P4stir

We bought a Beachcomber Hot Tub less than a year ago and I know our dealer sells replacement jets and other parts. The jets are removable and the same-sized jets can be moved to another position in the tub. I'm not sure if you can do this while it's full; we don't move our jets around. Our dealer is very helpful - check to see if there is one near you or call their head office in British Columbia, Canada. Hopefully the dealer closest to you understands that helping you will lead to a satisfied and repeat customer that gives referrals! The dealer - if they value customer service - may even give you a quick run down of the features and functions on the tub; the head office may send you additional info too. Our foot jets broke - the larger ones in the foot wells and yes, the tub had to be drained for those to be replaced. Just so you know, they're NOT supposed to open, shut or move at all like the ones on the walls. There may also be one more small jet that's 'not working'; it might be the jet that can be used to add an UV filter to the tub. I'm no expert, but you should check out threads here on decontaminating your tub, especially if there's lots of gunk inside it. We're also going to try the Dichlor then chlorine method on the fill we're doing this weekend as my husband has been having moderate to severe rashes from the hot tub for the last four months which, from threads here, I think may be from over-use of Dichlor. Keep reading and educating yourself as I've come to realize dealers are not always really knowledgeable on the chemistry of spa water. Again, threads here explain so much about balancing your water and using things like borates and baking soda instead of costly chemicals from a hot tub dealer. Good luck!

We just got our test kit in and I was wondering if there is a particular order to performing water tests. Do I test FC, pH, TA, CH, then CYA?

Thank you for the great info! Starting to feel less confused. So now, we will be adding 6% bleach (following #of bather-hours) after bathing instead of the dichlor since the FC is high enough. I get in every day - sometimes twice a day, and added dichlor afterwards - now realizing way too much! Our last empty and fill was 3.5 months ago and we know it's time to do that again so we'll be doing the Spa system flush then the decontamination as you described, then follow the dichlor and bleach program as noted. Dealer has us adding a product once a week that oxidizes contaminants, aids the filtration system, and helps the filter catch more contaminants and debris (she calls it a 'clumper'. It contains peroxysulfate). Should this still be part of our once a week maintenance program when we clean the filter? Glad to be finding more natural and less expensive alternatives to chemicals for the hot tub!

First, let me say I've learned so much from this forum in the past 24 hrs! At this point I am skeptical that the tests done by the salesperson is truly accurate... I'm very grateful for any help/suggestions. Tub was our 20th wedding anniversary gift to each other and I want to get this figured out so we can enjoy it! Yes, going to get the Taylor k_2006 kit ASAP so we can test the water here at home. Ordering it today. To respond to your questions: spa size is 362 US gallons (1370 Litres). Lately I'm the only person getting in - usually 25 to 40 min daily, sometimes twice a day (only one to two days a week for pain management). Water temp currently at 101oF. Had the water tested today at the place we bought our tub. Here's the values: TA 160 ppm pH 7.5 CH 200 ppm FC 12.0 ppm We have been trying to reduce the dichlor, but each time we do, the tub clouds up sometimes the next day. We are at the point of needing to do a drain and fill but need to find a product to clean the pipes and jets of any biofilm, etc, as you've recommended. Also trying to figure out where to get the products I see people recommending (ie Borates, Flush). We're trying to figure out if we need to go really drastic with the decon as described as it's usually only the two of us in the tub. Today we added 74 gr of oxidizer (from spa dealer) and circulated for 15 min; added clean water to raise water level and to lower TA; added 50 gr of a water softener (from spa dealer to help with pH bounce)and circulated 15 min on foot jets then 15 min on side jets; added 2 tbsp of stain & scale inhibitor to bring down CH circulated 15 min floor jets then 15 min side jets. No dichlor added as FC so high. The cover has been off for the last two-three hours. I feel like we're using too much chemical - are those oxidizers & softeners really necessary to use? Can we now start using 6% liquid chlorine instead of adding more dichlor? I wouldn't add anything until after using the tub tonight. Thanks for the advice and tips! Truly appreciated!! P.F.

We bought a new hot tub about 7 months ago and my husband started having skin rashes almost immediately. We test our water weekly, and clean the filter each week before testing and adjusting alkalinity and pH (both always needing weekly adjusting up), then shock with a chlorine based hot tub granule (only once a week). These chlorine granules are also added after each tub use. Once a month we take a sample into the dealer we bought our tub from and she always tells us there's too much sanitizer, but when we try to lower it, the water goes cloudy (milky) within 24 hrs. The only thing I can think of is there are some nasties in there the sanitizer doesn't get? I suspect we're using too much chemical, but we don't know how to reduce down to keep alkalinity and pH in the proper range. We are ready to do our second empty and re-fill, but before we do that, I want to be sure the tub and jets are sanitized so that the new water going in doesn't get 'contaminated' from residuals from the water we're draining. The tub is so new, and we've followed the instructions given to us by the dealer... is it really this difficult to figure out and maintain a hot tub???