Hot Tub sanitizing equipment

[wpbucher]

Getting ready to pull the trigger on a portable hot tub. (Read: Waiting on wife to decide which on she wants).

Our pool was installed in June and I used BBB from the start....well almost...I added the Borax a few weeks ago.

Anyway, I'm having a bit of trouble discerning the best way to go for chemistry.

There seem to be four major players: Bromine, Chlorine, Ozonator, and SWCG.

What combination do you recommend?

Is it Bromine/Ozonator vs Chlorine/SWCG? Or are there other combinations that are more effective?

Use of tub will vary. I estimate it will average 12 person/hours per week spread over 2 or 3 sessions.

I'm leading toward the Dichlor/Chlorine method with the SWCG to maintain FC in between....or should I also have an ozonator even though it seems to eat up chlorine. Or is having an ozonator and a SWCG silly....since the ozonator will oxidize the chlorine?

Like I said...a bit confused....

Thanks for your responses,
Wes

 

[jblizzle]

Just to clear up a few things:
- SWG and chlorine are the same. The SWG just "generates" the chlorine from salt, instead of you adding the chlorine
-Ozone is an added piece of equipment that is used in conjunction with either chlorine / bromine and I think is more useful for high bather loads (not positive).

That is about all I can offer Others will have more info.

 

[linen]

If you are not using the tub frequently (every day to every two days), then the ozinator/chlorine combination is not good since you will use a lot more chlorine, and have to add it daily.

Swgs can work, but they are good for constantly adding low levels of chlorine, so bleach would still be needed to oxidize the bather waste when the tub gets high use.

I have not thought about the ozinaotor/swg combo before, but imo that would be inefficient.

Personally, I use the dichlor then bleach approach with no ozinator and it has worked great for me.

I believe pairing the ozinator with Bromine works fairly well for less used tubs, since if the bromine bank is properly established, the ozinator will produce bromine on a regular basis. I, however do not like the smell of bromine tubs.

 

[wpbucher]

Just to clear up a few things:
- SWG and chlorine are the same. The SWG just "generates" the chlorine from salt, instead of you adding the chlorine
-Ozone is an added piece of equipment that is used in conjunction with either chlorine / bromine and I think is more useful for high bather loads (not positive).

That is about all I can offer Others will have more info.

I use a SWCG in my pool and BBB, so I'm familiar with the SWCG.

I figured that I could use the Dichlor/Bleach method to compensate for user load.......and utiilize the SWCG to maintain FC in the intervals where spa use is sporadic.

This seems obvious to me, but I don't see anywhere that endorses this notion....that makes me think I"m on the wrong track.

 

[chem geek]

Dichlor-then-Bleach for dosing after your spa usage and using the SWG for background dosing in between soaks. That is a very reasonable combination. For the spa SWG are you looking at the ControlOMatic TechniChlor or are you getting a HotSpring® spa with its ACE® Salt Water Sanitizing System?

Your bather load is high enough that an ozonator might be useful in oxidizing some of the bather waste, but you aren't soaking every day or two so the ozone will react with the chlorine in between soaks. It's a tough call. If you were soaking every day or two, then the ozonator would be OK or if you were only soaking once a week or only on weekends then I'd say not to get the ozonator (at least with chlorine), but you're a bit in between. If you go with the SWG, then you don't really need the ozonator as the SWG will do some super-oxidizing in the salt cell (not as much as ozone, but probably plenty for a spa).

 

[wpbucher]

Not sure about tub yet. I really like the Hot Springs Grandee. We will get that one, unless wife vetoes it. Are there any significant differences between the two ozonators?

 

[chem geek]

I don't have any information on the ozonators for different spa models. Sorry.

I assume you meant ozonators and not the difference between an ozonator and the ACE® system. The ozonator produces ozone so works well if you use the spa every day or two and not so well if the spa is used less frequently because ozone not only oxidizes bather waste, but reacts with chlorine as well. The ACE® system is a saltwater chlorine generator, but uses boron-doped diamond electrodes to produce hydroxyl radicals that are powerful oxidizers. There are reports with people having problems with the ACE® system requiring part replacement so figure that it could cost more -- look at it as a premium product requiring more ongoing maintenance cost.

 

[CPSScott]

The ACE system has a one year accessory warranty, which covers the cell. Once that warranty is up, a replacement cell is very expensive. The majority of customers out of warranty with a bad cell opt to remove the system altogether once finding out the cost of a new cell. Unfortunate, but it is cheaper to use the "old fashioned" dichlor method.

For the most part, Hot Springs has worked out most of the glitches with the ACE system and new customers love it.

 

[wpbucher]

I pulled the trigger on the Hot Springs Grandee. HS ran a promo of free ACE so went with the ACE. Turns out my neighbor has had a Grandee with the ACE system for three years with no issues. Of course two days after I ordered the tub, my neighbor informed me the ACE cell had died. Hopefully, I will get three years from my cell. My neighbor loves the ACE system.