cpumodem

Flyguyscott I too have an Arctic Glacier with Onzen. I have had the tub since July 2008 and had the Onzen replaced in March 2009. I do not use the salt that produces bromine as the salt that I user produces chlorione. First off for all the problems that you are having contact your dealer for support. On the Aqua Finess my opinion is that the dealer is trying to make more money from you. Ditch the Aqua Finess... Also I would switch to a Taylor Tesk kit. You will find that the test strips are not as accurate. The only chemicals that I use are: The salt only used when filling up the tub Chlorine to be used only after heavy tub use to establish a chlorine reserve. You will notice that heavey use there will be no sanatizer left. Arctic Refresh Ph up PH Down You salt level seems high. When I fill my tub I only use 1/2 of a new bucket of salt or 5 lbs. How much salt did you put in the tub upon fill up? When I do a water change every 3 months here is what I do. 1. Before I power down the tub I change the CP setting to 0. 2. Turn power off and drain tub 3. Clean tub and before I refill it I put on the pre-filler on the hose and fill tub. 4. Turn power on, run on slow speed for 3 to 5 minutes and then run on high speed for a minute or 2 to get the air out of the lines. 5. Get the 5 pounds of salt ready to put into tub and wait until the water temperature is 85 degrees then open up the air and run both pumps on high. 6. Slowly pour the salt into the tub. Should take you about 10 to 15 minutes. 7. When the pumps turn off after 20 minutes running the first pump should be running only on low speed as the tub will be heating up. 9. Go into the low level programming and set the CP from 0 to 3. (you have the salt in the tub now so it time to turn the Onzen on) By morning I have 3 parts of Chlorine and clear water so that I could use the tub. But again you paid lots on money for this tub contact your dealer for help.

Changed my water this Monday the 28. Outside temperature at the start was 19 degrees and when I finished it was 22 degrees. I have 2 hoses that I use to drain the tub. A 25 foot hose that connects to the tube drain and the other one is also about 25 feet cut from an old hose that I put in the middle of the tub and start the syphon from the other end manually. Using 2 hoses the tub will empty in an hour and 20 minutes. Started @ 10 AM and was finished with the tub filled by 12:30PM

James, Thanks for the update. I posted the story becuase it contained economic information about the global recession and also how your company is doing during these tough economic times. I trust reporters as far as I can throw them. What I like and I'm sure other readers will also is the interest that you and your company take in resolving issues and complaints. Last year I wanted to replace my 9 yeard old Apollo Hot Tub and after researching on this forum and seeing at that time Tom responding to questions and complaints I decided on an Arctic Glacier Signature with Onzen. I got my Arctic Glacier in late July 08 and the only problem that I had was that the Onzen generator quit woking in Feburary 09. After getting the Onzen replaced it has continued to work. The only request I ask of you and your company is that the Onzen manual nned to be re-written as several people including myself have complained about the manual.

Orders for Mr. Keirstead's Arctic Spas tubs are up after an “extremely weak” first quarter. However, Mr. Keirstead isn't confident the resurgent demand will last. “Some fundamentals just aren't there,” said Mr. Keirstead, co-owner of Blue Falls Manufacturing Ltd. “I feel we aren't looking at a V, more of a W,” he added, referring to the trajectory the rebound could take. “We could see some problems this winter.” Blue Falls Manufacturing has fired 120 people and Mr. Keirstead says he has no plans to bring them back. The company is on pace to sell about 7,000 spas this year, down from 10,000 before the recession. Instead of building inventory, Mr. Keirstead is filling orders as they come. “It's coming, but it's not coming that well,” Mr. Keirstead said. “I don't know how soon we'll truly get back to previous volumes.” The story can be found at: News Story

I have an Arctic Glacier and you are correct after a high usage you will need to supplement it with adding normal chlorine ( you don't want the bugs to grow). One of my gripes is that no where in the Onzen manual it states that after heavy usage you might have to supplement chlorine.

If you are not getting the mist it would probably mean that the electrodes are not working. My Arctic tub did the same this last winter. Since it was a cold winter I just put the regula chlorine in the tub and waited until spring to get the tub fixed.

Welcome to owning an Arctic Spa. I also have an Arctic Glacier with Onzen that is now 14 months old. The only problem that I had is that it quit making chlorine and the Onzen Electrodes needed to be replaced. Just yesterday it was time to replace the water with new. It was also the first time that I cleaned the jets. Was surprised after 14 months of use the jets looked like new and very little work was needed to clean them. Wife an I use the tub about 3 times a week and I have the Onzen generator set to run for 8 hours a day. If I go on vacation for a week I cut the time in half and only run the Onzen system 4 hours a day until I get back. If you have any questions fee free to ask. Chuck

How are you cleaning your jets durning a water change on an Arctic tub with onzen?

Having myself bought an Apollo spa I can tell you that it lasted me 9 years until I replaced it with an Arctic spa. In the 9 years that I had the Apollo spa the only items that needed to be replaced was the control pack after 5 years, and the pump that lasted me for 7 years. They are excellent built spas and cost less than the Arctic Glacier that replaced it. The reason why I went with Arctic is that I liked the Onzen system. Once you have understood how the system operates it is a breeze to maintain. I have had my Arctic Glacier, which I bought from Apollo in Spokane for about a year and both my wife and I use the hot tub about 3 times a week. We both use the spa every weekend morning to get the day started.

Nigel I have an Arctic Glarier that I got in July 2008. In January about 2 weeks after I changed water it quit producing chlorine. Because of a bad winter with about 100 inches of snow and cold temperatures I waited until later April until i called the dealership to get the tub serviced. A serviced technician came out checked to make sure that the Onzen light on the generator was working and there were bubbles appearing, but I had no puff of smoke comming out. He then checked to make sure that there was voltage going to the electrodes. The dealer had no spare electrodes so I waited 5 weeks until they received the part. They also ionformed me that they have seen lots of failuers in the electrodes and that the parts that they are now getting from Arctic look different. The dealer replaced the part late thursday afternoon while I was at work but the service technician called me before he arrived to let me know what he would be doing. Service technician had to drain the tun to replace the part. When I go home I filled the tub with water and by 8:45PM the tomperature was 88 degrees so I added the salt and then fired up the Onzen. Check it in the morning and had plenty of Chlorine. I bet that they find the electrodes had failed in your tub.

Dust Could you provide us the following. 1. How many times do you and you wife soak in the tub in a week? 2. How much Arctic Refresh do you use after each soak etc. 3. The totel length of your daily filtration cycle 4.The model of the Arctic tub 5. and most import how many Parts Per Million of salt do you have in the water

The latest snow storm in Spokane dumped 24 inches of snow. I had removed 9 inches before I went to bed and then the next morining the picture belowsays it all. This is how much snow that was deposited over night. The tub lid has been closed all week and the Onzen system is making chlorine and the levels were right when I checked it today This morning at 7AM both my wife and I enjoyed the hot tub at a bone chilling temperature of -12 below zero. Life doesn't get any better. My Arctic tub in the snow

Pete, Do you have a test strip that can test the PPM of Sodim Chloride ( salt ) in your water? Also to check for the little cloud of water go through the advaced setting again and once the system resets you should see that cloud in a minute or 2. Chuck

I too have had nothing but a headache with my Arctic Yukon with the Onzen system. I purchased it in August and have had to change the water once a month (even though my wife and I only use it about 3 x a week). I have gone through 4 buckets of sodium bromide salt, countless bottles of Refresh and 4 complete water changes!!!!!!! I am thoroughly disappointed with this product. I have a $12,000 tub in my back yard that goes green within a week after a water change. I have left messages with the service department and I'm still waiting to hear back about a service call. The system is producing lots of bubbles as it should but zero sanatizer. My CP level is set to 3 and I only get an ORP reading of 150, no measureable amount of bromine is being produced. Any suggestions Tom? Looks to me like the Onzen system is bad. I bet it's not producing any ozone which is probably why you are not getting any sanatizer. My Glacier Signature is working great since I b ought it this last July. Just got back from spending 7 days in Mexico and the sanatizer levels was where it should be. Have you been in contact with your dealer service department and what are they saying? Chuck

After reading the forum I understand to get the Onzen system to work all the time you have the following set: CC=0 CF=0 FC=1 Is this true on all tubs with Onzen? My Arctic Glacier had the following settings: CC=0 CF=1 FC=1 I changed CF to CF=0. Does anybody know what each of setting above do individually? Would be nice if Arctic included an explaination and default setting in the Onzen user manual.

Dust welcome to the forum. I replaced my tub this July with an Arctic Glacier Signature. You might want to read Arctic Refresh or Onzen First off you don't want to overboard with Arctic Refresh as it is only shock. And adding more salt will not help either My wife and I only use the tub 3 to 5 times a week. I run the Onzen system only 4 hours a day and that provides me with the right amout of chlorine. Now if we use the tub friday night then saturday mornning, saturday night, and then sunday morning I'll change the Onzen to run 12 or 16 hours and then change it back to 4 hours on Tuesday. Yes it does take time to generate chlorine and it will make no difference even if you switch to Bromine. What I did this weekend instead of changig the time that the Onzen sytem runs my wife and I used the tub friday night. I shocked it with Refresh, the onzen ran for 4 hours starting at 11PM. Before going in saturday morning check and had 4 PPM of chlorine. Soaked 60 minutes and when I got out shocked with Refresh, put the tub in boost mode and after it was done check chlorine level and it was 0. Now this is what I did differnet I added 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of Arctic Boost, which is chlorine to bring the chlorine level back up. Again I'm only running the Onzen system 4 hours a day. BTW yes I had the same problem as you after 6 people used the tub including 4 adults and 2 children my chlorine level dorpped to 0. The next time I have a large bather load I'll bump up the Onzen system to run 16 to 20 hours a day before the heavy use. After heavy use I'll shock the system and add Arctic Boost let the system run 16 to 20 hours for a day and then drop it down to only 4 hours a day. That is if the large bather load is only for a day. Chuck

See Doo the

Cashews both Chem Geek and Hillbilly Hot Tub are correct. I had a tub for about 9 years with an ozonator and the dealer selling point is that you don't use as much chemicals and the the ozonator would kill the germs and you would only need to have a FC base of 1-3 ppm. Also as this was my first hot tub they offered a class on how to maintain your hot tub. The told us to use a capfull of show after we got out of the tub and then only put chlorine in once a week. Well the chlorine levels went down to 0 and I called them on the phone and they said don't worry the ozonator would kill the bad stuff and what I was doing was correct. I ended up getting hot tub Folliculitis. Was lucky that the doctor had an excellent paper from the CDC explaining that I should not keep the FC at 1 to 3ppm but to maintain a much higher level of between 7 to 10ppm even with an ozonator. Also did more research on the internet and found out that the CDC was correct. Now the ozonator would operate when the pump was turned on or during a filtration cycle. So I dumped the water, washed the tub out good, used a sponge with a mixture of bleech and water and refilled tub. I also switched to a shock that also had chlorine in it. Once I got my PH balanced I would have to only put in every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday about a table spoon of chlorine. Every other week on Sunday I would put 2 table spoons of Shock with chlorine in the tub. The week that I would use the shock I found out that I only had to put chlorine in on thursday. Check your PH levels if it's too high or too low the FC will drop off faster. I saw that in my tub and would then check my PH and would find that it was either to low. Replaced the tub this last July with an Arctic Glacier Signature with Onzen system. When I fill up the tub I add about 6 lbs of salt and the Onzen generator uses the salt in the water and makes chlorine. If you are using test strips I would invest in a good Taylor K-2100 test kit. On my Arctic tub I use both a Taylor test kit and a ColorQ Pro 7. Chuck

If you are using the Micro Pure disposible filter in your tub then clarifers are a no no. They will ruin the filer.

Onzen support phone number is located in the Onzen user manual. The number is in Canada. There are no US telephone numbers. Chuck

Larrys1, Did you get a couple of louvered doors that you can use when it is warm outside. I got 2 louvered doors that I had on this summer. And being on the the other side of the state in Eastern Washington didn't have any flo errors even when the outside temperature reached 103 degrees this summer. The louvered doors will provide air circulation and cooling so that the inside of the tube stays cool. You will get a flo error if the inside temperature reaches 124 degrees. The motor will shut down until the inside temperature drops below 124 degrees therefore protecting the motor. Chuck

Larrys1, Since we both got our tub from the same dealer the ORP meter was in my startup kit. Chuck

What is not in that useless Onzen user guide is when you have the Onzen generator set full on which is all the way to the plus side for every 4 hours that you have it set to run the Onzen system runs only 3 1/2 hours. So if you have the Onzen generator set to operate for 8 hours every day it will run for the first 3 and 1/2 hours then shut down for a half an hour and then run again for another 3 and a half hours for a total of 7 not 8 hours. If the system is set to run for 12 hours then you are only getting 10 and a half hours of usage. Got this information during one of my telephone calls to the Onzen support line. Refresh is the oxidizer that burns off the bad stuff that either chlorine or bromine (depending on the salt blend you use) can't take care of. With the Onzen generator running it will either produce chlorine or bromine again depending on the salt that you put in the tube at start up. On a more positive note I would like to say a big thank you to the Arctic employees that answer the Onzen support line. Your answers to my questions have made my understanding and operation stress free. I would encourage anyone who have questions or are struggling to maintain the correct water balance to give them a call.

Doug go here ORP Explained for an explaination. Chuck

Thanks to CPU who provided some helpful suggestions earlier; I expect that the brochure will be updated at the next printing (I do not have a date for this). The updated brochure will be made available to customers through our eNewsletter (and, eventually, our new web site). Arctic/Coyote/Apollo owners are invited to subscribe or check out back issues here. According to our supplier's spec sheets, Refresh is MPS, a standard non-chlorine oxidizer. One problem with the present Onzen manual is that it says to use "small amounts" of Refresh. I consulted one of our R&D team who was on the Onzen project. Here's what he said: - The amount of Refresh you need depends on the level of usage. Use approximately 1/2 capful per session (try 1/4 capful per person, about 2 rounded teaspoons) - With very light usage (1 person in the spa for 15 min) you don't need Refresh. The ozone will eventually burn off the combined amines. So if it's just you in the tub, ChiTown, you can add up to 1/2 capful after the last dip of the day. If you skip it, keep a very close eye on your sanitizer level. - After heavy use (a tub party), it may take up to 24 hours for the system to generate measurable levels of sanitizer. Use small amounts (1/2 capful at a time) of Refresh to bring the sanitizer level up more quickly. - Using the recommended normal dose (4 capfuls per 400gal/1500 litres) is not harmful--the excess will drive up your sanitizer level temporarily, as ChiTown observed--but this does waste Refresh. Remember to leave your cover off for 20 minutes after using Refresh (see Owner manual, p. 25) While I'm on Onzen, we are finding that some owners are using too much salt or too high a setting, I guess on the idea that "if some is good, more is better." WRONG! After heavy use, add Refresh rather than cranking up the Onzen setting or dumping in salt. (cpu, is that the kind of thing you meant?) I hope this information is useful and helpful. Tom Thanks for the update on the Onzen manual. And thanks for your input on using Refresh this is the instructions that I was looking for. Chuck