mscdman

I think it was waterbear? Maybe someone else But it was a great write up on initial hot tub start up procedures

Anyone?

I’ve tried to use the search feature by author but am unable to find the great write up @waterbear posted about proper and correct fill and start up procedure. Anyone point me to that?

First off - great stuff sir. Always appreciate you time and efforts to the numerous questions on this forum. Thank you. to answer a few of your questions I’m currently using a 2-step bromine system. But I’m thinking some of my bromine reserve needs to be replenished which is why after adding the bleach the bromine didn’t increase much. Yes I am using the bromine scale of the right side of the comparator block. Part of it is me trying to eyeball The color. So if it’s just a HAIR darker than the 7.5 block but not even close to the next block I assume it’s just barely above 7.5. last question I promise: you mention rechecking TA frequently and raising when it falls below say 50ish. What do you use to raise TA? PH plus? TA increaser?

Ok here are numbers post me lowering the TA following the aereation method from 140ppm to 70ppm TA after. Taylor K2005 kit tested Presoak Values: 2ppm bromine 7.5 ph 70 Alkalinity After soak with 15 mins jets on & pre bleach 2ppm bromine - Why didn’t this go down? hmmm Ph 7.6ish 70 Alkalinity 5 Mins After adding 1oz 10% bleach Bromine - 6ppm - this should have been higher per the pool math calculations but 6ppm is acceptable Ph 7.6-7.7 - good! No big change from bleach!! Seems like that bleach rising the ph is now a nothingburger. However looks like a .1 increase just from 15 mins of usage due to aereation. So wouldn’t that mean I’m going to have to add PH down then once it reaches above 8 due to aereation/use? also curious why the bromine levels didn’t rise as much as they should have post bleach Wierd getting closer though!!

@waterbear just undertook that TA lowering procedure via aereation. It worked! It took about an hour but after checking TA/acid demand testing/adding PH down/aerate - repeat. I now have the TA at 70 and PH at 7.5. Now the test will be what happens at next soak and if PH rises significantly. Ill test PH, bromine, and Alkaline before and after soak and what happens after bleach add and report back and see what next steps are

This process sounds good and I will try it to lower TA but it begs the question: if aerating raises PH then arent I raising PH every time I use the tub with jets? Does it go back down? Otherwise isn’t PH ever increasing with each use?

Thanks for all your help. I’ll check it all out tonight and post results thank you. I think though that you may have solved the issue with something you said above: per pool math calculator, I’m bringing the bromine level up from 4 ppm pre soak (and about 0 after soak) to 10-12ppm after soak by adding 10% concentration sodium hypochlorite 1.25oz In a 215 gallon fiberglass (?) acrylic (?) marquis tub. I do this because I use the tub every other day and raising it to 10-12ppm with decay brings me down to 1-4ppm when I try and soak the day after the off day. It also prevents me from having to add anything on the off day. I will do all the pre and post tests you mention above though and repost the results but my initiaL thought now is that the PH is reading artificially high because the bromine level after adding bleach to bring it over 10ppm after I use the tub and then testing is making the PH read higher than it really is. While I’m waiting to test and provide the data, can you answer the following: 1) what is the proper acceptable or target PH range for a bromine tub if not 7.5 to 7.8? You say bromine is active up to 8. Yes, when I mentioned my Ph is 7.5 pre soak it is a color between the two blocks on the test kit and that is how I determined it. 2) how does one lower TA while not lowering PH too low, should I need to adjust it? I’m asking because if my 140 ppm TA is way to high what steps are taken to lower the TA and then raise the PH back to 7.8?

According to the Taylor k-2005 kit PH using reagent 004 before soak is 7.5. After soak and adding bleach it gets up to about 8.1ish after a retest after 20 mins. TA is about 140 according to Taylor kit. given these factors what do you think could be causing the rise in PH if not for the bleach? im using the bleach to reactive the bromine Perhaps not enough free bromine? I’d like to keep it in the proper PH range which I’m to understand is 7.5 to 7.8 is it possible I’m not waiting long enough after adding the bleach to reactivate the bromine to retest (I’m only waiting 20 mins)

I’m seeing that each time I add bleach my PH is rising a little higher than I want when it was in range before my soak and adding the bleach. Is it normal to have to add a little PH down with each addition of bleach/pool chlorine? I only add 1 tsp to bring it back I range but just wondering if it’s normal to have to add everytime you add the bleach/pool chlorine

I bought a small Oz measuring cup from bed bath and beyond and use that for my bleach (well just switched to the pool chlorine - same same - and it has Oz measurements in 1/2 Oz increments

I stand corrected. Walmart has pool chlorine 10% sodium hypochlorite for only 3.74.$. With the higher % concentration it IS cheaper than plain bleach. Not sure about additives. Either way no reason for me not to use this over the bleach

I’m curious about this. The “additives” in regular bleach are unknown sure but even pool chlorine seems to have them too. Here’s a photo. “Other ingredients” just like the bleach... plus this stuff is 8x more expensive than ordinary bleach from what I can tell I’d love to be proven wrong though and if there’s a product that is just sodium hypochlorite without extras let me know where it can be found as I’d look into it

What is the chemical name of pool chlorone?

During this last frigid freeze this weekend we had 48 hours of 0 degree weather and -15 lows. I didn’t use the tub during this period but lowered the temp to 100. It still used only 8kwh/day even in that cold. Amazing

Not sure why the excel file won’t work but here are some screen shots.

I had the same problem. Lots of stories but no actual data. My data is approximate. I don’t have a dedicated hot tub energy circuit monitor display. So what I did was take an average of KWH usage from the past 3 years by Month and came up with a “pre-hot tub” KWH 3-year average for that month. Then compared it to the post hot tub use for that month and subtracted the difference. Viola. Not 100% accurate but darn close in my opinion. if my excel file I posted was active, you could see that each night at the same time I read my house meter and input into the sheet and subtracted from that value the average pre hot tub daily KwH use for that month giving me the KwH used for the hot tub that day. I them summed up all the days to get the usage and cost. also the sheet shows the effect the ambient temp seemed to have on usage. But that real test comes this weekend in the -10 degree weather

True and that’s why I tried to list as many of my factors as possible in the calculation. PS - is the Excel file I posted not available because it’s not allowed to post?

I’ve been tracking via my excel sheet (attached) how much it’s been costing me to run. As a new owner, I was pretty scared about how much it would cost to run (still am a little actually during a really cold weekend coming this weekend) l, but I decided to do some testing so to see if my fears were justified. I’d heard stories of some owners spending over $100 a month which would be a big concern for me. . As there are many factors that determine energy use here are mine: •2020 Marquis 215 gallon hot tub •240V •Denver - February- average high temp 46ish • used about 3x a week - 20 mins • partial filled foam (3/4). 4 inch foam cover • added a spa blanket and additional r-15 bat insulation to the cabinet • temp ranged between 101 and 104 throughout the test •$.12 cents per KwH Summary: Real world testing shows it’s costing me about $.82 cents a day on average. Less when not used and about $.25 additional for each use. So for the month of January/February (my bill cycle starts on the middle of the month) I spent about $25 extra in electrical costs. Hot Tub Energy Usage 2.xlsx

For testing my bromine levels I recently got a Taylor simple DPD kit. Is this accurate for bromine? What’s the difference between DPD and OTO?

Sweet. Do you use your hot tub typically daily or how many times a week?

What do you typically raise it to after use when you sanitize (in ppm)? And how long between uses?

Haha well in full disclosure I sort of squeegee off the water from the cover rather than have it fall to the ground + I stand over the tub and drip rather than lots of carry out.

Maybe I’ll switch to adding my bleach daily. Just less per day.

Is 12ppm considered very high