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Difference In Chlorine?


gcgalt

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I noticed that pool chlorine is on sale right now for the end of the season and I was wondering if there is any difference between that and spa chlorine?

depends on the type of chlorine. Dichlor, Cal Hypo, and Liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite) are the most commen types used in spas. Dichlor is stabilized, cal hypo and liquid are not. Some brands are packaged for use in both pools and spas. Some have different packaging and dosing instructions for pool or spa use.

Trichlor is often used in pools and is NOT a good choice to use in spas. It is stabilized.

Lithium Hypochlorite can be used in either pools or spas but it is very expensive to use so it is not that commen. It is non stabilized.

Some state health departments are now recommending only using non stabilized chlorine in spas, which means ususally Cal Hypo or liquid. It is interesting that HTH has recently discontinued their dichlor for spas and now only offers cal hypo as spa chlorinator and also as spa shock. Both these products contain the same amount of available chlorine (and are, in fact interchangable) but there is a great difference in the price of the spa chlorinator and the spa shock! (I guess this is where being an educated consumer really pays off!)

Bottom line is this....chlorine is chlorine if the type and available chlorine in the product are the same. As a general rule the products packgaged for pool use from a product line are often cheaper than the spa products from the same manufacturers line even though the product is identical. The only differece is the dosing instuctions on the container. There are some companies that might add pH buffers to the spa product line that are not in the pool product line but that is not universal.

I personally prefer dichlor and/or liquid chlorine for spa use. Dichlor dissolves fast and since spas are drained an refilled every few months the problem with overstabilization is moot. Neither of these will cause clouding of the water and liquid chlorine has very minimal impact on pH and TA. Dichlor will affect pH and TA slightly more but not enoung to really cause any major problems. Neither will increase calcium levels and contribute to scaling.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks for the reply! It was a great help!

I read in a couple of posts that liquid chlorine and regular bleach are the same thing. If so why not use regular household bleach in a hot tub? I should also ask if it is compatable used after a soak and MPS as a shock once a week.

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I read in a couple of posts that liquid chlorine and regular bleach are the same thing. If so why not use regular household bleach in a hot tub? I should also ask if it is compatable used after a soak and MPS as a shock once a week.

bleach works fine (used to use it myself before I got a salt water chlorine generator) but if the tub is exposed to sunlight you would need to add stabilizer (cyanuric acid) to keep the sun from destroying the chlorine. this is true for any unstabilized chlorine (cal hypo, lithium hypochorite, or liquid (sodium hypochlorite) For shocking unstabilized chlorine is best. Dichor is stabilized so you would not need to add stabilizer if you used it for normal chlorination.

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