Joel T

Yesterday in trying to catch up a night or 2 of missed 2 teaspoon doses, I ended up adding 9 tablespoons of Dichlor, in 2 teaspoon increments off and on, over a 10 hr or so period and nothing showed up. I added 3 tablespoons of Dichlor this AM and Chlorine tested out to about 12ppm. The water is balanced although the pH moved to the low 7.0/7.2ppm this AM, and other than for balancing I use no extras besides dichlor. I'm missing a basic understanding of whats going on. When a teaspoon or so's added, I'm "sanitizing" something? When I add tablespoons, I'm "oxidizing" something? What's happening? How's the dichlor know which to do and other than by generally accepted (?) practices, how do I know what to do. If, after a nightly dose of teaspoons, I only see 0ppm instead of 3- 5ppm (?) do I automatically shock/oxidize the tub with tablespoons to see something like 10+ppm ? Thanks Joel

Why?

My coleman's an '06 400 series 482 - so don't know if anything's changed. (I couldn't get the wiring pdf to download.) My box has a "place" to lock in 3 #6 wires too, but they are the white neutral, and the black and red 120v legs. The 4th wire, a green or bare copper ground is routed close by to a ground bar that has several other grounds attached to it. Joel

Sundance seems to have a good reputation, but... when we were looking and I asked to see inside the cabinet they were obviously surprised and put out a bit. The insides were comparably speaking a mess, one of the worst. We'd just left an Arctic dealer too, which didn't help. Arctic tubs have the most organized and "clean" layout of all of them. Coleman's (we bought) were/are a close second in that regard but more comfortable for us. Joel

Thanks for the reply Waterbear, I very much respect your opinion. (Sometimes it's hard to wade through internet opinions.) Anyway, I'm not hair color savvy as green is the color change my wife worries about, not purple. She swears just some small (unknown) level of clorine will color hair green, and wants me to worry about it. Sooo, how about green problems? Also, last night I dosed the tub with 3 tsp of diclor (didn't check 10min later though) and this AM clorine reads at 2ppm. Is the 2ppm minimum you mentioned an after dose level to acheive when the dichlors starting it's work, or a level to have after it's supposed to have done it's work 4 to 8 hours later? Thanks again Joel

After 26oz of Sodium Bisulfate the pH and TA are 7.2 and 90. We'll watch which way they go from there. I eased to those numbers using 3 0r 6 tbls at a time. Providing the virgin water tests the same can I add that 26oz all at once after the next refill? Besides reading the forums, I've only got 2 days or so of this chemical stuff under my belt with our new Spa. Not certain yet, but it seems so far that at night, after the last soak, 3 teaspoons of Diclore will after 10 minutes or so, give a suggested Clorine level of 5ppm. Then it's zero the next morning. It was suggested by the dealer to use a Leisure time spa frog and I could just get that doesing level to .5 or 1.5 or so. I asked what minerals were in the thing and he looked at me funny. The web site doesn't say what's in it either. I'm not using the frog thing. I'm trying to keep things clean and simple. Vermonter suggests 2-3ppm of clorine. My wife doesn't want purple hair or bleached clothes. What's a safe after dose level, and is that the only time it's to be that high and the only time purple hair's a threat? (What the heck, kids like purple hair.) Thanks Joel

Our B4 chemicals tests showed pH above our 8.2 scale (dealers was 7.8) and TA at 290 dealers was 190.) We added 20 tablespoons (about 10oz?) pH decreaser and pH came down to 7.2 and Ta 250. We're adding 3 tablespoons and retesting every 30/60 minutes. After the 2nd dose the pH was 8.0 and TA 210. Are we being overly cautious with just adding 3 tablespoons at a whack? Our Calcium needs increasing too, but haven't messed with that yet. Should we? Thanks for any insite

Our first Spa's being delivered in about an hour (482 Coleman) so later this afternoon we'll be having our first bout with chemicals. The dealer tested our well water - pH = 8.7, TA = 190, CA = 1, and no Copper or Iron. We've been furnished with Spa Essentials brand Alkalinity Increaser (Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate,) pH decreaser (Sodium Bisulfate,) pH increaser (Sodium Carbonate,)Calcium Hardness Increaser, Dichlor to sanitize and Potassium Peroxymonosulfate for the weekly oxidizing I was gonna use the Diclor to shock but they said no.) They said to use 10 0z of the pH decreaser and retest in 30 minutes and to target a pH at 7.5ppm. (I've no clue of course where this will leave the Alkalinity.) Then, add 15oz of Calcium initially then 4oz evry 30min until between 200 to 400ppm is achieved. After the Spa is full we'll test again on our end to see how it compares with the dealers test and then do as they've suggested (unless you two have some different ideas.) I'll post results later and then bring the free Chlorine up to 4.0-5.0 Any thoughts? We have a drop based Poolmaster test kit. Thanks in advance for any input. Joel