pdampier

I thought I'd provide a 5 year update on this hot tub! We've had no problems with it up until just before the 5 year mark (last month) where the pumps started being very loud in general filter cycles and in use. We had the Spatech come out as the Spa was still under warranty from the manufacturer. They agreed the pumps were failing and replaced them. Everything else has been perfect. We put a new spa cover on it too last week since the original had become heavy + the vinyl was starting to crack on the edges. All in all super happy with the purchase.

Just thought I'd update this post. We've owned this Spa for going on for 3 years now and not had a single new problem. The first couple of months we had a couple of the air valve switches replaced as if you turned on the air for the jets it would slowly turn off again. So three years of good low cost spa ownership so far for us on the OC Spa. Montly bills have been $15-$30 extra a month (I keep spa at 100 and on the F2 cycle). Anyway just thought I'd update folks.

Hmmm the CalSpa I bought from Costco claims a 5 year labor warranty: http://www.hottuboc.com/hot_tub_specifications.aspx

Another vote for bromine - I have been able to leave the tub for 3-4 weeks and still had sanitizer left + pH in the right range.

So far so good.... It was steady at 7.4 so I added 2oz of Baking Soda (TA is still only 40 or so) but its now only 7.6 and appears steady...

Tell me about it! I have no idea what is going on. Things are still stable at 7.4 now - pH does not appear to be rising... Now I need to see if i can increase the TA with baking soda, lower the pH back down a bit and stay stable....

I have the Costco CalSpa that they sold last year (bought April '08) (www.hottuboc.com - the 850 model) - It has a 5 year warranty on parts/labor and so far has been great - obvioulsy too early to tell on the pump life time etc but energy costs have been very low perhaps $20-$25 tops extra per month in electric during Seattle winters (and we had a crazy cold winter this last year versus normal - was in the teens for a fair amount of time in Dec etc).

Looks like the borates are helping. Two days in now and if anything the pH has droped very very slightly instead of rising..... Sitting at 7.4 right now.

With bromine this is pretty easy. I just load up the bromine float with new full tablets and since my pH tends to slow rise over time I adjust pH to the lower end (7.2)... All set.

I carried on with adding dry acid for a little longer but the same problem existed. TA basically at 10 or less and yet pH would rise over 2 days or so to 8.0 (from 7.4). So today I added 25oz of the Borax and then used up all the rest of the dry acid (is it sold as a regular product in local stores like Baking Soda is or do I need to order the 93% stuff from a Spa store?) - added the 1 cup 3oz of dry acid and it wasn't enough so added 5.5 oz more and now pH is 7.4 to 7.6 so I'll see if it rises again. TA also seems to have increased now to 40-50 (test strip mesaurement only)....

It would help if I reread posts to refresh my memory! You don't need to worry about CYA. You probably don't have any, unless you used Dichlor to shock/reactivate the bromine (usually you use MPS or bleach, but some people shock with Dichlor in which case you'd build up CYA). Yes, the borates could be added by a combination of 20 Mule Team Borax plus acid (the Borax by itself raises pH), BUT it's much easier just to get Gentle Spa since it's pH balanced (it's mostly boric acid). It's more expensive this way, but it's not a large quantity for a spa. In your 450 gallon spa, if you use Gentle Spa, then it's around 2 cups 3 ounces to get to 50 ppm. If you use Borax and acid, it's around 3 cups 1 ounce of 20 Mule Team Borax and 1 cup 3 ounces of dry acid (sodium bisulfate). However, I would add portions of each alternately so as not to make the pH swing too high (or you could mix these in a bucket of spa water before adding it back in). You can also use The Pool Calculator to figure dosing. Hmmm not sure I have that much dry acid left now - Need to go order some 'Gentle Spa' I guess!! Checked tonight and pH is now 7.8 again so on the way back up.... What is also strange is I checked with test strips and these (aqucheck bromine strips) seem to indicate the pH is low 6.8 or so) - The Taylor test kit (new reagent) shows 7.8.... So now I'm not even sure I trust the results I'm seeing!

Thanks for all the help with this! I've never tested for CYA since I use Bromine? Should I? I'll try adding borates - Is that the 20 Mule Borax laundry booster? If so how much would I add for a 450 gallon spa? Thanks again... I didn't get a chance to test pH this morning but will check again tonight.

If the TA gets down to 20 or 30 and things stabilize is that a problem? It feels like the pH rise each day is slowing....

Even stranger - Still have the problem. Tonight pH was back up to 8.0 and TA is now only 40. I added yet another 0.3oz of dry acid. No idea what is going on here.

Well on Friday evening pH was 7.6.... Saturday AM it was 7.8 so I added another 0.3oz's of dry acid. Saturday PM it was 7.4 Sunday AM it was 7.6 Feels like things maybe stabilizing but I bet its at 7.8 or more on Monday AM!

Yes I do have an ozonator and a 24/7 circ pump so I see bubbles out of the ozonator "jet" 24/7 so that would contribute some... However, on the last fill I would normally need to add Soda Ash to raise the pH about every 2 weeks so the ozonator didn't seem to be raising pH much last time around since it would drop over time... (I use Bromine and MPS but the tub has very low use so I only add a small amount of MPS every 2-3 weeks or so) I tested again last night and it had gone from 7.9 down to 7.6 with the 0.5oz of dry acid. This morning though it was back up again to 7.8 - So the rate of climb does seem to be slowing. I hedged my bets and only added 0.3oz of dry acid this morning.... I will test again this evening and check TA again as well....

Personally I went with bromine because its the only system where its easy to be away from home for 1-3 weeks at a time and still know the sanitizer is working...

This morning it was back up to 7.9 or so (not quite 8) - Added another 0.5oz of dry acid!

Tested tonight and the 0.5oz dry acid this morning lowered pH to 7.6.... Tested TA (since about 3.5oz of dry acid now added) and its down from 80-90 to 60. I'll test pH tomorrow AM and see if it is back up to 8 or more.....

Yeah its really weird given this is a fresh fill and levels were pretty stable before. Last night I got home and found pH was still ok (~7.6) but again this morning it was up over 8.0. So I added another 0.5oz of dry acid.... I think that now makes a total of 3.5oz's. I will re-test pH and TA tonight to see where the TA is now. If I started around 80-90 (raised from 10 out of the tap) I'd imagine I'm down to 50 or less by now... Not sure why the pH keeps rising so fast though....

If the pH is slowly dropping, then you can raise the TA level a little to see if that helps keep it more stable (the higher TA will tend to raise the pH, thus counteracting the drop you are currently seeing). There should be some TA level where the pH stays reasonably stable over time, though obviously there will be swings after chemical additions. I will give that a try. Right now though pH still seems to be drifting upwards each day. Yesterday AM I added 0.5oz of dry acid and it reduced the pH from ~8 down to 7.6 and that was holding when I checked it in the evening. However this morning it was back up to >8.0. I added another 0.5oz of dry acid (now 3oz since the fill) and I will test again tonight but seems like I'm still at a point of pH drifting upwards. The hot tub is not being used so no airation/jets etc raising pH....

Thanks - I don't use chlorine so CYA isn't a concern but I do use Bromine and MPS - Is that an issue? On the last fill I found I pH would slow drop and maybe every 1 or 2 weeks I'd add soda ash to move from say 7.2 to 7.6 and then wait while it dropped over another few weeks.

Ah that could be have been it - maybe I took the initial pH earlier than I remember and it was before the TA was increased to 80-90. Yes the 2oz of dry acid was weight based and I found the pH was again high (~8) this morning so I added another 0.5oz of dry acid (mixed in a pail before adding). I tried acid demand test again and with one drop it "only" changed from 8 to 7.4 so perhaps things are stabilizing now? Historically I've found this water seems to stabilize with a lower TA - I tend to start around 80-100 but then find things working better with the TA at 40-50 or so. Is that a problem or a concern - Its an arcylic based spa? Thanks so much for the help!

I drained and filled the tub this last weekend... With fresh water the readings were: CH: 30 TA: 10 ph: >8 So I first got the CH up to 150. Then adjusted TA to 80-90 (5oz baking soda) and retook the pH and it was stil >8 (expected). In order to work out how much dry acid to add I added a drop of the acid demand reagent to the Taylor pH test. However it IMMEDIATELY went to a <7 pH color. Why would this be? Using test strips the reading appeared to be around 7.8 to 8 so I added 0.5oz of dry acid at a time over the course of a day (2 oz added so far) and now Taylor reads around 7.4 to 7.6... Any reason for this weirdness?

I bought the previous version of this Spa from Costco this time last year.... This model: http://hottuboc.com/hot_tub_specifications.aspx Feels like it was a better deal then as it was: $3999 (I later got $700 back when they reduced it to $3299) It looks identical except last years had speakers, an ozonator, artificial siding, air switches, 5 year labor warranty as well as all parts. Mine is completely full foam out to where the pannelling is - if you open up the sides there is no "unfilled" space. I have carefully tracked electric use as my utility company has online tracking tools. Our first three months where we used it nearly every day was $10-$20 in electric increase. Now days we use it about once a week and in the depths of Seattle winter (Dec was 17f at times) my bill went up about $25-30 tops. Last month (Feb) was back to the $15-20 range. I have the temp set to 101 with a 2 x 2 hour filter cycle. Circ pump runs 24/7. In Dec due to it being so cold (for Seattle!) I upped the filter/heat time to 2 x 4 hours daily. I've been super happy with it. OC sent a guy to replace an air rocker when it failed and even called me back to check on progress etc.