What does chloramine smell like?
- Thread starter edwin2014
- Start date
Re: What test kit to get for new Jacuzzi tub
Like "bad pool smell" you might notice in some heavily used commercial/public pools especially indoors. It's not the fresh bleach-like smell.
Like "bad pool smell" you might notice in some heavily used commercial/public pools especially indoors. It's not the fresh bleach-like smell.
Re: What test kit to get for new Jacuzzi tub
Chloramine odor stings the eyes and nasal passages when present in enough amounts. A pool with no CC will not have that irritating odor.
Chloramine odor stings the eyes and nasal passages when present in enough amounts. A pool with no CC will not have that irritating odor.
Re: What test kit to get for new Jacuzzi tub
Hm, could it be possible that a spa smels like that while having a fc of 4 or more continuesly and dissappear after 2 days of not using the spa?
If so than that could be the chlorine smell my spouse is complaining about.
Hm, could it be possible that a spa smels like that while having a fc of 4 or more continuesly and dissappear after 2 days of not using the spa?
If so than that could be the chlorine smell my spouse is complaining about.
Re: What test kit to get for new Jacuzzi tub
Yes, in a hot spa especially with aeration jets even the chlorine outgassing will have a smell, though it should be like a faint chlorine bleach smell. If the FC level dropped after not using the spa then that would be reduced. On the other hand, if you are talking about a smell during a soak, then the higher chlorine level will react with bather waste to form chloramines and higher amounts of them will smell.
What most people do when using chlorine is to let the FC drop to around 1-2 ppm FC before their soak. They then add enough chlorine after their soak so that they have 1-2 ppm for their next soak (or they add chlorine in between soaks if one doesn't soak every day or two). This minimizes any smell during the soak while still making sure there is always chlorine in the spa in between soaks. During the soak, the chlorine will become monochloramine as it reacts with your sweat so will still inhibit bacterial growth though not be at the level of disinfection the EPA requires in commercial/public pools to prevent person-to-person transmission of disease. When you add chlorine after your soak, you kill off anything that may be leftover and the chlorine also oxidizes your bather waste.
Yes, in a hot spa especially with aeration jets even the chlorine outgassing will have a smell, though it should be like a faint chlorine bleach smell. If the FC level dropped after not using the spa then that would be reduced. On the other hand, if you are talking about a smell during a soak, then the higher chlorine level will react with bather waste to form chloramines and higher amounts of them will smell.
What most people do when using chlorine is to let the FC drop to around 1-2 ppm FC before their soak. They then add enough chlorine after their soak so that they have 1-2 ppm for their next soak (or they add chlorine in between soaks if one doesn't soak every day or two). This minimizes any smell during the soak while still making sure there is always chlorine in the spa in between soaks. During the soak, the chlorine will become monochloramine as it reacts with your sweat so will still inhibit bacterial growth though not be at the level of disinfection the EPA requires in commercial/public pools to prevent person-to-person transmission of disease. When you add chlorine after your soak, you kill off anything that may be leftover and the chlorine also oxidizes your bather waste.
Re: What test kit to get for new Jacuzzi tub
Thanks for the clear explanation! I know what to do for the next soak.
Thanks for the clear explanation! I know what to do for the next soak.
Re: What test kit to get for new Jacuzzi tub
Are there suitable chlorine tabs for holiday that do not solve this fast without adding CYA?
You where so right. Tested the 70/20 tabs last two days and they are no solution. They dissolve way to fast ending up with high FC level. Started at 5 at 9:00PM and measured next day at 9:00 AM a whopping 12.5 FC. So having in mind that my FC tends to drop about 6 every 24hrs this means that it rizes the FC level even more then the 12.5-5 amount.
Are there suitable chlorine tabs for holiday that do not solve this fast without adding CYA?
No, unfortunately there are not, at least not for chlorine. Bromine tabs dissolve slowly even in hot water, but if you use those then your spa will become a bromine spa until you next change the water. That's not a terrible thing but may not be what you want. You would just continue to use chlorine though any spent bromine from the tabs (i.e. bromide ions) will become bromine again when you add chlorine. If you only use the tabs for a short time, then such bromine may go away over the following weeks as it slowly outgases and combines with organic bather waste so some may filter out -- it's a slow process, however, so if the bromine tabs are used for more than a few days then the resulting bromide may have the tub be a bromine tub for many weeks.
If you have a special feeder that is designed for Trichlor in a hot tub (and that's rare -- Aquafinesse used to have one, I believe), then you probably won't build up too much CYA if you are only talking about one week or less since the hot tub daily loss with no ozonator may only be 25% of the FC so perhaps 0.25 to 0.5 ppm FC per day. So even with a 4 ppm FC loss over the week, that's only around 2 ppm CYA. Fortunately, hot tubs don't use much chlorine in between soaks when there is no ozonator and when you let the water cool off (say to 80ºF or so).
If you have a special feeder that is designed for Trichlor in a hot tub (and that's rare -- Aquafinesse used to have one, I believe), then you probably won't build up too much CYA if you are only talking about one week or less since the hot tub daily loss with no ozonator may only be 25% of the FC so perhaps 0.25 to 0.5 ppm FC per day. So even with a 4 ppm FC loss over the week, that's only around 2 ppm CYA. Fortunately, hot tubs don't use much chlorine in between soaks when there is no ozonator and when you let the water cool off (say to 80ºF or so).
Thanks. I like the easy use of chlorine so I wil try to make it work with a chlorine pumo that adds a fixed amount of chlorine during filtering time. Additionally after each soak I just add some chlorine manually. Just need to figure out how to connect lead into return jet at bottom of spa. Gladly with an arctic spa I'm ably to easy access all pump lines.
Yes, a peristaltic pump is one of the best ways to automate chlorine dosing. There are threads on this forum about that, though mostly oriented towards pools (though the principle is the same).
The other main technique is to use a saltwater chlorine generator such as the ControlOMatic Technichlor but that requires adding salt to the water and some spas may not handle higher salt levels well.
The other main technique is to use a saltwater chlorine generator such as the ControlOMatic Technichlor but that requires adding salt to the water and some spas may not handle higher salt levels well.
Similar threads
