Ahh-some causing issues?

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What's the pump run time schedule? When no one is in, does it circulate or jet the water? What's the baseline temp when no one is in?

Definitely take a good series of measurements to see if you can spot a trend.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006
 
I would think (I could be and unusually am wrong) that water at 101F would have a fairly high FC loss rate just from extinction of the chlorine.

Does your old loss rate of 25%/day correspond to the same tub temperatures?

As well, is there some reason the standby temperature is so high? I would think you'd keep the water circulated in 90's and then bump it up prior to getting in.

I'm not a hot tub'er, so pardon my ignorance on the subject.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006
 
It would be best to get a measurement of the FC about 15 minutes after dosing with bleach and measure an actual chlorine loss over 12-24 hours without any bather load to see if you're having higher than acceptable FC loss.

It's been a while since I tested my spa for daily chlorine loss in this way, but 2-4 ppm loss over 24 hours was fairly normal when I had a CYA at 30 ppm and dosed to 9 ppm FC. This was when I was keeping the spa at 95-98 degrees last spring.
 
JoyfulNoise said:
I would think (I could be and unusually am wrong) that water at 101F would have a fairly high FC loss rate just from extinction of the chlorine.

Does your old loss rate of 25%/day correspond to the same tub temperatures?

As well, is there some reason the standby temperature is so high? I would think you'd keep the water circulated in 90's and then bump it up prior to getting in.

I'm not a hot tub'er, so pardon my ignorance on the subject.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006
Click to expand...

We've never had 25% daily loss in this tub (we've had it almost a year). It's always been 40% no matter if we have UV running or not. We don't want to have to wait for it to warm up if we go in last minute and we don't always just go in say after dinner where you'd bump it up before dinner.

- - - Updated - - -

JVTrain said:
It would be best to get a measurement of the FC about 15 minutes after dosing with bleach and measure an actual chlorine loss over 12-24 hours without any bather load to see if you're having higher than acceptable FC loss.

It's been a while since I tested my spa for daily chlorine loss in this way, but 2-4 ppm loss over 24 hours was fairly normal when I had a CYA at 30 ppm and dosed to 9 ppm FC. This was when I was keeping the spa at 95-98 degrees last spring.
Click to expand...

That's what I have to do now that it's all clean and fresh water. Haven't been in it at all since the final fill. What I think is partly going on is that tho we have new bleach and store it in the dark in the laundry room, if we think we're adding 6ppm, it's not ACTUALLY taking it up 6ppm so when we take the reading the next day, it's showing a bigger loss than it really is since it's not getting as high as we think. Oddly, I thought I'd find we have more than 500 gallons of water and maybe that was causing a calculation error but the water meter on two fills shows 440'ish gallons.
 
Ah, ok. Sorry, I misunderstood your question. I thought you had 25% loss that suddenly jumped up to 40% but that's not the case.

As for the UV lamp making no difference, that's probably due to the fact that it's output is undersized for your spa which means it's effectively useless. Since it doesn't seem to do anything either way, just leave it unplugged. The glass sleeve on the bulb could also be fouled causing loss of effectiveness, but I suspect it is just simply an under-powered UV source.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006
 
Higher than expected FC loss - once and for all.

Brand new water in the tub, TA set to 50, pH at 7.8, CH at 120, 50ppm Borates, temperature at 101F

No one has been in the tub since it was filled. Cleaned thoroughly with ahh-some before draining.

Yesterday at 12 noon eastern, FC = 2.2, today at 10am eastern (22 hours later), FC = 1.2 or 46% loss.

Before drain and fill we'd see anywhere from 40 - 50% 24 hour FC loss. Tub has UV system (ClearRay) but it is unplugged and definitely not running.

Given that everything is new water and clean, should we just assume that for some reason this tub uses more than the expected about of FC in 24 hours?

Anything else anyone can think of? Is the expected 25% for a lower water temp?

thanks!

Moderator Edit: Do not start a new post. No one will connect it to this thread
 
I can't find it, now, but somebody told us not to put as much as a very level teaspoon in our hot tub or we could expect one of those "I Love Lucy" moments with a wall of foam chasing us out of the house. The hot tub is in the master bedroom and we really didn't want that problem! So, using no more than about 3/4 of a teaspoon, we had plenty of suds. It took five fillings to get all of the waxy yellow gunk out. The tub had, apparently, never been cleaned and the previous home owners were known for raucous parties.... ahem. Anyway, Ahh-Some did get the tub squeaky clean.

Good stuff, but a very real potential for a lot more suds than you bargained for......
 
Re: Higher than expected FC loss - once and for all.

watson524 said:
Brand new water in the tub, TA set to 50, pH at 7.8, CH at 120, 50ppm Borates, temperature at 101F

No one has been in the tub since it was filled. Cleaned thoroughly with ahh-some before draining.

Yesterday at 12 noon eastern, FC = 2.2, today at 10am eastern (22 hours later), FC = 1.2 or 46% loss.

Before drain and fill we'd see anywhere from 40 - 50% 24 hour FC loss. Tub has UV system (ClearRay) but it is unplugged and definitely not running.

Given that everything is new water and clean, should we just assume that for some reason this tub uses more than the expected about of FC in 24 hours?

Anything else anyone can think of? Is the expected 25% for a lower water temp?

thanks!

Moderator Edit: Do not start a new post. No one will connect it to this thread
Click to expand...

I'm not sure the 2.2 to 1.2 change is all that conclusive. I'd also try a test at a higher FC level, such as 5 ppm and see what your FC loss is. 1 ppm loss is VERY little in the grand scheme of things for a hot tub.
 

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I would do as Joel recommends and raise the hot tub FC up to a higher level, perhaps even up to 10ppm, and then look at your loss. However, you stated that you keep the tub running at a temp of 102F all the time. That is pretty hot since most tubs and pool heaters top out at 105F for safety reasons. So the higher temperatures will definitely lead to greater FC loss. If I'm not mistaken, I believe you have gotten the 20-25% figure from some spa posts by chem geek. If that is so, he may want to comment here as I think those figures were quoted for tubs running at a slightly lower standby temperature (~90F) but I'm not sure of that.

You could also try to experiment with chlorine loss at your current set point of 102F and then do another set of tests at a lower set point, say 95F. I understand you don't want to have to wait for the tub to heat up, but it may be good to know the loss rates so you can see if the extra convenience is worth the cost in chemistry and utility bills.
 
The 25% 24-hour loss in a spa with no ozonator nor UV is at the usual spa temperatures people keep which in between soaks is typically in the 90's. For typical chlorine reactions, they double in speed every 13ºF so it's possible the higher temperature explains what is going on except there shouldn't be much to oxidize in your tub. If your CYA is low though, then you could be outgassing chlorine faster.
 
Ok I didn't realize that 25% target number was for soaks in the 90s. I personally like it at 99 but my husband thinks it's "tepid and not a HOT tub" at that. In this case, CYA is low since it's a fresh fill so right now only 4.8 CYA. I'll take it up again tonite - we haven't been in but it needs a boost up - test it to see what it actually got to and then do a 24'ish hour reading from there
 
It's not for soaks in the 90s, but many people only heat up their spa to the higher temperature when they are going to use it.

I think your low CYA has more to do with the more rapid loss in chlorine. The higher temperature doesn't help not only because of the more rapid reactions, but there is less chlorine bound to CYA at higher temperatures. Unless there's a lot to react with in the spa, it may just be outgassing more rapidly and then reacting with the hot tub cover.
 
I don't know if I have the patience to wait the time it takes to get to +10ish degrees at 4 or 5 degrees per hour but I know if we go away or something, the temp definitely should be dialed back.

We're at 11.4 CYA based on the amount of dichlor added so far.

Last nite at 9:45pm we tested after adding 1oz and had 9.6ppm FC
Tonite at 10pm after no use, we have 7.4ppm

So that's a 24 hour loss of 23% so that's good.

I did notice when I opened the cover it definitely had more smell than normal (more outgassing because of low'ish CYA) but I'll keep track of it as we use dichlor and switch to bleach once we get to about 30ppm CYA

Thanks for the help!
 
Thanks! I just had a very similar thing happen. Ran the recommended dose of Ahh-Some in my 440 gal tub and rinsed and refilled. After it came up to temp it started foaming substantially. I'm guessing that my tub was probably already pretty clear and there was residual product in the pipes. I scooped out quite a bit of the foam and put a little de-foamer in and now it seems to be a little better.

Is the tub safe to use with whatever residual Ahh-Some may be in there?
 
Just curious on how you all like ahh-some a year later. I am getting ready to do my first cleaning - though it is a new tub. I am also having a hard time keeping the chlorine at the right level. Granted my tub is always at 102f so maybe thats the issue? The heat eats the chlorine quickly?
 
I'm glad you posted this - I had the opposite problem. I had never run ahh some on a tub that had a dead jet pump, and thus stagnate line of dead water, for probably years. I added the suggested ahh some amount and did not see any excessive bubbling at all - but TONS OF SCUM. I even added a bit more ahh some and still no excessive bubbling. I am going to take excessive bubbling to mean the tub is pretty clean to begin with!
 

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