Will be gone and don't know what the best way is to manage the tub while I am away. I think I should shock it but dont know if that is too long of a time to expect the shock to last. The tub has 430 gal of water. Our CYA is about 30 last check. I seem to be using up about 6 oz of 8.25% bleach each day when the 2 of us use it. Is my low CYA maybe a problem causing more usage. Should I consider getting some kind of floater to dispence chlorine while I am gone? Thanks for any input on this. Jim
What do I need to do to leave my hot tub for a week to eleven days unattended?
- Thread starter fishcrazy
- Start date
You can bring FC up to 15 or so I think....
and put a bromine tab in a bromine floater....
I've done this two years in a row for a week or so, and it seemed to work fine.
and put a bromine tab in a bromine floater....
I've done this two years in a row for a week or so, and it seemed to work fine.
If the tub is usually covered, that's a good level of CYA. Is it going to be covered while you're away? You could bring it up to 12 or slightly more FC and if you drop the temp down to 80s, keep it covered you should still have some FC after 11 days. My 385 gallon loses maybe 1-2 FC per day when I'm not using and have it in Sleep (low temperature) mode.
If you add bromine tabs, you should add sodium bromide as well to initiate a bromine bank, your tub is now a bromine tub from now on, not a chlorine tub, until you drain and refill. Can still use liquid chlorine to achieve oxidation in a bromine tub though.
See this thread.
Exerpt quote from chem geek:
You can switch from chlorine to bromine or vice versa upon a fresh drain/refill. You can even switch from chlorine to bromine by simply starting to use bromine tabs and adding sodium bromide to create a bromide bank. You cannot, however, switch back from bromine to chlorine except by changing the water.
You can also use chlorine as your shock in a bromine tub, instead of using non-chlorine shock (MPS). The chlorine simply reactivates bromide to bromine, just as MPS would do. That is, once a bromine tub, always a bromine tub, at least until the next drain/refill.
If you add bromine tabs, you should add sodium bromide as well to initiate a bromine bank, your tub is now a bromine tub from now on, not a chlorine tub, until you drain and refill. Can still use liquid chlorine to achieve oxidation in a bromine tub though.
See this thread.
Exerpt quote from chem geek:
You can switch from chlorine to bromine or vice versa upon a fresh drain/refill. You can even switch from chlorine to bromine by simply starting to use bromine tabs and adding sodium bromide to create a bromide bank. You cannot, however, switch back from bromine to chlorine except by changing the water.
You can also use chlorine as your shock in a bromine tub, instead of using non-chlorine shock (MPS). The chlorine simply reactivates bromide to bromine, just as MPS would do. That is, once a bromine tub, always a bromine tub, at least until the next drain/refill.
Thanks for the reply. I was wondering if that would be the thing to do. I am currently using bleach to sanitize the tub but read that it is not approved nor is it recommended for use in hot tubs on a website touting the best sanitizers on SpaDepot. Is that correct information or should I be ignoring that. I have been using the pool calculator just as I do in the pool and using bleach. It said that trichlor is approved for pool use only also. So what are my alternatives for a chlorine floater if any besides bromine? Can I use bromine along with bleach?
And apparently I have to read that thread again too! Later in the thread it says if you have CYA in the tub, you shouldn't need to add sodium bromide!
I'd read the whole thread or at least the first two pages, that should get you squared away.
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Ignore it. Other than trichlor is not recommended for tubs, mostly because of its effect on pH. Trichlor in a small tub can drop the pH very fast. Chlorine is fine for hot tubs. Dichlor is fine for hot tubs (but will ramp up CYA VERY quickly). Trichlor is best not to use unless you're monitoring very carefully and in short doses.
READ THE STICKY here: How do I use Chlorine in my Spa
I'd read the whole thread or at least the first two pages, that should get you squared away.
- - - Updated - - -
Ignore it. Other than trichlor is not recommended for tubs, mostly because of its effect on pH. Trichlor in a small tub can drop the pH very fast. Chlorine is fine for hot tubs. Dichlor is fine for hot tubs (but will ramp up CYA VERY quickly). Trichlor is best not to use unless you're monitoring very carefully and in short doses.
READ THE STICKY here: How do I use Chlorine in my Spa
I was wrong about my CYA level at 30. It is more like 55. It will be covered and I dont think that lowering the temp to even lower than 80, say 72 maybe if it will drift that low. Wouldn't a lower temp be better?
If you have an ozonator, you should figure out how to turn it off. Ozone will consume chlorine. If you don't have ozone, keep the spa covered, and lower the temperature, then the chlorine should last easily for a week or more. If you get the daily loss down to 10%, then 10 ppm FC will be 4.8 ppm FC after one week and 2.3 ppm FC after two weeks.
What about dosing the tub with chlorine and then turning it completely off to avoid the ozonator eating up the chlorine?
Thanks for all the replies. Looks like I turn the temp down and bring up the chlorine to shock and leave her covered. Great! Thanks so much for the help! Jim
If you have no other way of turning off the ozonator, then turning it off completely after dosing and mixing (running circulation for 10 minutes or so) would be OK. Not the perfect choice, but should still work. The risk is in areas where chlorine has not killed off pathogens. You are then relying on diffusion to replenish the chlorine and diffusion is very slow.