Monitoring Chemistry While on Vacaction

[Kit]

As a new spa owner, I am interested in the recommendations of the group regarding monitoring of the spa chemistry while on vacation. I plan to be out of town for about 2 weeks. As indicated on my sig line, I have a 2,200 gallon SWG spa with an auto cover. Ideally I would prefer not to have someone check the spa while I am away. However, I will do whatever is necessary. I would appreciate your thoughts. Thank you kindly.

Kit

 

[jblizzle]

You have a SWG, so the spa should be fine while you are away.

What adjustments are you typically making over 2 weeks while you are home?

 

[pooldv]

When I go on vaca I dial in my SWG to hold FC a couple of points above target for my CYA, Chlorine CYA Chart. Then I add bleach to raise it shock level. My PH rises so I lower PH to 7.2.

 

[cowboycasey]

I drop the PH before I leave and that is it, I also have a SWG in my spa, the single best thing I did to it I went for a month and had no issues what so ever..

Because I leave so much I have dropped my TA lower than TFP recommendations.. I am at TA 30 so in a month with no bubbles because of use my PH went from 7.2 to 7.6... With that said, this lower TA has its issues, like only using a capful of MA to drop from 7.5/6 to 7.2 in 700 gallons... I have crashed it 2 times and needed to add baking soda to bring my TA back up to 30

The second best thing I did was put a 100sf cart filter in it...

 

[Kit]

You have a SWG, so the spa should be fine while you are away.

What adjustments are you typically making over 2 weeks while you are home?

Jason: Since I am new to water chemistry & the SWG won't be activated until next week, I really don't have everything dialed in yet. Over a 2-week period, I seemed to be fine tuning TA, CH & pH (using bleach for now).

Kit

 

[Kit]

So if I am reading between the lines correctly, by bumping up the FC level before leaving on vacation this will assure a sanitized spa. And lowering the pH level will compensate for the absence of aeration while being out of town. Am I thinking correctly here?

Kit

 

[jblizzle]

Not quite. The pH tends to rise just due to the SWG functioning. So by lowering the pH, it will not get to high for too long. Aeration actually makes the pH rise faster.

 

[Kit]

Not quite. The pH tends to rise just due to the SWG functioning. So by lowering the pH, it will not get to high for too long. Aeration actually makes the pH rise faster.

Thank you. Not sure that I was aware of this. Is the pH level rising due to the additional chlorine being generated by the SWG? If so, is pH affected similarly when chlorine is manually added to the water?

Kit

 

[jblizzle]

The SWG creates little bubbles which aerate and raise the pH.

Adding chlorine does in fact raise the pH, but as it is consumed, the pH drops back down. So effectively, the bleach is pH neutral.

 

[Kit]

Aha! I get it. Thanks for "schooling" me. This water chemistry thing is certainly (shall I say) "involved"; but, nevertheless, enjoyable. Thank you.

Kit