egclassic

I think so. My TA is now around 40ish and Ph is 7.6. I have not been home for about 3 days and tested water today. At 1st, the Ph was a tad low (7.0-7.1) opened the air control valves and ran jets for 15 minutes, brought the Ph right up to 7.6. I found out that one of my air control valves was not sealing off, bad gasket, and I just replaced it a couple days ago. That was probably part of the reason for the PH drift. I'll check everything again in a day or two.

Calcium hardness is 160

Using Bromine tabs in floater and shock with bleach. Not sure about CH yet but our tap water is considered hard.

This sounds like a problem I had years ago! I always got a really bad rash but my wife got nothing. I was getting ready to cut the hot tub in half! I couldn't tell you how many times and how much money I spent "cleaning", draining and refilling the hot tub, only to have it happen again. I finally changed over to bromine and have not had an issue. I still shock with bleach and not MPS. I hope you get it figured out as I know it is very frustrating!

I have decided to start up my tub again after a 2-3 year break. Last time, I fought balancing the water. I'd get TA within range, but the Ph would skyrocket. Got tired of chasing TA and Ph up and down ALL the time. This time I have tested my tap water and it is TA=80, but Ph is 8.5+. I know I want to add borates again and I think that was part of my issue. I used Borax but this time plan on using just Boric Acid as mentioned in other posts here. I am also going the Bromine route. So, question is, with the parameters of my tap water in mind on a fresh refill, where do I start? Should I first add acid (dry or Muratic) to lower Ph, then add baking soda to raise TA back and aerate? What is the ideal TA? I know Ph should be 7.4-7.6? Thanks in advance!

Yes, but even with the bromine I was still using bleach as a shock. I have tried 3 brands of bleach, including Clorox. I thought it might be the borax as well, so I eliminated it on my last refill, still broke out.

I would love to help anyone else who has this issue if I can. I have decided, for Sh*ts and giggles, to once again torture myself and try one more thing. One thought occurred to me, and that was, when we had our old tub I used only granulated Di-chlor, never Clorox. Never heard of the dichlor then bleach method. Since I have had this tub, I have tried the di-chlor then bleach method. If you see by my other posts, it seems that the first few soaks after a refill do not bother me. But once I have gotten my CYA level up to the recommended level and switch to bleach, that seems to be where I start having some issues. The first soak or two are not so bad, I may get a very slight itch here or there. As I continue to add bleach and use the tub, the rash gets more severe. Maybe I'm wrong but humor me on this one. I will report back after I try just going back to plain Di-chlor on this refill. I know my CYA levels will continue to climb and I will probably have to do water changes more often, but it is absolutely my last Idea.

Yeah, very frustrating to say the least. I enjoyed our old tub at least 2-3 times a week and never had these issues. I just wish I knew what is causing it. Whats weird is that the rash takes a day or two to form, and lasts a week or two, which would seem to be bacterial. But I've done a test a couple times where I'd get the chlorine up to 10 ppm and watched how long it would take to get down to 2-3ppm, usually several days. I would think if there was bacteria in there, it would drop quicker. Oh well!

Problem is, I do not use MPS or any variant thereof. I am strictly using Bleach (Clorox) with the occasional dose of Dichlor. Sad to report that my itching/rash has returned. Since my last post I have not used the tub all that much, maybe once a week or once every two. But I have always kept up on the chlorine levels and other parameters. It always appears after a day or two of using the tub, and always on my legs and any of the "soft" areas of skin, like my a$$ cheeks and undersides of my upper arms. Come spring, I'm cleaning the tub and selling it. It's costing me a fortune in flushes and refills, not to mention lotions and creams that offer little to no relief.

So far so good. I have used the tub about 5-6 times for 1/2hr each time and no rash. I switched to Clorox brand bleach. I have left out the 50 ppm of borates and run my TA at about 60-70. I also keep a close eye on my pH and keep it around 7.4-7.8. I have been using dry acid vs. the muriatic acid that I used to. Still not sure if any of these were the issue to begin with, or if I have even succeeded yet.

I may just try that. So far, I have been using a store brand but I will pick up some Clorox this weekend and see what happens.

   I am still in the process of trying to determine the cause. So far, since I have once again, flushed and refilled the hot tub, I have been in it about 3-4 times. I have not had an issue, yet. I have just completed my Dichlor "loading stage" and have just switched to bleach today. This time, upon refilling, I left out the 50ppm of borates, This is the ONE thing that I never used in our last hot tub, and have added nothing but dichlor, and small amounts of dry acid (instead of muriatic, as I have used in the past) and baking soda to balance the water. I too, have tried everything you mentioned such as trying different sanitizers, and adjusting pH and TA to see if they had any effect. I am completely dumbfounded as I never had issues with our previous hot tub that we had for many years. I am not sure if it is sensitivity to hot water. I can take very hot, long showers and do not get a rash, granted, I am not submerged in the water either. At this point, I can't say it is or is not bacterial, but I have flushed this hot tub more in the 2 years I have owned it than I ever flushed our old tub. When I do flush it, I always get either a green or yellow "sludge" on the foam and water line. If I break out again, I am going to drain the tub and sell it. It is costing me too much money and frustration which is the opposite of what owning a hot tub should be. I hope you find a solution to your problems!

Yeah, "don't talk to those guys online", because he wants to sell you his products, most of which you don't need.

Ok, makes sense. I am in the process of determining the cause of a rash and I am adding only the necessary chemicals at this point. I had my TA down to 50ppm and pH was holding at 7.5 with no borates. I will raise it to 70 and keep an eye on it. I prefer not to add the borates this time. BTW, I like to get in the tub with the chlorine levels around 3-4 max, otherwise it seem a bit strong.

So if your TA=50, you HAVE to have 50 ppm borates (not optional)? Why is that?