Swirl Away And Air Controls

[Vermonter]

So, I got my bottle of Swirl Away in the mail today, and there's a warning on the side, bold print, ALL CAPS, with exclamation point (!), saying DO NOT OPEN AIR CONTROLS WHILE CLEANING!

My question is two-fold:

1) What's going to happen if I do leave the air controls open while cleaning? Is my hot tub going to explode? With a warning like that, it makes one wonder. and

2) How, exactly, do I turn the air controls off? What precisely is meant by "air controls"? On my tub, I can either turn the circulation pump to low speed, high speed, or off, and I can turn what I call the "bubbler" (which I never use) either on or off. Now, there is definitely air being put into the water when I use the circulation pump, so if this is what it means, what can I do about it? It's either "on" or "off", not a lot of choice about air being mixed in with it or not. Thanks once again for the advice, in advance.

Tony

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

So, I got my bottle of Swirl Away in the mail today, and there's a warning on the side, bold print, ALL CAPS, with exclamation point (!), saying DO NOT OPEN AIR CONTROLS WHILE CLEANING!

My question is two-fold:

1) What's going to happen if I do leave the air controls open while cleaning? Is my hot tub going to explode? With a warning like that, it makes one wonder. and

2) How, exactly, do I turn the air controls off? What precisely is meant by "air controls"? On my tub, I can either turn the circulation pump to low speed, high speed, or off, and I can turn what I call the "bubbler" (which I never use) either on or off. Now, there is definitely air being put into the water when I use the circulation pump, so if this is what it means, what can I do about it? It's either "on" or "off", not a lot of choice about air being mixed in with it or not. Thanks once again for the advice, in advance.

Tony

It won't explode but it could make a huge bubble bath. Swirl away cause a great amount of foam if air is introduced with it. Many tubs have knobs or dials on the topside of the acrylic that you turnn to allow more or less air mixed with the water going through the jets. More air mixed with the water makes the jet pressure feel stronger. If your tub has these you want them off. Do not turn on your "bubbler" and run the tub on low for most of the treatment. A couple of time go out and turn it on high for a few minutes, then back to low.

After all is done and tub is drained, rinse down the sides, under pillows ect. and drain that water. You want to get out as much of the water that has swirl away as possible. As added precaution when I do a tub, I use a shp vac to suck water out of the lines too. Give the tub a good dose of shock when you refill it also and don't forget to pull out your filters BEFORE adding swirl away. Swirl away will destry the filters.

Good luck and watch for our truck up on your mountain, we just landed a large maintenance and service contrat up there!

[Vermonter]

Hey, thanks for the advice... I figured out the air control bit (I'm not sure why, but I had thought that turning those knobs all the way down also turned the jets off... good to know it's just the air. Duh!) It doesn't look like that much came out with the Swirl Away, which I suppose is a good thing, except that I was counting on it to fix my rH nF error message (the "no flow" thing)... oh well. Maybe it removed more than I could tell.

I did take a Shop Vac to all the jets, first blowing the water out and then sucking up the remainder. Some more residue definitely came out with this technique, and I feel pretty confident I got as much water out as is humanly possible. So, I guess it's as successful as can be.

I will be looking for your truck... what's it say on it?

Tony

[Vermonter]

Hey, thanks for the advice... I figured out the air control bit (I'm not sure why, but I had thought that turning those knobs all the way down also turned the jets off... good to know it's just the air. Duh!) It doesn't look like that much came out with the Swirl Away, which I suppose is a good thing, except that I was counting on it to fix my rH nF error message (the "no flow" thing)... oh well. Maybe it removed more than I could tell.

I did take a Shop Vac to all the jets, first blowing the water out and then sucking up the remainder. Some more residue definitely came out with this technique, and I feel pretty confident I got as much water out as is humanly possible. So, I guess it's as successful as can be.

I will be looking for your truck... what's it say on it?

Tony

As an afterthought, wouldn't it make sense that the heater would heat more efficiently if the aeration were turned off? Rather than heating a air/water mix (cold air/warm water), it would just be heating warm water... what do you think?

T.

[Dr. Spa]

Only water flows through the heater. The air is mixed in right at the jets....However, it tends to be colder atmospheric air, which will cool the water.

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

Hey, thanks for the advice... I figured out the air control bit (I'm not sure why, but I had thought that turning those knobs all the way down also turned the jets off... good to know it's just the air. Duh!) It doesn't look like that much came out with the Swirl Away, which I suppose is a good thing, except that I was counting on it to fix my rH nF error message (the "no flow" thing)... oh well. Maybe it removed more than I could tell.

I did take a Shop Vac to all the jets, first blowing the water out and then sucking up the remainder. Some more residue definitely came out with this technique, and I feel pretty confident I got as much water out as is humanly possible. So, I guess it's as successful as can be.

I will be looking for your truck... what's it say on it?

Tony

Our truck says Hillbilly Hot Tubs on it, we get many chuckles!

In the winter we tell people to turn off the air control valves when they leave the tub because it does drag in cold air when the tub comes on for filter cycle ect, thus making it a bit harder to heat. In the summer if you close them it will reduce any pollen, dust ect that it is pulling into the water. To me it is worth the difference in the jet pressure to run them while I am using the tub, but I turn them off when I get out.