ana

We built a 10x12 sun room for a hot tub 9 months ago.Mid Ohio area. Overlooking the patio , two large window and large french door. Connected to the house , one wall (no windows) and two small french doors. Contractor used moisture / mildew proof dry wall, 110 cfm, whisper quiet fan, exausting outside. Sky light above the tub, electric baseboard heat. No central air. Last weekend we had 90 plus degree weekend. The room was 76-78 degrees ( kept the 2 small french doors to the house open, to keep it cool) It was comfortable for me. Did try the clorine method for few weeks and, yes, the house smeled like chlorine. Switched to bromine . Not a hit of unwanted " fragrance". Two adults, using the tub about 4-5 times a week. My favorite room in the house.Overlooking the patio, furnished with two comfortable club chairs, plenty of reading materials and a lop top. I sit here for hours, watching the hummingbirds feeding on the windows feeders, the woodpeckers, bluejays,cardinals, mockingbirds, chickadees, titmouses,golden finches, doves,red wings ..... Life is good. As for the air quality in the house, as far as I can tell , no change. House is cleaned on regular bases, windows open when permited. Do not believe in burning candles,I use plug-in , or oil difusers or just airsprays, on occasions. Good luck with your project.

Chem Geek, thank you for your help. Bromine floater out for 9 hours, and I added 1/2 oz peroxide.No bromine reading with OTO tester ( maybe a hint of color) Using the Taylor kit ( 25 ml.) , 2 dips of DPD powder water = pink, after 3 drops ( R-871 ) water is clear. B=6.7 ( right?) ph 7.2 I keep the bromine floater in all the time , opened between 2.5 and 3.5 depending on OTO tester reading I bought 3.75 Lb bromine tablets 7 weeks ago and they are almost gone, only 9 tablets left. Is that an indication that I have been keeping the bromine level too high? If so, any negative impact except maybe that the bumps my husband is complaining about, are not flea bites after all.( dogs are not scratching) This also explains the white powder settled in the creases/stiching of the tub cover. Again, many thanks for your help Ana

We started the tub with the frog floater .After about 4 weeeks switch to 3 step bromine. ( did not drain) Tub is being used in an average of 1 1/2 hours or less per week. I did use the non clorine shock 2 or 3 times after the switch but in the last 8 weeks used clorax 2 times. Have used baking soda few times when the TA was 80, in hopes that the PH will even out. I do areate on occasion when PH is at 7.2 but that is just a temporary fix. TA 100 CH 275 B 5-7 ( most of the time, sometime 10) The tub is inside the sunroom. I was hopping I can wait few more weeks for the weather to warm up then drain and start over . We're on well water with water softner. Was just concerned of any ( ?) negative effects when using too much borax . Chemistry major i'm not! Been using a OTO tester .I did buy a Taylor kit but got the K 2006 when trying to switch to chlorine method , then find out can not go from bromine to chlorine.( past post) When using the Taylor k 2006 to test bromine, the water turned pink then clear. Added 2 more dips turned to pink then immediately start adding the R-0871 ( if I wait any time at all the water clears up) I had to add 15 drops for the water to go clear . Is my bromine level 33 ? If I wait any time at all after adding 2 or even 4 dips , the water goes clear. I added 6 dips of the R-0870 just to see what happens, the water was almost red then after few more swirls, hot pink. Added 14 drops of R 0871, water turned purple then a lavender- blue and stayed like that after 6 more drops. I have the bromine floater out for the moment . Should I add some peroxide , then try to keep the bromine level low just to see what happens? Hope you can help Thank you very much.

Even when we don't use our hot tub I still have to ajust the ph .I have to add 2 0z of borax every 3 days. Ph 7.7 after the borax. 3 days later PH 7.2 Add more borax... PH 7.7 3 days later PH 7.2 Is it normal?

After 5 hour last night and another 4 hours this morning ,testing, treating, retesting, reading other posts, making notes, ... over and over again ( wishing my name was BinaryBob, ) , I have the following results: Using Taylor K2006 : PH 9 ( Used PH down from large to small amounts ( read that in another post ) over 2 hour period. Overshot, then PH up, overshot again, then PH down to current reading. TA 120 calcium not conclusive, after the 5 drops of R0011, turned pink , then 15 drops of R0012 water is colorless . ( I added 2 oz of liquid chlorine, this morning will add more after all the other issue are addressed) CYA 48 ----------------------------------- Using OTO pool kit Bromine 8.5 ? ( about 2 shades darker then 6.5. top marking on OTO kit) I put in a floater with bromine tablets NOT the original frog that has the bromine and mineral cartridge. I did try the Taylor kit you, Waterbear, sugested to BinaryBob , the water turned purple after the 2 dippers and a dark blue after 28 drops of 0871. What has me worried is the fact that on the test strips ( used just to solidify the OTO kit results, bromine mark turns to dark yellow almost orange when the safe range is light green) . The PH , TA and free chlorine are ok on the strips. Also when using OTO kit to test PH level (just to compare to Taylor kit results) ph shows higher then 8.2 ( top marking on OTO kit) but there is some staff floating around, then settles to the bottom , fuzzy yellow color. I'm going to buy another testing solution, present solution being over a year old ( expired 11/2011) Water is very clear, but after reading other post I still have 4 concerns. 1. Is my bromine level tested with the OTO kit, ok? 2. Fuzzy yellow matter in the OTO tester for the PH 3. Scumball floating on top of spa has a collected a very small amount of light green foam 4. When jets running water has a lot of, soda like, fizz. Thank you .

Back to Bromine. Thank you very much for your help. Called home, bromine is back in the tub What is my next Step ? Thank you again.

----- 5oz nonchlorine shock, pale pale yellow reading(1/2 half hour after treatment ) Added 5 more oz , and leaving for work. Fingers cross I still have a useable tub when I return. Thank you.

Got the OTO kit No chlorine reading PH high Shocked a small amount of water , just to make sure the solution drops still ok, and when testing got the chlorine reading. Need to go to work and hate not to do anything, if I treat with nonchorine shock would it be ok? Or adding bleach is the way to go. Thank you ..... Bleach not the way, tub full of suds.All scooped out.

I have a OTO test kit I use for the pool in the summer. I will get it in the morning ( back shed, dark now and I have to move some of the outdoor furniture out of the way) then post the results. I did not drain the tub, just stop using bromine, about two weeks ago . Twice I used granular shock bought at Lowes ( swimmer's choice 99% sodium dichloroisocyanurate)) and less then 1 oz of nonchlorine shock after each use, , about 8 times in the last 2 weeks. Have not used bleach yet .Also added 4 oz of borax 5 days ago ( I see you shaking your head ) Was gathering information from various posts , acted before I had the full understanding of dichlor/ bleach method. Is it a way to fix this without draining, like going back to bromine? Hot tub is inside, water hose stored away, outdoor faucet turned off....... dog ate my homework...... Sorry, i'm really crying on the inside. Did not want a hot tub,just a sun room.Husband wanted the tub. Built the sun room and got a tub.Husband happy, me stressed. Thank you again for the help.

Thank you for the reply. Chlorine test not conclusive. Water turned pink then purple while I was still doing the swirl.Turned purple after adding R 0871 and stayed purple.( Test strips shows 0.5 ppm. Is it possible the chlorine is too low and not high as I thought. PH above 8.0 ( hot, hot pink color) TA 250 ppm Calcium ..... not conclusive.After the 5 drops of R0011L , water was kind of light blue - lavender in color, not red. After 9 drops of R0012 turned to almost colorless (hint of blue) CYA 50 (2mm above 50, toward the 40 mark) Thank you for your help

water crystal clear yesterday. Husband used the tub last night. Did not treat after because chlorine level was high (0.7) This morning water milky/ cloudy.Added 4 oz of non chlorine shock . After 1 hour used the Taylor k2006. Water pink after adding the R0870 then after 60 DROPS of R0871 water turned purple, stayed purple after 40 more drops. 50 CHLORINE??? I just added 4 oz of hydrogen peroxide.I need to go to work .will check responses later. Viking tub, 6 person. 3 months old. Switched from bromine 3 weeks ago. Using Well water with a water softener Yesterday morning TA was 375. Water was clear. Added ph down. This morning was 275. Have not use ph down since until I can find out what is going on with the chlorine. Cya 50 Thank you for your help.