Swirl Away Questions...

[drewskie]

I used swirl away about a month ago, and from the stories I have heard, it is supposed to foam like crazy and I should have seen some brownish goo, or other nasties come out of the plumbing. I saw neither, it looked as if the the water didn't change at all. i am planing on doing it one more time as I have a scale issue. My questions are, is there something bette rthan swirl away to use? Is swirl away supposed to get rid of scale? Also, after draining the swirl away water, will the little bit of water left in the plumbing with the enzyme in it be harmful?? thanks.

[The Pup]

I used swirl away about a month ago, and from the stories I have heard, it is supposed to foam like crazy and I should have seen some brownish goo, or other nasties come out of the plumbing. I saw neither, it looked as if the the water didn't change at all. i am planing on doing it one more time as I have a scale issue. My questions are, is there something bette rthan swirl away to use? Is swirl away supposed to get rid of scale? Also, after draining the swirl away water, will the little bit of water left in the plumbing with the enzyme in it be harmful?? thanks.

Per instructions, I recently used a like product for my annual deep clean...and I saw nothing.

I am very diligent (read fanatical) about proper water chemistry, sanitation and maintenance. Relatively speaking, I assume my spa was clean and not gummed-up with slime, goo or residual bather-induced filth.

...you might have a relatively "clean" spa too.

[pkillur]

I used swirl away about a month ago, and from the stories I have heard, it is supposed to foam like crazy and I should have seen some brownish goo, or other nasties come out of the plumbing. I saw neither, it looked as if the the water didn't change at all. i am planing on doing it one more time as I have a scale issue. My questions are, is there something bette rthan swirl away to use? Is swirl away supposed to get rid of scale? Also, after draining the swirl away water, will the little bit of water left in the plumbing with the enzyme in it be harmful?? thanks.

So I can confirm that this stuff does in fact work REALLY well, to the point of netting junk out for 30 minutes after a cleaning! It's possible that you are either super dilligent about tub maintenance (yehaw for you!) or of pristine biological condition and your skin doesn't ever peel...

[drewskie]

Haha, thanks. I wish that was the case. I got the tun free and it was sitting, so maybe the prior owner was very clean. I'm gonna try it one more time and see what happens.

[pkillur]

Haha, thanks. I wish that was the case. I got the tun free and it was sitting, so maybe the prior owner was very clean. I'm gonna try it one more time and see what happens.

I ran mine twice through and it had gunk the second time as well. The PO might have been very cleanly, or if it was just setting dry it could have still been getting aqueous (if that's the right term??) You also ran all the pumps on both speeds and adjusted the airvalves (all of them) and the diverters (all of them) back and forth? This would change how the water is bouncing through the pipes and get the stuff out more.

-PKil

[chem geek]

There is also Spa System Flush that could be tried, though I don't know if it will give different results than Swirl Away. Obviously the individual manufacturers/promoters of each product believe theirs is the best, but I don't think we've ever had a comparative shoot-out between them on this forum, have we?

[pkillur]

There is also Spa System Flush that could be tried, though I don't know if it will give different results than Swirl Away. Obviously the individual manufacturers/promoters of each product believe theirs is the best, but I don't think we've ever had a comparative shoot-out between them on this forum, have we?

Personal experience is that Spa Flush (as bought from spadepot.com) seemed to get green and white crap out. Swirl away (what I used last week) seems to get white and brown and green goop out. It's also used (unoficially) for cleaning out front loading washers that develop forgotten-load-syndrome

That would be interesting to see what people use

[pkillur]

I contacted spadepot about "Spa Flush" and was told the following:

"I am an independent contractor for spa depot that answers questions, but I also run a business cleaning spas. I only use Spa Flush, and I go through at least a case a year. Spa Flush is NOT detergent based like swirl away, and as well the stuff that come out is supposed to float and you net it out so it doesn't get sucked back into the plumbing."

I am awaiting information from Swirl Away regarding how their product is different from Spa Flush.

[pkillur]

I contacted spadepot about "Spa Flush" and was told the following:

"I am an independent contractor for spa depot that answers questions, but I also run a business cleaning spas. I only use Spa Flush, and I go through at least a case a year. Spa Flush is NOT detergent based like swirl away, and as well the stuff that come out is supposed to float and you net it out so it doesn't get sucked back into the plumbing."

I am awaiting information from Swirl Away regarding how their product is different from Spa Flush.

OK - here is the answer I got from Swirl Away below:

"

Swirl-Away is a "Readily Biodegradable" Detergent based product that has been on the market for 20 + years. It is recommended that you treat your water prior to changing your water, this way no extra water is used and all materials that are flushed out from your plumbing lines are discarded accordingly...

Hope this answers your questions

Regards,

Rob"

So, that does in fact lead one to believe that it should in fact foam, because it is a detergent. Curiously enough on the swirl away website it says for whirlpools (E.G. jetted bathtub) do not turn on the air. It doesn't say anything on the website about hot tubs, though maybe I missed it.

Now that I think about it, I think I got more gunk out with spa flush. The support rep for spa flush said:

" it's is an enzymatic formula, and it does not eat plastic / pvc / metal, nor is it detergent based Totally safe - even bio-degradable!"

I'm lead to believe after this that Spa Flush is probably a better product than swirl away. I certainly got more "crap" out of my plumbing using spa flush, and it did seem to de-gunk more stuff that sorta floated. Though it didn't so much float as it did "not sink completely"

[drewskie]

Thank a lot, you really did your homework. I am going to try the spa flush and see if I get any different results. Also, as far as the cleaner residue being left in the tub, will that have any ill effects on the water quality afterward? And pkillur, when you ran the spa flush and stuff "floated", how were able to get it out? Just use a skimmer, then drain the tub? Thanks.

[pkillur]

Thank a lot, you really did your homework. I am going to try the spa flush and see if I get any different results. Also, as far as the cleaner residue being left in the tub, will that have any ill effects on the water quality afterward? And pkillur, when you ran the spa flush and stuff "floated", how were able to get it out? Just use a skimmer, then drain the tub? Thanks.

Well, I don't have a skimmer paddle thing, but I have a janky venturi filler / cleaner thing I bought from walmart, that got about 95% of what was floating, and then I just manually scooped up the rest with the bag without water attached. I also tied my filter bag thing onto the floating part of the filter skimmer to catch and leftovers for the couple uses after I cleaned out and balanced. But, mostly, to answer your question, yes I just manually netted it out.

-PKil

[Mark pacheco]

Does the temperature matter when using?