Need Advice from Users

[pooladdict]

Hello All

I am going to be adding a hot tub to my back yard, I have several questions.

1) Is higher price actually worth the spend?

2) What is minimum of Jets I should look for?

3) Should I get waterfall features...lighting?

4) What is the one thing you got on your hot tub that was a waste of money

5) What is the one thing you didn't get with features and now wish you did?

6) I currently run a SWG in my inground pool, and would like to look at Salt for Hot Tub...good or bad idea?

Thanks for all your input.

Rik

 

[PaulR]

I don't really have answers for your questions, because most of them are personal preferences. My main suggestion would be to visit a few dealers and be ready to wet-test different tubs to get an idea of what you like and don't like.

In general I'd expect a SWG to work fine in a hot tub. I was manually dosing with the dichlor/bleach method until recently, I started using bromine about 3 weeks ago and I'm finding it very easy.
--paulr

 

[JasonLion]

While a SWG can work well in a tub, most people seem to prefer to use bromine. The amount of sanitizer used in a tub has a lot to do with how frequently you use it, so constant additions from a SWG does not match up as well to the sanitizer demand. That means more fiddling with the controls, canceling out much of the connivence advantage.

 

[chem geek]

Actually, spa surveys show that most people use chlorine (mostly Dichlor), though somewhat more than a third use bromine. However, with chlorine, you have to add it frequently so it's more suited to those who use a spa every day or two since one can just add more chlorine right after use. If you only use the spa once or twice a week or less, then having bromine tabs in a floating feeder is more convenient.

 

[pooladdict]

The SWG isn't Chlorine, its Salt Bromide/Bromine?

I am told its similar to SWG except that it produces Bromine.

 

[chem geek]

Yes, there are SWG systems that can produce bromine instead of chlorine, or at least that ultimately result in bromine. Anyway, Jason's point is that in a residential spa the oxidizer demand swings wildly from being low when the tub is not in use to being very high when it is used. If you dial in either an SWG or a bromine feeder to provide enough oxidizder to handle bather waste, then you start off soaking with relatively high levels of sanitizer (chlorine or bromine) while if you dial in the SWG or bromine feeder to handle background demand with no bather load, then you won't have enough oxidizer to handle the bather load.

So you generally still need to add an oxidizer after your soak in any event. The purpose of the SWG or bromine feeder becomes handling background demand when you aren't using the tub regularly. So it is most convenient for infrequent tub users -- once or twice a week or less -- or when frequent tub users go on vacation.