So, if chlorine kills most anything, does a 15 minute soak in the hot tub mean I'm going to come out clean? If the answer was a resounding yes I don't think I could still forgo a proper shower but I'm curious...
One shower, hold the soap please (chemistry question)
- Thread starter Methuselah
- Start date
- Jul 21, 2013
- 65,342
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
IMO you'd come out more sterile than you went in. But you'd also come out covered in sweat and residual laundry soaps that hadn't yet been oxidized.
I would always stand around sweating for the 15 minutes after a soak, then needing a shower from that alone.
Newdude hit the nail on the head.
A properly chlorinated tub will eliminate any microscopic buggers that might be on you, however that usually isn't my main reason to shower. Without a surfactant to help loosen oils and dirt on your skin and then a rinse to remove them you will leave the soak sanitized but still dirty.
A properly chlorinated tub will eliminate any microscopic buggers that might be on you, however that usually isn't my main reason to shower. Without a surfactant to help loosen oils and dirt on your skin and then a rinse to remove them you will leave the soak sanitized but still dirty.
- Jun 1, 2018
- 16,025
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
I’ll put it like this-
if I just had a shower & go for a soak I don’t shower afterwards, same with the pool.
I don’t expect the spa or pool to remove my grime or for them to be a shower replacement.
I also am pretty confident that they are pretty sanitary to begin with so I shouldn’t come out dirtier than when I went in & possibly come out somewhat sanitized.
However,
There is a difference in sanitizing/killing germs & cleaning-
Example:
you can spray a dirty muck covered toilet with disinfectant then wait the appropriate amount of time & you will kill the germs
(disinfect) but they & the rest of the muck will still be there (albeit lifeless) until you use elbow grease to remove them. You can also just physically remove the muck & forego any disinfectant which is just cleaning.
Most people tend to do both at the same time.
We shed stuff constantly from our skin & rinsing with water does alot so you will likely come out cleaner than you went in if proper fc was maintained but not the same result as also washing with soap/surfactant
I will admit that I contemplated a hot tub bath while my power was out for days recently during this ice storm (since it’s almost purge time anyway)
but I didn’t want to risk losing any more degrees than necessary in the tub & have to worry about it freezing on top of my other pressing problems.
if I just had a shower & go for a soak I don’t shower afterwards, same with the pool.
I don’t expect the spa or pool to remove my grime or for them to be a shower replacement.
I also am pretty confident that they are pretty sanitary to begin with so I shouldn’t come out dirtier than when I went in & possibly come out somewhat sanitized.
However,
There is a difference in sanitizing/killing germs & cleaning-
Example:
you can spray a dirty muck covered toilet with disinfectant then wait the appropriate amount of time & you will kill the germs
(disinfect) but they & the rest of the muck will still be there (albeit lifeless) until you use elbow grease to remove them. You can also just physically remove the muck & forego any disinfectant which is just cleaning. Most people tend to do both at the same time.
We shed stuff constantly from our skin & rinsing with water does alot so you will likely come out cleaner than you went in if proper fc was maintained but not the same result as also washing with soap/surfactant
I will admit that I contemplated a hot tub bath while my power was out for days recently during this ice storm (since it’s almost purge time anyway)
but I didn’t want to risk losing any more degrees than necessary in the tub & have to worry about it freezing on top of my other pressing problems.
<VBG>
After a question like that maybe I better also define sane. Thanks for making my day
- May 23, 2015
- 25,709
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
People bath too frequently anyway … it’s one of the biggest wastes of water on the planet. Most people shower for too long and they almost always disable the low-flow features which results in showers running a lot higher than 5GPM. Then they stand in the shower staring at the wall contemplating life. It’s not unusual for people to blow 75 gallons or more of water down into the sewer.
Do this - get a shower timer and set it to 5 minutes. See how far you get in your “cleaning process” … then realize your just dropped 25 gallons of water down the drain.
Do this - get a shower timer and set it to 5 minutes. See how far you get in your “cleaning process” … then realize your just dropped 25 gallons of water down the drain.
Sure...but it's not like that 5 gallons disappear. It gets re-used an infinite number of times
- Jul 21, 2013
- 65,342
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Bathing water changes from potable water to dirty water. Depending on how it is handled it may or may not be returned to a potable water state.
Sure it does. All of our drinking water gets treated...dirty or not. If that wasn't true, humans would have run out of water hundreds of generations ago and we would all be dead. Heck, even springs filter water through rocks and sand and dirt and that's considered to be the "best" water for drinking.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 65,342
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
+1
And also, regardless of the "recycle-potential", it took chemical and filtration treatments to make it clean (or time and distance if nature did it) and will take this same measure of work to do it again.
Letting culinary water go down a drain is always a net draw on resources!
Ooh can I have the punchline!?
Displacement
Which is of course your point. It gets used up from that location, some of it gets recycled, the rest is lost to other locations or the atmosphere and relocated where we have to spend new resources recapturing it to start the process all over.
All this to say, training yourself on military showers is a great way to be a good steward!
The converse, I HAD great pressure without the flow restriction, but with a new fixture the valve body IN THE WALL had a restriction also... so removing one from the shower head had little effect. Since, my normal 5 - 10 minute shower takes 25 - 30 minutes to get the soap off me while I dance around trying to get hit by the elusive stray drop of water.
I don't believe most people remove the restriction. Most just aren't that handy, even when it's just fishing out an O-ring with a dental pick. Heck, some are too vision impaired to do it when they know how.
- May 23, 2015
- 25,709
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
If it’s a single body, hot/cold mixing valve (not two separate hot cold handles), then the pressure balancing unit (PBU) or the mixing cartridge may have gone bad or has an obstruction in it. In modern style single valve bodies, the mixer cartridge + PBU costs about $100 to replace (the brass main body should last forever or until the next bathroom remodel). Takes about 45mins to do the job slowly. The valve guts only last about 10 years before they start to go bad so if the fixtures are older you may need to replace the guts of the shower valve. I did it on mine when the shower started dripping all the time. Not only did the drip stop but the temperature mixing got infinitely better since the PBU was totally shot.
Just a thought …
It's this one. They press fit a tube in the pipe, and the contractor soldered in the copper tubing to the valve body so replacing it would force me to work from a small cutout on the side. Last time I was in there I just cut a big circular opening behind and when done put it back and mudded over it. Big heavy dresser and full sized mirror against that wall, tile on tub side. If I drill and get shavings where they don't belong it would turn an ugly job into a nightmare.
If it were me installing it, I might also have soldered stubs into it, but I'd like to think I'd have seen the restriction and removed it beforehand. Ugh
I use that logic with my bath towels. When I get out of the shower, I am the cleanest thing in the bathroom. Therefor when I dry myself with bath towels, they should only be getting cleaner. No need to wash them at all.
When you don't have service stops on the valve body and the stem on on the house shut off decides to break in your hand.
- Jun 1, 2018
- 16,025
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Remind me to bring my own towels if I visitI use that logic with my bath towels. When I get out of the shower, I am the cleanest thing in the bathroom. Therefor when I dry myself with bath towels, they should only be getting cleaner. No need to wash them at all.
