Too much chlorine, will you burn out your heating element?

[spa and pool]

If you add too much chlorine, will you burn out your heating element? I bought a hot tub a year back and test it with a 7 test, test strip. I have an chlorine generator that works with salt. I am very careful to make sure the chlorine levels (FC also) are always within range. Once in a while after I flush out the old water and replace, the chlorine levels might be high for a few hours until I aerate the tub. About a week ago the tub electric would not go on. It was tripping the breaker. The guy that sold me the tub claims I burnt out the heater (although he never showed it to me) and told me that the manufacturer may not honor the warranty. He said they replaced it but now I'm getting sensor errors.

Long story but could you burn out the heating element by over chlorinating and still use the tub without any side effects like rashes or burns?

 

[chem geek]

Re: Too much chlorine, will you burn out your heating elemen

Welcome to TFP!

How does your chlorine generator work without salt? All the ones I've seen for spas use 1500 or 2000 ppm salt to generate chlorine. Can you tell us more about this chlorine generator you are using -- the brand or a website that describes it? If you did not put any Cyanuric Acid (CYA) in the water (or used Dichlor initially to shock), and I suspect with the chlorine generator you didn't, then the chlorine will be stronger than necessary. If the salt level was higher, then the combination could be more damaging to copper heat exchangers.

 

[spa and pool]

Re: Too much chlorine, will you burn out your heating elemen

it works with salt (not sure why you thought it didn't). We have a 350 gallon tub that takes 9 cups of salt. Technichlor is the chlorinator.

We also have a salt water pool. We've had it for 6 years and our pool heater looks brand new. The very diluted salt water does seem to affect the pool, why would it with the hot tub?

 

[chem geek]

Re: Too much chlorine, will you burn out your heating elemen

Sorry, I misread what you wrote at first. The spa heater may not be made of the same materials as the pool heater. Is the pool heater using a copper heat exchanger or is it using cupro-nickel alloy or titanium? The spa heater will be at higher temperatures and it's possible it's not grounded or bonded properly. However, I agree with you that the problem with the heater might not be related to the salt level, but warranties are warranties (see this post for some examples with pool heaters).

 

[spa and pool]

Re: Too much chlorine, will you burn out your heating elemen

thanks, I'm just concerned that I was never shown the heater and, like I said, I keep very close watch on the chemical levels in both my pool and hot tub.

 

[walleye]

Re: Too much chlorine, will you burn out your heating elemen

Curious as to how large your tub is and what setting you have your Technichlor at. I just started using the Techinchlor about a week ago. So far I really like it. I am playing with settings of 3-4 with a 395 gallon tub. Trying to get a constant of 2-3 PPM. Any info would be great. I have my salt at 2100 ppm.