Arctic Spa, Onzen, Tub Use Update

[BMR]

Here is my latest observation, and I welcome input in this regard.

After many problems that a lot of you have read about and commented on, I was able to get the tub to a reasonable level by doing the following.

1) Do a fresh fill, put in about 2 - 3 cups of bromine salt, set CP to 3 and FC to 1, leave the tub for a day and then most important ( SEAN L ) put in a cap of Refresh, run the tub in boost mode and leave the tub for a day. ( Sean L - my test strips in a white bottle that came with the tub don't work, as they show no bromine, had to get new ones from the store that did show Bromine ) I also had to add some PH down to get the ph into an acceptable range.

2) The tub then had some sanitizer finally show up and I started to use it. Therefore, I would soak for 30 min or so in clean water, however it would turn almost milky white when I used the jets and would take about 10 min to settle down again.

3) When I was done soaking, I would throw in a full cap of refresh, run the tub in boost mode with lid off for 20 min, then close it up and come back in a day. The tub would be clean and things seemed good. I have repeated step 2 and 3 a few times

PROBLEM:

- Checked the tub and had all levels within Range.

- Let three teenage boys soak for 1/2 hour

- put in full cap of Refresh when they were done, ran in boost mode, came back in a day.

- The water looked bad, with scummy bubbles on top, cloudy and not clean like i had it in step 2 and 3 above and low Bromine.

- put another full cap of Refresh in, ran in boost mode, will check it today.

WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON ???????

Now before you all start with the " turn up you onzen more " , " add more refresh ", "Stand on your head and pray to the tub gods begging forgiveness for doing something different " , etc , etc , etc , etc , etc , ............

There is no way in the world that running a hot tub can be this finicky, such that if i look at the tub in the wrong way there will be another crisis. The routine that I established should have easily taken care of the soak that the three boys did ( yes they were clean, soap free as best as I could tell, and did not leave any waste in the tub ).

Is this what my HOT TUB experience is going to be with an ARCTIC SPA ???? One Crisis after another ???????

I bought this tub, on the premise that it is the best tub there is and that it is easy to take care of and relatively maintenance free.

Is my tub still defective ???

I want to love this tub, since it has many great features and is clearly well built, but these ongoing problems are really bothering me.

Your insightful comments are most welcome. ( Nigel, Tom , others with similar problems )

BMR

[BMR]

Just checked the tub now, turned on the jets and a serious amount of white bubbles formed on the surface like soap bubbles??

What the heck is going on ??

Bromine is back up to almost proper. Water looks semi ok.

Can Refresh cause soap like bubbles if you use it ??

How do I get rid of them now that they are there, scoop with a net for the next 10 days ?

Always a crisis, Nigel, have you got your tub in order ??

BMR

[Tom]

Brad,

It's supposed to be easy, and for most users it is. Right now, I am standing on my head praying to the tub gods...

Please continue to work with the Onzen help center (p. 6 of your manual for the email address)) and your local dealer. I posted some low-level codes and their meaning in one of the Onzen threads. I'll continue to bug R&D for more info that may help, and I'll stay in touch until we have this fixed for you.

For today, all I have to offer is Chas' Law.

Wishing you a good weekend and a future solution

[BMR]

Brad,

It's supposed to be easy, and for most users it is. Right now, I am standing on my head praying to the tub gods...

Please continue to work with the Onzen help center (p. 6 of your manual for the email address)) and your local dealer. I posted some low-level codes and their meaning in one of the Onzen threads. I'll continue to bug R&D for more info that may help, and I'll stay in touch until we have this fixed for you.

For today, all I have to offer is Chas' Law.

Wishing you a good weekend and a future solution

Tom:

Checked the water today, I have not used the tub for sometime because we are sick, however, water was clean, all levels good, ( hardness, bromine, ph, alkalinity ).

Turned on the jets and as usual the water turns milky white, still not sure of that one, it settles down after a while, but from my understanding it should not do that.

The secondary problem however, which is unrelated to the milky water, is that there is a ton of suds on the top, so obviously, one of the boys who went in must have had some soap or shampoo on them.

If that is the case, how do I now deal with this problem? If there is anyone else with an arctic spa onzen tub who has had a bather get in with soap or shampoo on them and then got sudsing, what did you do to get rid of it.

As always, your diligent help is much appreciated.

BMR

[Dnepr Dave]

I don't have a Onzen tub, but when I get foamy water, I use a plastic dust pan to scoop off the suds. It may take a half an hour of scooping suds, but that usually takes care of it, until the next time I get soap in the tub.

Dave

[BMR]

I don't have a Onzen tub, but when I get foamy water, I use a plastic dust pan to scoop off the suds. It may take a half an hour of scooping suds, but that usually takes care of it, until the next time I get soap in the tub.

Dave

Thanks, Dave

I will try that to an extent and see where I get in regard to dissipating the suds. Does anyone else have a method as well?

BMR

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

Clearwater uses the gensis which is the same idea/thing as ozen and they use Sea Klear all natural clarifier. This will help pick up and clump together the small unfilterable particles so your filters can pick them up. Then after a few days, rinse the filters out. Before you do this, make sure you are not using micro pure filters.

Scooping will get some out but by the sounds you have a lot mixing in with the water too.

Its not because it is an Arctic tub, any tub will do this when poeple get in with soap, deoderant, body spray, lotion ect. Don't wash your swimsuits everytime either, hang them to dry. You are trying to get a long time out of the water with ozen, everything you bring into the tub cause the TDS to get higher, thus potentially causing the ozen to stop working. Good luck and keep those kids clean, but not tooclean

[larrys1]

Be careful using clarifiers if you use the micro-filters you throw away. It is not recommended at all unless you use pleated filters that you can clean.

Our Arctic w/Onzen turns milky white when you turn the jets on simply due to air bubbles. It clears off several minutes after the jets go off.

We use a kitchen sieve to scoop off soap bubbles. You will always have SOME bubbles and you can tell the difference between the air ones and the soap ones. The air ones dissipate immediately and the soap ones stay formated.

[Nigel]

Brad,

You might be over doing the refresh.

Everytime we use the Spa now all we do is add 1/2 teaspoon of refresh, put on boost cycle and

for three weeks now we have maintained very good levels.

Plus once a week a throw in half a cap of refresh and a cap of the nice blue smelly stuff.

We are chauffed to bits with it now.

In over three weeks i have had not put anything in except for the above.

Nigel

[Tom]

Important Onzen Information

[villaora]

I bought my Kodiak Legend on the 21st June. On the 22nd it was apparent it was not working. Two weeks ago after a new Onzen unit and salt cell had been fitted.....it stopped again.Today the service guy has just arrived -to inform me that the onzen unit has packed up-and they need to order another one. Brilliant-it could have been an idea to turn up with the spart parts.

Not sure if we in the UK are getting components made in China, but I am starting to believe I have been sold a dud.

As I have said on a previous post (that I cant find on here!?) , the Tub was delivered with no instructions and what brochures did come with it, did not apply to the UK models....it was also left empty for me to fill and get up and running with no salt provided. It would appear that it was not tested between leaving Canada and arriving at my door.

Everything about salt levels and maintaining the water levels etc , I have had to pick up from the internet forum pages and aside from two very helpful( alas over the phone) tech guys at Arctic UK, I have been bitterly disappointed with the overall service . Has anyone else got an Arctic Onzen in the Uk who has had similar problems? or could give me advice?

Also when they did come back and fit the 2nd unit, they put salt in with it, but when I measued the salt levels the next day they were up at 6,000ppm...I diluted the spa down to 3,000-3,500 as per Arctics advice,but the service guy told me that the salt cell he removed today had a lot of 'build up' on it?...Are we talking salt build up? scale?...What was going wrong?

I am close to asking for my money back and telling them to take the thing back.......

[Tom]

.. the service guy told me that the salt cell he removed today had a lot of 'build up' on it?...Are we talking salt build up? scale?...What was going wrong?

The director of UK operations is looking into this. He reports that the dealer has been in frequent contact and that the matter is under investigation.