Whoneedsavacation

I'm finding handling the cover on our new spa (Freeflow Passport) just a bit awkward. I've seen cover lifters on the market, but all I really need is something that makes getting the cover off the ground (we usually lean it, folded in half, against the spa itself). It's not the weight so much as the reach. If it had a couple handholds on the underside, that would almost solve the problem! Anyway, the lifters on the market seem kind of pricey and most of them leave the cover sticking up quite a bit. I'd rather have the unobstructed view. Further, I'm somewhat ansty about drilling holes in the synthetic cabinet. There is clearance behind the tub, but not unrestricted. It's at the edge of the patio and there is only a foot or so of slab behind it -- so a shelf is probably not the right answer. Anyone have a home-grown solution?

My book came, but I'm disappointed in the amount of detail on water chemistry. Sigh. Is there a good reference out there at a sort of Scientific American level of technicality? I want to know a bit more about WHAT chemicals and HOW they work and HOW to decide how much of WHAT to use. I've noticed the total alkalinity in my spa beginning to drift down. My startup package came with two products for adjusting pH -- "Spa Up" and "Spa Down". Nothing in any of the references I have says anything about what to use to adjust total alkalinity, although the book agrees with this board that you should adjust it first before worrying about pH. It does NOT say what to use. Upon closer examination, the Spa Up is sodium bicarbonate -- baking soda. A search on this board turned up some posts suggesting use of baking soda (as bought at the grocery) for adjusting total alkalinity. If I want to raise TA by something like 60 ppm in a 300g spa, how much should I add? What is different in the composition of pH increasers and TA increasers when bought commerically. Are the commerical products any more pure or otherwise more desirable than grocery store products? If I dump baking soda in and the TA goes up, but so does the pH, what do I do next? Wait 24 hours, or add acid? Sorry to be so dense!

OK, I'll ask the next ignorant question... If the pH and TA are in range (to the precision of a test strip) and the hardness is one box below the optimum, but the bromine drops to a very low level, what is one most likely growing to cause the cloudiness? Algae? Bacteria? What species? This is now an academic question as the water cleared up nicely (this is actually kind of fun, like a big backyard experiment with benefits, who knew the thing would react so quickly) after shocking it. And to beat the dead horse (apologies to my horse) I could buy the argument that to stay in true balance with a small body of water, you need to be very precise, wouldn't I also need to be sure the chemicals are very pure and dispense them by weight using a very accurate scale? Are professional maintenance folks really that careful? I'm thinking of the installer cavalierly tossing 4 tablets in the filter well and saying "that should last you two weeks". He forgot the sodium bromide to boot! I put it in after reading the instructions he gave me, plus the ones in the chemical startup kit.

Does one wet test the dealer before or after beginning negotiation on the price?

I think I have already learned that one of these is "don't take the water chemistry for granted" esp. when first learning to maintain the thing. What else should one beware of -- I'm looking for big ticket items here, things that would cause expensive repairs, for example. BTW thanks to all on here, I'm reading and learning a lot.

Thanks. That does help. How precise does a measuring tool need to be for balancing? Why isn't the coarse granularity of a strip "good enough" for a residential spa, recent catastrophe aside... Is the water safe at 5-9 ppm bromine regardless of how it looks? When do you decide it is time for a drain and refill aside from doing so every 2-4 months on a regular basis?

Ph and total alkalinity are right at the optimal level, calcium is slightly low. I'm just rinsing my suit at this point, not putting it in the wash. We have been using it twice a day for these first few days! After the shock this morning, it is reportedly looking much better. Our startup kit came with 4-way test strips from Leisure Time. The strips certainly seem convenient, do we need a liquid/reagent kit? I used Leisure Time Renew non-chlorine shock, which came with the startup kit. One treatment was all there was, so I plan to stop by a pool and supply store on the way home for work to get some more. I've read here that household chlorine bleach can also be used, but I'm not sure how long we'd have to wait after using it. The shower before thing is just not going to happen. I'd do it, but my S.O. has back issues and likes to get in right after his P.T. so I think we need to be sufficiently aggressive about the sanitization. I had no idea a spa could go from too much bromine to too little in less than 48 hours! We will test daily for a while until we think we have some kind of steady-state achieved. Is there a quick and dirty guide (so to speak) as to when it is or is not safe to get in the water? Will 10 ppm bromine cause a problem? What if it dips below 1 ppm but the water looks OK? What about cloudiness, is it always a no-no to get in? Or is it OK if the sanitizer is present?

Freeflow Passport

So... the bromine level was way too high after the installer tossed five tablets in the filter well and suggested that might last us as long as two weeks. Got a floater, but didn't put it in, waiting for the level to go down. We waited two days before testing again and on the second evening the water was cloudy. Upon testing with a strip, the bromine level was now untestablely low. We added a floater plus a tablet in the filter well. This morning the water tests ideal to high on bromine level but the water is still icky looking. I shocked it with the one packet of shock that came with the startup kit, waited a bit and then put some clarifier in. Is there any hope this will clear it up? Is the water safe? If we drain it and start over, should we do anything special to clean the tub before a refill? Our startup kit was Leisure Time bromine tablets. It came with one packet of "Renew" shock treatment plus a boatload of other products. We used a bit of the "Enzyme" the day before the bromine bottmed out and also some anti-foam (not in the same session) as we were getting a lot of sudsing with the jets on high. Could this have caused the ugliness somehow?

"The Ultimate Guide to Spas and Hot Tubs" by Terry Tammimen Uh, Dr. Spa?

Our new spa is sitting on the patio under a ramada and the big tree beside it drops seed pods like little leaves continuosly all year long. We are planning to tack some window screen up over the Ramada to keep the debris away from the tub. However, it ocurred to me that we will no doubt still use a blower in the vicinity from time to time, and there is quite a lot of buildup to clear now (less than a week after the spa was delivered). To cut to the chase, is there any reason to think that a few dried leaves/seed pods and dust etc. finding their way under the tub would cause a problem? I doubt it sits so tightly on the slab that nothing will get in there. Are the "works" sufficiently well isolated that this is no worry? (I did order a good book on spas and hot tubs, once it arrives maybe I won't have so many questions!)

Would a digital human fever thermometer be acceptable for a one-time cross-check?

I had a feeling it was something like that! So... do you test a lot of hot tub water or are you a marine biologist?

Were these REALLY dumb questions?

Thanks Waterbear! BTW I Love your username....

I did do a search, but there is SO MUCH info here it is hard to sort through! We just got a Freeflow Passport Spa and are so far extremely happy with it. It is 110v/220v convertible and we elected to start it on 110 with the intention of installing 220v fairly soon. It does drop a degree or two when we are using it, but it is quite warm weather, so it isn't a big deal. I know we will see improved heating and ability to use jets and heater at the same time, but will we also see a drop in the cost to run it when the 220 is installed? Or not? We got a cute floating thermometer for fun and of course the spa has a built in temperature indicator. They disagree by almost 10 degrees! We are sure the silly floating penguin is low, but is it also possible the built-in indicator is high? Is a normal human fever thermometer suitable to cross-check? I've seen all the threads about overriding the preset max, so I'm definitely NOT going there. The spa is ozone-ready. Is this worthwhile? The installer said NOT to use the "spa gloss" that came with startup chemical kit (Leisure TIme bromine tablets) on the spa's thermoplastic shell. He said that was for fiberglass only. What, if anything, should be used on the textured thermoplastic in hte Freeflow? Thanks in advance!

I tried doing some searches, but didn't quite find what I was looking for. Apologies if this has been covered a million times... We just got a new spa (Freeflow Passport) and are loving it! We've had it for 4 whole days. The startup chemical kit that came with it was Leisure Time bromine tablet based. The guy who set it up tossed like 5 tablets into the filter well and said to test the water in a week. The packet of sodium bromide also went in, as did the Metal Gon. He said a floater wasn't necessary. So, I tested the water yesterday. The bromine was at the high end of the strip. The calcium was below optimal. The pH/alkalinity were in the optimal zone. So here come the dumb questions... What is the difference between pH and total alkalinity? Don't they go hand in hand? Are all bromine tablet systems essentially the same? Should I stick to one brand between water changes, or at least a label-identical product? Can I do anything about the very high bromine level aside from wait for it to go down? Should I do something about low calcium? Why would "soft" water be bad? Is it really OK to just toss the tablets in the filter well? Or should we use the floater?