barlav

It is time for me to replace my spa cover for the first time. I have a Hot Springs Envoy. Can anyone recommend a good place to purchase one online? I am looking for most bang for the buck but not at the expense of quality. Thanks!

I've always cleaned spa shell when empty with Windex and have had good results.

I did use a spa flush. There were about 2 person hours of bather load yesterday. I put just enough dichlor in for the bather load yesterday which was 1.25oz (I used 6ppm/person hour). This morning I tested and FC was still at 5 so maybe things are starting to even out now. I think I will just do what I've been doing making sure the FC remains above 0 since it seems to work other than the quicker increase in TDS. The tap water had a FC of 0.5 or less and CC of 0 when I tested it. The taylor test kit makes all this a lot easier. I will still try for 5-6 months between water changes with maybe a 1/2 drain/fill in between to keep TDS in check.

Does the 24-hour chlorine demand test work right after a new fill? If so, I shocked to 15ppm using dichlor after filling and 22 hours later it is 4ppm (CC still 0). Spa has not been used since fill and has been covered. Could it just be the ozonator just eats it up? I am wondering if I can get away with just using less going forward. If I add 5ppm after 1 person hour each day I imagine the FC will drop to 0 by the next day's use but maybe that isn't the end of the world because of the ozonator?

Thanks for the info wizard and chem geek. I just finished up with the water change. This is the TDS meter I bought: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002T6L5M/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The product specs on the company's website said it can be used for pools/spas. So for whatever it's worth I tested the old water (4540 ), the tap water (180) and the new water after it was completely balanced and after initial shock (530). I added dichlor for shocking, dry acid to bring down TA, some Calcium and borates so that took me from 180 to 530. So I definitely let TDS get out of hand these past 6 months. I was so busy concentrating on perfect water chemistry using dichlor/bleach I really had no idea about TDS and that it shouldn't get too high. So at least I can use it as a guide. If it gets over 2000 (I read somewhere that going until 1500ppm over the initial reading after balancing is a good bet) then I will consider doing a water change or at least a half drain/fill. I have learned from this that maybe letting the water go for that long with heavy use probably isn't ideal. Even though everything seemed great water wise I also don't want the equipment to wear down because of a high TDS. I popped off the front panel and I couldn't see anything that would indicate that the ozonator isn't working. There is no light on mine, I was hoping there was some kind of indicator other than the bubbles. Spa is less than a year old so at this point I will assume it is working. The ozonator I have is a watkins fresh water III (http://shop.prescottspas.com/products/hotspring-freshwater-iii-ozone-ozonator) From what I've read I guess it is pretty powerful so maybe it uses up a lot of chlorine in between soaks? Oh, and now CC is back to 0 of course Thanks again for all this great info! This forum is terrific and I feel like I have a good knowledge of my spa and it's water now.

I used Clorox Regular 6%. I thought I needed to add above and beyond the amount for the bather load to keep the FC up between soaks (which is 24 hours) beacuse of the ozonator? The ozonator seemed to use the bleach when not soaking at a rate of about 50%. As far as I know the ozonator has worked all along. Maybe I don't need to add that much? I just didn't want the FC to drop to 0. Going to change water today and then maybe use TDS meter next time to determine when to change water so it doesn't get so high.

I am going to change the water this weekend. Out of curiosity I ordered a TDS meter. I want to see what it reads before and after the water is changed and balanced. I added enough bleach for daily bather load as well as extra to keep it > 0 until the next use. 10oz of 6% bleach each evening after use gave me a FC of 2-4 24 hours later prior to next use. Also shocked a few times. I am thinking based on that amount of bleach the salt is probably higher than 800.

Yes, my spa does have an ozonator. I was wondering about the salt too. The spa is a Hot Springs Envoy. They tried to sell me a salt water sanitizing system for the spa but I wasn't interested but, because of that, I am assuming this spa would be one built to handle a higher level of salt. I am glad to know that 6 months is going to be workable because that works out really great. Thanks for the great info!

It is a 450 gallon SPA and the Person-Hours Per Day average over the last 6 months is probably 3/4 to 1. When switching to dichlor/bleach I was hoping to be able to get about 6 months out of it to prevent having to do a water change during cold winter weather months. October and April was the plan for water change times. Since 6 months is quite a bit longer than the recommended WRI should I reconsider and do it more often?

I am experiencing the exact same issue with CC and wasn't sure why. I am ending my first full Dichlor/Bleach cycle (which I couldn't be happier with btw). I am at 6 months with current water and, other than a 2ppm CC reading, everything is like it was on day one. Crystal clear, smell and foam free even with daily use of the spa. FC has never dropped below 2 and CYA has always remained less than 30. Since I haven't noticed any chloramine smell I am thinking it must be just the age of the water and the hard-to-oxidize organics that must be contributing to the CC readings? I don't use MPS, just dichlor and bleach and occasionally some dry acid to bring down the alkalinity that gradually creeps up. I have shocked it also but that didn't help. I left the cover off for a day also and CC came down a little but not much. It is time for a water change and now I'm just waiting for a nice enough day to do it so I figure once I do a flush of the system and put new water in the CC will go back to 0. Maybe a CC reading like this could be used an indicator for when it is a good time for a water change for the dichlor/bleach method? Since, like I said, there really was no other indicator that the water needed changing (other than it being 6 months old!)

Thanks for the info! Called the dealer this morning. Glad to know this should be able to be fixed reasonably.

I have a new Hot Springs Envoy and just noticed a similar issue with one of my bar top units. If looks like there are 4 lights in each bar top. 2 of the lights in one of the bar tops seem to get out of sync sometimes. Sometimes it corrects itself after a few minutes. Strange issue. You can also see with the color wheel on that the two in question don't seem to be in sync with the rest of them at certain times during the rotation. I will be calling on this eventually but want to see if it gets worse over time first.

Great info! Thank you!

I noticed that +/- 10ppm variation in the Taylor test kit for CYA. I kept track of how much dichlor I added and when I calculated I should be at about 30 CYA I did a test and it read about 40. I wasn't too concerned since I knew either way it was time to start using the bleach. I will probably test every month for CYA and switch back to dichlor for a day or so if it lowers too much.

Thanks. Did water change Sat. afternoon and brought TA down to 60. So far so good. I didn't get Gentle Spa (for borate) until day after water change so when I added that it rasied TA and pH a bit so I lowered it back down. Seems like pH settled to 7.6/7.7 with TA of 60 and CH of 250. Spa got a lot of use yesterday so I'm already up to about 20 CYA after initial shock and yesterday's use so I will be switching over to bleach soon. I have found the Taylor test kit to be easy to use and so much more accurate than test strips. And, after reading what the test kit booklet says about CYA and various ordinances of what max levels should be, I am even more convinced that dichlor/bleach is the way to go to minimize CYA. Still trying to figure out best routine of when and how much chlorine to add based on CD and spa usage. I leveled out FC to 5-6ppm and I'm currently estimating 1.5ppm per person per 15 minutes and that seems to keep FC at about 5-6. My CD seems to be about 50% so each morning I am planning on adding 3ppm and running clean cycle. Should become an easy routine once I get used to it. I have found the old test strips useful for a quick FC test so I will continue to use those just for that. Now I am curious to see how long the water will last. I am hoping 6 months but we'll see....

OK. Thank you!

I just received the Taylor Test kit and verified the following water parameters fresh from the hose: CH: 140ppm pH: 7.4 TA: 110ppm Is there any reason to adjust any of these now in anticipation of using dichlor/bleach sanitation method? Or should I run with this as is?

I was leaning that way for a lower TA. But I probably should raise CH as well to keep the CSI balanced right?

I am a new spa owner since August. I have a Hotsprings Envoy spa. After reading and learning about the Dichlor/Bleach method I have decided to try it out because it makes sense and seems right for me. I have ordered the Taylor K-2006 test kit as well as some Gentle Spa (for borates I believe?). I am draining soon and starting fresh. My question is should I target a specific TA or just go with what I have? My water will be about the following out of the hose: Alkalinity 100 mg/L; pH 7.75; and total hardness 136 mg/L. I will run 102 degrees and will cap out CYA at 30 before switching to bleach. Plugging these into the pool calculator it comes out with a CSI of 0.05 which seems ok? My concern is pH rise with eventual bleach use with a TA that high. Should I just go with it or should I target a lower TA and higher Total Hardness to help with pH rise? Or will pH rise only be temporary and be ok with these numbers. Thanks for any insights!