Ahh-some treatment

[JVTrain]

Well, my water was getting sickly in the spa. Chemistry was fairly well maintained for 4 months. That and never having done a deep clean, time to do it. Ordered Ahh-some online and it arrived just in time today.

Drained the tub last night, refilled this morning then added Ahh-some and followed the directions.
Action shots:
Lots of bubbles

Yuck stuff

Other yuck

After draining and scrubbing scum that Ahh-some knocked loose, refilling now. Looking like a new tub!

 

[chem geek]

Yup, if you've never used it before then you'll get a lot of greases, oils, and possibly biofilm removed by using it. Sometimes you even need to use it more than once in sequence, but it eventually stops removing so much when everything is gone.

 

[JVTrain]

I thought about a second treatment but the first didn't produce an excessive amount of scum but enough to make me glad I did it.

Now the downside.

Go Go heater!

Mobile post. Beware of brevity and spelling errors!

 

[IM_ALL_IN]

I believe ahh-some is a great product. Finally got my hands on some yesterday and loosened more crud than I've ever seen using jet clean. I'm planning on running it again tomorrow and I'll take a pic if worthy. Then I'm going to refill and super chlorinate, drain, and hopefully have a perfectly clean tub. Did you leave the filters in?

 

[JVTrain]

I took the filter out of the housing and put it in the tub as the directions recommended. Then rinsed afterward. Seemed pretty clean.

 

[IM_ALL_IN]

I believe ahh-some is a great product. Finally got my hands on some yesterday and loosened more crud than I've ever seen using jet clean. I'm planning on running it again tomorrow and I'll take a pic if worthy. Then I'm going to refill and super chlorinate, drain, and hopefully have a perfectly clean tub. Did you leave the filters in?

So for an update...wow O wow, I'm starting to get scared!

This video is of my 2nd ahh-some flush. The filters were obviously in, which may have contributed to some of this gunk, but I flushed it again today and even more came out without the filters in there! Really crazy considering I've kept up on maintenance for the past year and I've ran plenty of other enzyme flushes between then along with superchlorinating. I'm stepping into the ring for round 4 tomorrow and will report back. Is this **** going to keep coming out?!


http://youtu.be/6y4vLWBu9tg

 

[IM_ALL_IN]

Is there any chance this stuff is reacting with the metals in tap water and forming this semi-solid goo? I'm just having a very hard time believing all this considering I've used jetclean and spa system flush and have never seen anything of the sort.

 

[chem geek]

Other products such as Swirl Away and Spa System Flush do not do nearly the same degree of thorough cleaning that Ahh-Some does (see Seaklear Vs Ahh-Some Test Results and Spa Purge Product Shootout). If you do an additional Ahh-Some treatment with another drain/refill you will eventually get to not removing anything else. If you've never used it before, then it could take 2-3 cycles to remove all junk but after that only a single application would be needed only when you change the water and with proper chlorine maintenance you won't see that much when you do use it on water changes (though you will see some -- depends on the amount of lotions and skin oil that gets stuck on spa surfaces).

If you want to clean your cartridges separately, there is a different Ahh-Some product for that purpose. I think the main difference is in strength/concentration since the filters are cleaned separately from the general spa and often has more junk than in the general spa.

 

[jblizzle]

WOW. We got a hot tub a few months ago and only found Swirl Away (I think?) It did not foam or anything ... either is it not nearly as good (which seems to be true) or the tub was actually pretty clean.

 

[JVTrain]

So for an update...wow O wow, I'm starting to get scared!

This video is of my 2nd ahh-some flush. The filters were obviously in, which may have contributed to some of this gunk, but I flushed it again today and even more came out without the filters in there! Really crazy considering I've kept up on maintenance for the past year and I've ran plenty of other enzyme flushes between then along with superchlorinating. I'm stepping into the ring for round 4 tomorrow and will report back. Is this **** going to keep coming out?!


http://youtu.be/6y4vLWBu9tg

That's a great video. Wonderful how much it cleans out of the system. It's almost scary how much comes out. Yours certainly had more scum come out than mine so if I were you, I'd consider another round as well. Two of the ingredients other than water and blue coloring are listed as "Trade Secret" on the MSDS. It's difficult to tell whether or not it would react with metals but I'd wager it's not designed to do so.

Thanks again for posting the video! I bet you feel better now that that gunk is out, but a bit disturbed that it was there all along...

 

[IM_ALL_IN]

WOW. We got a hot tub a few months ago and only found Swirl Away (I think?) It did not foam or anything ... either is it not nearly as good (which seems to be true) or the tub was actually pretty clean.

I've never tried swirl away, so I don't know how good it is, but I think everyone needs to do themselves a favor and at least try ahh-some. I will never go without it again after seeing the results with my own eyes. That being said, my battle is still ongoing, although I feel like it's nearing an end - 6 rounds in so far! This is definitely the title fight. I'm going to hit it at least one more time tomorrow just to be sure it's totally clean.

Like I've said before, the enzyme flushes I've used in the past never produced anything resembling this crud. I always kept good water chemistry (after I took it over). I don't know what else to say. I feel disgusted that I was going in this tub when this **** was somewhere deep in the system. Never got sick or had rashes, or any symptoms to be honest. Probably b/c the Cl killed anything that might have been living. Scary when you think about it.

 

[chem geek]

It's most likely the greases and oils from original manufacturing combined with organics from your use. There are lots of organic substances that chlorine does not oxidize either at all or completely and if these get stuck onto spa surfaces or piping then they won't get to the filter for removal. Add on top of that biofilms that have a better chance of growing in spa jets that aren't used regularly and there's opportunity for crud, but once you get rid of it then it will be far easier to keep clean.

You shouldn't be getting so much out after so many treatments unless you're not waiting long enough (per directions) during the treatment.

As for the ingredients, they are likely very powerful surfactants that basically dislodge sticky organics. Think soap on steroids.

 

[JVTrain]

I have noticed since my treatment that daily chlorine demand is down. I had passed OCLT about a 2 months ago so things were going well, but there is slightly less chlorine demand each day when the tub hasn't been in use compared to earlier days when it was not in use at similar temperatures. I'm sure some of that is due to my water being in there for 3+ months but it even seems less than when I first opened the spa back in May. I haven't kept detailed logs so their is no empirical data to support this theory. It also may be that I was hating the smell and management of the tub after it got inadvertently switched to a bromine spa...

 

[duraleigh]

This time of year, a drop (even just 3-4 degrees) in the water temp will reduce chlorine usage.

 

[chem geek]

I don't think the temperature has changed because this is a hot tub, not a pool. It depends on the thermostat setting, of course.

 

[IM_ALL_IN]

It's most likely the greases and oils from original manufacturing combined with organics from your use. There are lots of organic substances that chlorine does not oxidize either at all or completely and if these get stuck onto spa surfaces or piping then they won't get to the filter for removal. Add on top of that biofilms that have a better chance of growing in spa jets that aren't used regularly and there's opportunity for crud, but once you get rid of it then it will be far easier to keep clean.

You shouldn't be getting so much out after so many treatments unless you're not waiting long enough (per directions) during the treatment.

As for the ingredients, they are likely very powerful surfactants that basically dislodge sticky organics. Think soap on steroids.

I was using the product according to the directions, using 1 teaspoon per 100 gallons and running the jets for 20-30 minutes before draining. In the end I almost went through an entire 6 oz container.

Anyway, IT'S FINALLY OVER!!!!!

The tub threw up its white flag, but not before I pounded it with 9-10 rounds(lost exact count). Nothing else came out on the following run. It feels amazing after such a grueling battle. Really a mentally and physically draining process but I'm not the type of person to say "this is good enough", I had to finish the job properly and wasn't going to be satisfied until the flushes were gunk free. That being said, there's a few tips I can offer in hopes of maximizing results vs effort.

1)Very important IMO - get a shop vac and start sucking up this brown **** from the foam/sides as soon as you see it. It makes cleanup that much easier and it prevents that gunk from traveling back into the pipes. Also, it's helpful to stop the jets every so often and wipe down the sides. It becomes much tougher to wipe off if given a chance to start drying. The bottom line is you want this out of the tub as quickly as possibly and with no chance of getting back into circulation.

2) I would also advise letting it do its job longer than the directions suggest. Run the jets for 20-30 minutes and then let it sit in the pipes for a while(maybe a couple hours). Then run the jets again for a few more minutes and drain.

 

[chem geek]

I agree with your suggestions, especially #2 since it does seem to need longer when there's more stuff to remove. Glad it's finally over for you.

 

[Pflugerpool]

I'm not the type of person to say "this is good enough", I had to finish the job properly and wasn't going to be satisfied until the flushes were gunk free. That being said, there's a few tips I can offer in hopes of maximizing results vs effort.

1)Very important IMO - get a shop vac and start sucking up this brown **** from the foam/sides as soon as you see it.

Except that, being kind of an oh, well, I'll just say "OCD" personality myself, the crud in the shop vac hose would drive me nuts, and then I'd be buying more Ahh-Some to clean the Shop Vac with!

 

[nofa93]

JVTrain,

I'm about to order the product as per your recommendation. There are two sizes available ( 2oz or 6oz). Is the smaller format more than enough for multiple treatments or would it be wise to order the 6oz right off the bat? Thanks

 

[JVTrain]

2 oz is likely enough for 3-4 treatments, I would say. I go that route first.