New Spa Help

[Sones]

Hi I have recently purchased and moved into a new house, great news however, the house has a spa pool which I have had some issues with.

The spa is a 5 seater with a capacity of 1200 litres (317 gallons) and has an eco-spa system attached to it (http://www.monarchpoolsystems.com/). The spa is covered when not in use with a hard cover and used by two people for 30min to an hour three to four times a week. Temperature is kept at 37.5 Celsius (99.5 Fahrenheit).

The spa is (or was its empty right now for a reason I will shortly explain) a salt water bromine spa. I have used ‘standard pool slat’ and a sanitiser mix from the pool shop (510g/kg chlorine present as sodium dichloroisocyanurate and 150g/kg sodium bromide) these chemicals where left by the previous owner.

To set up the spa I originally emptied the spa cleaned the surface with mentholated spirits and dismantled the jets cleaning them in a water and mentholated spirits mix. I then filled the spa and balanced it to the following:

Salt: 3700-4300pp

Ph: 7.2-7.6

Ta: 80-120

Bromine: 2-6pp

For the first few weeks the levels stayed normal then I noticed the that bromine levels increased dramatically, despite removing some of the water (about half on two occasions) the levels have remained dramatically high.

I have read a lot of the information on this board and believe that I have a small understand of how the spa chemistry works however I am unsure of the effect of the eco-spa.

Any help with the high Bromine levels would be great, is the (510g/kg chlorine present as sodium dichloroisocyanurate and 150g/kg sodium bromide) the right chemical to be using? Should I shock/supershock with bleach? Or should I cut up the spa and bin it to forget the nightmare.

Cheers,

[quantumchromodynamics]

Dichlor should not be used in a bromine tub where the bromine level is being controlled by an ORP sensor.

Dichlor adds cyanuric acid, which lowers the ORP reading and causes the generator to overproduce chlorine.

Some spa generators make chlorine and some make bromine. Your unit generates chlorine and the chlorine oxidizes the bromide into bromine.

The ORP sensor should be cleaned on a regular basis to ensure reliable sensor readings. Make sure that the sensor probe is properly connected to the control unit.

The most likely cause of the high bromine levels is an inaccurate ORP reading and/or the ORP is set too high.

I suggest that you drain the tub, clean the filters, clean the ORP sensor and make sure that it is properly connected, and then refill.

Upon startup, add Eco-Spa Bromine Activator Salt (Sodium bromide) at the rate of 50 grams (1.76 ounces) per 1,000 litres (264 gallons) of water (50 ppm).

Add normal pool salt (Sodium chloride) at the rate of 3 kg (6.61) pounds per 1,000 litres (264 gallons) of water (3000 ppm). Maintain salt levels at 2500 ppm to 3000 ppm.

If you don't have enough sodium bromide in the water, then the chlorine will stay as chlorine.

Monitor the bromine levels carefully and adjust the ORP up or down to adjust the bromine level up or down.

Use a good test kit such as the Taylor K-2106 test kit to test your water, not test strips. Test strips are not accurate enough.

I recommend that you adjust the bromine generator so that it provides about 50 % to 75 % of your bromine and that you use regular, unscented 6.00 % Clorox bleach to make up the rest.

I would also suggest that you not use methylated spirits or other solvents to clean your tub unless you are certain it is safe to do so.

What is your calcium level?

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(Start Edit)- Cyanuric acid does not combine with bromine and does not provide any benefit for a bromine tub.

However, it should not be a problem as long as it does not go too high. Since bromine and cyanuric acid do not combine, the ORP level should not be affected.

Dichlor can be used to shock a bromine tub, even if the generator is controlled by an ORP.

Since dichlor adds a lot of cyanuric acid and the cyanuric acid is unnecessary, it should generally not be used. If it is used, it should not be used once the cyanuric acid reaches 50 ppm.

For a chlorine pool or tub, the cyanuric acid level should be limited to 25 ppm to ensure the proper operation of the ORP sensor (Some references say 50 ppm). (End Edit)

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