Dead Ozone Effects

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

We have a new tub with the new fangled Del Ozone. I have been using Brillance chlorine free bromine system fo over a year with pretty good luck except my PH tends to rise. Put it off to the fact that there are 197 jets and 24 hour circ and ozone causing much air being put into the water.

Started having water chemistry problems after the first month of having the tub. Thought it might be new tub syndrome....oils in plastics ect, but we could not get things right. Tub would get cloudy, had to use MPS after each use instaed of weekly still having a slight haze to the water(we use the tub every night) and my PH was always low, the oppisite of before. Thought it might be because we had to use MPS so much. We also had foam and a scum line.

Told my husband that I was not smelling ozone anymore(it has a very distinct smell) and that I was now smelling bromine, which I never had with this system. We checked the ozonator and low and behold it was dead! We replaced it with the Balboa o3 and we are up and running again. Shock 1 time a week, no scum, no smell and no foam. My proof to what an ozonator does for me! My only issue is PH rising again....so my question is to Chem geek or any others out therr....

PH: Is my issue with having the low PH while ozone was dead due to 1: dead ozone or 2: adding MPS all the time or 3: the gunk in the tub that ozone was not helping to take care of or a combination of all 3. I still had all the air in the tub, just no ozone with it

Just a thought to throw out there...maybe the world will never know, kind of like the tootsie pop

[chem geek]

MPS is acidic so if the ozonator stopped working (and I don't mean it just stopped adding ozone, but stopped injecting air as well so no bubbles), then the amount of aeration would be less so less pH rise from that. The combination could have the pH drop. One tablespoon of MPS shock every day for a week in 350 gallons would lower the pH from around 7.5 to [EDIT] 7.23 (if the TA were 100 with no CYA and 104F temp) [END-EDIT].

It's possible the bromine tabs are net acidic, but I don't know enough about DMH to be able to answer that. I would think it's net pH neutral from bromine addition and consumption/usage.

Richard

[Vermonter]

I have very much the same situation... less jets, but I'm using Bromine and have to shock after every use or my water gets cloudy after 2 days. (I do have a broken ozonator, which you've just convinced me to fix ) I find that my pH and TA drop every week, pH from around 7.8 to 7.4 and TA from 80-ish to 50-ish. (In 350 gallons) I just throw in 2 or 3 TB of baking soda and away I go! I've pretty much just attributed it to the large quantities of MPS, but I suppose it could be the Br itself adding or even causing the problem. Hmmmm. Just thought I'd add my 2 cents.

Tony

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

Well the ongoing saga....

To answere your point Richard, my ozone still produced bubbles, just no ozone. The bubbles air from the air the ozone draws in so they should always be there unless something blocks that air line....

My new ozonator is cranking out ozone. We replaced it with the Balboa, not the new del one (we have always had issues with del ozone, and don't see an improvent with their new one!) I now don't need to add MPS as much as before. Ozone is doing its job reestablishing the bromine. Ph is still dropping, but not as much or as quickly. I am still fighting with a very slight haze, barely noticable. I am 2 1/2 months into this water and it was a brand new tub complete with all the lovely oils on the plastics. I think that is part of the issue. I will do a water change in a couple of weeks, but I won't be able to report on how the bromine goes this time because my tub is going to be the guine pig tub once again!

I will be trying a product by The Natural Hot Tub Company. They wanted me to sell it and I stated my rule....not untill I try it. I will let all know how it goes. I have not had good luck with similar products (seaweed based) before so we will see.....

[Vermonter]

This is specifically for Hillybilly Hot Tub, but anyone else can feel free to chime in!

I, too, have a DelOzone SpaEclipse generator, which has been out since I bought the hot tub, used, about a year ago. I could see through the little window that the chip was burned out, so I finally got around to ordering a new one, and guess what? It doesn't work. I think the generator itself is on the fritz, and rather than fuss around with it, I think I'm going to take your suggestion and look into buying a Balboa generator.

My question is, what model do I want, to replace the SpaEclipse? One that fits into the slot where the old one came out of would be great, but I'm not sure if that's something that can happen or not. I want a CD model, I think (I do, don't I?).... any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

This is specifically for Hillybilly Hot Tub, but anyone else can feel free to chime in!

I, too, have a DelOzone SpaEclipse generator, which has been out since I bought the hot tub, used, about a year ago. I could see through the little window that the chip was burned out, so I finally got around to ordering a new one, and guess what? It doesn't work. I think the generator itself is on the fritz, and rather than fuss around with it, I think I'm going to take your suggestion and look into buying a Balboa generator.

My question is, what model do I want, to replace the SpaEclipse? One that fits into the slot where the old one came out of would be great, but I'm not sure if that's something that can happen or not. I want a CD model, I think (I do, don't I?).... any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

We replaced ours with the Balboa O3. It is a bulb style, not a CD. We have not had good luck with any of the CD ozonators. The chips burn up or when it gets plugged it backs into the genorator frying that up. The Balboa have lasted us with no issues. I think they use a bit more power, not enough that you would notice in your electric bill though.

Others love the CD style and will rave about them and how much more ozone they produce. We just have not had good luck with them yet. We will see how this new one from Del holds up in the tubs we sell, maybe I just got lucky and got the bad egg.

You can put anyone in, just find an area that it will fit. It is best to have them as high as you can. To get one to fit right in the same spot perfectly, you may have to go OEM.