year was to not use the tub for at least a week, turn the temp down and see how much the FC level drops each day when it's in "vacation mode". I would measure FC every day and when it gets to 3.0 ppm I would raise it back to 6.0. I figure with week or two of data like that I should have a good idea of what schedule to set for injecting the bleach while I'm away on vacation.
If all this works as planned, Phase II would be to make the system a little more automated by just having timers in the app do the injections on a pre-set schedule. If that's successful then Phase III would be to completely automate the system using an inexpensive ORP probe to monitor ORP levels and using readings from that to trigger the dosing and circulating system. That's heaps more complicated and a long ways off in the future. Right now I'll be very happy if I can just make a system that will let me manually and remotely inject chlorine and operate the jet pumps over the internet using my smartphone or tablet. That seems pretty doable and worthwhile to me.
My plan was to document everything about what I did and post that information to this forum so people could follow along, comment and offer suggestions and maybe try to install the same sort of system in their tub.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 60,419
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
A location in your profile would let us give more context to our replies. As would details about your spa in your signature - Pool School - Read This BEFORE You Post
I would drop the temp as low as practical.
Do you know if your spa has freeze protection?
Sorry about that. I included that info in my profile but I guess it didn't save. Should be good now. As far as location. I live in Oklahoma City and I have a Tuff Spa TT450 Platinum (350 Gal). I'm going to drop the temp as low as it will allow and the pumps come on about every 12 hours and run for about 2 hours time.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 60,419
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
If your pump comes on every 12 hours and runs for 2 hours even with the heat off you are not at risk for freezing damage down to 20F.
Read The Physics of Freezing and Freeze Protection
This sounds like a fun project and I'm looking forward to your results. I was considering doing something similar but am now looking into SWG which seems like a simpler self-regulating setup.
For those interested see my initial thread HERE about assembling a cheep peristaltic dosing system. I have not yet done any maintenance on the system and have not had a component failure, there are also some inexpensive off the shelf alternatives for pump/timer combos offered by others in the thread. For the last 4 weeks or so we have not been using the spa and have it set to 80F at that temp with no bather waist to deal with it's using about 4ppm per week.
I think the off the shelf options are great for vacation or straight maintenance dosing, in fact initially I was thinking I had wasted my time assembling things as I had, however after having used the system I would not change a thing. Two major benefits of my build that I did not think were a big deal initially but have now become deal breakers if I did not have them are 1.) ease of setting/adjusting schedules from my phone, and 2.) being able to tell Alexa to dose the spa during high use times. Both sound like small things but are the kind of convenience that to me make all the difference.
My next project is WiFi control of both filtering and heating using the same type of in expensive WiFi switches, high voltage contactors, and possibly a WiFi thermostat to control the spa pack. I plan on doing it in such a way that the spa pack and all it's safety features are still in control of all spa functions. More on that once I have a fully formed plan.
I think the off the shelf options are great for vacation or straight maintenance dosing, in fact initially I was thinking I had wasted my time assembling things as I had, however after having used the system I would not change a thing. Two major benefits of my build that I did not think were a big deal initially but have now become deal breakers if I did not have them are 1.) ease of setting/adjusting schedules from my phone, and 2.) being able to tell Alexa to dose the spa during high use times. Both sound like small things but are the kind of convenience that to me make all the difference.
My next project is WiFi control of both filtering and heating using the same type of in expensive WiFi switches, high voltage contactors, and possibly a WiFi thermostat to control the spa pack. I plan on doing it in such a way that the spa pack and all it's safety features are still in control of all spa functions. More on that once I have a fully formed plan.
