First TF100 Tests

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dunginhawk

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Jul 10, 2018
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So Some of you have read and helped me get my Hot tub up and running... I am very appreciative of that.
Now I finally have my TF test kit in and have some interested results.

FC is 5-6 ish. either way, im fine with it
CYA is 80 - according to the chart you want 70-80 in a pool, but apparently that should be 30-40 in a hot tub? is that accurate? What should my CYA be in my hot tub?
PH is 7.8 according to the digital meter... So ill adjust that down... However i am not at all familiar with the digital PH meter... Will it need to be calibrated? or should it show up ok... 7.8 seems about where My test was the other day (liquid test) hoping i dont have to calibrate, because its confusing as heck as how to do that haha.
Salinity - 3200ppm however when I first filled my tub i put in 9lb which should have been 2400ppm according to my chart. Ive actually added probably 40 gallons or so to the tub after that and its still higher than it should be. Are there any chemicals im adding that would drastically raise the salinity?

Obviously with the CYA higher (if you guys agree) and the salinity out of whack, it seems like I need to drain at least 150g of the 450 g tub.

Any other info I should know here?
thanks
 
If the liquid test and the digital are showing the same, I would assume it is correct. You only need a small amount of acid to reduce it into range.

The only way to lower salt and cya is to drain and fill. How did you get 450 as the amount of water in your tub? My manual says 575 gallons, but i use 500 when i do my calculations and it seems much closer. I good way to check is after you drain and fill it, check your salt level. Use 450 gallons with the pool math app, but only add half of what it says and retest. See how close you get. Your fill water might have some salinity in it. the other chemicals shouldn't raise it
 
JZa, thats good advice on the salinity thing... smart :) . I probably wont drain it all the way this time, but next time I will do that for sure...
Jza are you in the camp of 30-40 cya in a hot tub? or higher?
thanks
 
Its funny, i have read that multiple times, but I guess i didnt hone in on the cya pieces.. 20-30 with dichlor.. so appears 30 ish is the CYA target.. so im way above that.. ill drain half tomorrow and refill. rebalance... thanks
 
I don't think there's any particular issue with having a higher CYA in a hot tub, except that you have to maintain a higher FC level. Use the target level outlined in the chart: Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart

The reason you want it high (60-80) in a pool is to protect the pool from UV. With a hot tub always covered when not in use that's not really an issue. The CYA is just used for reducing the harshness of the chlorine, so 20-30 is good for that.

And remember, you will probably loose 10-15 ppm CYA per month from the heat, so don't drop to 30 and forget about it.
 
I have had my CYA to 50 accidentally twice now and I just adjust and keep my chlorine level higher. The only thing that makes it annoying is if you want to shock once a week it takes way more bleach to get the FC level above 20. I have also found the CYA burns off pretty quickly in my tub. I feel like I have to adjust it every two weeks. I hate having to dissolve the powder and I'm really wondering if they make a liquid form that I can just pour in and be done with it.
 
dih,

I agree with everyone.. :cool:

Keeping the CYA at 20 to 30 is fine and keeping the CYA at 70 or so is just as fine...

My salt cell says to run a CYA of 50 to 80 in an outdoor tub, but it makes no reference to if the tub has a cover or not.

I just run at 70 because that is where I run my pool.. I just use the CYA/FC chart for saltwater.. [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]

I like keeping my FC a little high so that it does not get used up when we use the spa. Just running the cell overnight will bring my FC back up to my target level.

To be honest, that is all I ever do, chlorine wise. I almost never have to add Liquid Chlorine or anything else to "shock" the spa. My CC's stays at 1 or less and when they get to 1.5 it is normally time to drain and start over.

That said, the tub is only used by the two of us for 30 minutes a night, so it has a pretty light bather load. And I do open the top to let it breath two or three times a week when the sun is shining.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 

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dunginhawk said:
So Some of you have read and helped me get my Hot tub up and running... I am very appreciative of that.
Now I finally have my TF test kit in and have some interested results.

FC is 5-6 ish. either way, im fine with it
CYA is 80 - according to the chart you want 70-80 in a pool, but apparently that should be 30-40 in a hot tub? is that accurate? What should my CYA be in my hot tub?
PH is 7.8 according to the digital meter... So ill adjust that down... However i am not at all familiar with the digital PH meter... Will it need to be calibrated? or should it show up ok... 7.8 seems about where My test was the other day (liquid test) hoping i dont have to calibrate, because its confusing as heck as how to do that haha.
Salinity - 3200ppm however when I first filled my tub i put in 9lb which should have been 2400ppm according to my chart. Ive actually added probably 40 gallons or so to the tub after that and its still higher than it should be. Are there any chemicals im adding that would drastically raise the salinity?

Obviously with the CYA higher (if you guys agree) and the salinity out of whack, it seems like I need to drain at least 150g of the 450 g tub.

Any other info I should know here?
thanks
Click to expand...

A pH of 7.8 is within range, (7.2 to 7.8) with a digital meter, you want to, every once in a while, do a chemical test at the same time, to make sure the unit is reading properly.
 
Thanks for all the additional info.. good stuff. Ok, so a higher CYA is not a big deal, again except for having to keep the chlorine levels higher, which maybe isnt so bad either because you have less risk of going below the recommended level accidentally. At least that would be my guess. It would be (as im finding) a little harsher on the eyes though.

I still need to do a partial (about 1/3) drain and refill because my salinity appears to be 800ppm too high.. Seriously not sure how it go that far out of whack. Maybe when it says 450g tub it means 450g if its overflowing out the top full. Not sure... Either way, ill correct that and re balance.

I posted this on my other thread, but that one was getting a bit stale because most of it was startup stuff, but I have had to add what I feel to be a lot of chlorine to my tub. Much more than I would have expected. Now this was before I started running my pumps 8 hours a day (it was 2 before) so perhaps im maintaining much better now because of that (ill test this morning before my drain).
This is a copy/paste from that thread
***added water this morning (well the morning that says today from this thread) so some extra chlorine would have been necessary)***
Yesterday 4:24pm - add 3.3oz bleach (6%)
Yesterday 10:32pm - add 3.7oz bleach
Today 12:53 am - add 3.7oz bleach
Today 11:20pm - add 3.1oz of bleach
 
dih,

None of this is magic... Your cell will only make so much chlorine per hour.. You have to run the cell long enough to create the amount of chlorine you need. For me, I have to run the cell 8 hours per night. That said, I only have 200 gallon spa and an add on $200 cell.

Does your spa manual tell you the amount of chlorine your cell will produce?

If the chlorine hurts your eyes, than I would check your CC levels.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Unfortunately my manual doesnt say exactly what it produces, just that it recomend 6-8 hours run time per day to generate adequate levels.. IM there now so maybe im ok.
I just drained and refilled and got the salt to 2400ppm roughly.
Interesting that i was at 3200ppm with 9lbs per the manual.
When I drained it, and filled it i was at 1800. Poolmath said to add 2 lbs to get to 2400ppm, but I had a feeling that was not right (something goofy with my gallon of tub perhaps)
I instead added 1lb and it took it to 2200. So doing that math in my head I know I need to add .5lb more to get to 2400 , where the app said a lb. So its about 2/3 the recommended amount.. At least i know that now.

So ill give the salt a little bit to mix in, then ill test PH, get that stable, check CYA which should be about 40, and then Get the chlorine up to about 3, if its not already there.
 
dih,

Yes and no... :p

CC is an important part of the testing.. If your FC is 4 and your CC is 2, you will smell it a mile away...

Why are you not testing CC? CH is not that important in a spa but you need some to help keep the foaming down.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Perhaps this is strange,perhaps its normal.. would love some advice.

Yesterday I put in 2.3oz of bleach to get FC to 6 or so before my family got in.
four of us (2 young kids) for lets say half an hour.
Then I got in solo for half an hour later that night (didnt add any, it tested around 4-5).
Today I just went to test and its essentially zero, or dang close to it.
How the heck does that happen?
All my others just 2 days ago when i ran the full range of tests were spot on.
Im going to take the cover over to see if my SWG is even working. Its set to run 8 hours a day which would have occurred right as I left the tub last evening, and the second 4 hour run finishing around now.
EDIT: i can see water flowing through the SWG, but the prozone (which powers it) I cant see any lights emitting from it, so im wondering if its working. Lets assume the swg wasnt working, could the tub drop from 4ish to 0 overnight from 1 soak? assuming I didnt just roll around in pig manure?
any advice here?
thanks

edit:2 ***... I just took the panel off and started really inspecting the routes etc... As it turns out the pronzone/SWG is set up to run on pump 2, which is NOT on the 4 hour schedule twice a day which means the swg is ONLY doing its job about 30 minutes a day tops, when we are in the tub. Im looking in the manual now to see if there is a way to schedule pump 2, if not im going to go ballistic on this company, who up until now has been fantastic.
 

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