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Help Needed With Softub Water Chemistry Questions


softub82

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First off, this site has some great information. I have been lurking for a while, and doing lots of reading, but I have decided I need specific advice tailored to my needs. So here we go, first the background. Warning: this is a long post.

I have a Softub, the larger model that is about 300 gallons. So it has a vinyl lining, and heats up off the pump only. I believe it is also supposed to have a built in ozonator. It sits outside, under an overhang, so it gets no direct sunlight. Any time it gets used, it is always for about 30 minutes average, by just my wife and I, no suits, relatively clean (we don’t always shower first, but if we are really dirty, then we do), and stays at 102 degrees. Average use of 4 times per week. After we get out, the cover goes right back on. Cover only comes off when I add sanitizer, or use the tub. A Scumbug stays in it all the time.

I bought it used, cleaned it up real good, filled it, and used if for about three months on my first fill. I used strictly Easycare’s SoftChlor (dichlor) for the entire time for sanitizer, which usually meant adding a tablespoon or two every day or two, depending on how much we used it. Ph down was used a lot in the beginning, as well as 8 oz. of metal/stain eliminator on the initial fill. I use only test strips right now. I did not always remember to add the dichlor, so sometimes I would get a reading of zero chlorine when I checked it, so then I would ad some, but it never seemed to be a problem, because it wasn’t for long. We used it about three months with no water problems at all. Then I decided to drain and refill because it seemed to be running more often to keep the water warm, I thought maybe the water was somehow going bad. I ran the recommended amount of Swirl Away through it before I drained. After draining, I wiped down the whole inside of the tub with bleach water, cleaned the filter with water only, then refilled.

Refill was done the same way as the first time. However I got REALLY lax for a little while about adding the dichlor. Meaning a week would go by without adding any. This happened more then once. After about a month, we noticed that it started to have a different smell, king of like a plastic/vinyl smell. I thought maybe the ph was wrong and it was breaking down the liner, checked and ph was high, so I brought it down. About the same time, we noticed an unusual amount of bubbles when the jets were on, almost like the water was carbonated, with lots of fizz popping. And it irritated our noses, causing us to sneeze and cough. So we stopped using it. I did more reading on here, and tried super-chlorinating it with Clorox bleach, which seemed to help some. Then I left the jets and air on high for about 5 hours with the top off, just to let it bubble out for a while, and it was able to get a little bit of sunshine. This too seemed to help some, but nothing cured it. So I decided to drain and refill again. Do you think that my slacking in sanitizing led to the above problem? If not, then what?

I just finished refilling. I rinsed the filter out good with water, then soaked it in bleach water for about 3 hours. (it is about three months old) I have added two tablespoons of dichlor, 8 oz. of metal/stain eliminator, and have not touched the ph yet. I know ph goes up with aeration, so when should I test for ph? After it has been sitting for a while without the jets running once it warms up? Or should I try to adjust it now before it even warms up? (it will take about 36 hours probably for it to heat all the way up because of the cold ground water and air temps here right now)

I am going to make sure I keep up with the sanitizing this time. I am also thinking about doing the two weeks dichlor, then switch to bleach method also. So besides the ph questions above, here are some others I have:

Softub does not recommend shocking, but I understand from my reading here that I probably should be doing it at least some. So should I shock, and if so, how often and with what method, based on our use of the tub?

How often should I change out filters?

Is a filter cleaner really necessary?

How long do the filters usually last? How can I tell if it needs replaced?

After we get out, should I leave the cover off for a bit?

Is the product Spa Perfect anything I should be using?

Since the bather load is always consistent, are just using test strips ok?

Any other hints, suggestions, etc, feel free to offer them. Thanks in advance.

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I'm not too familiar with soft tubs, but I do have some comments.

I don't know the recommendations on shocking a soft tub, but if you do you should let the Jets/Air run longer (60 min) before covering.

You can use Non-Chlorine Shock (MPS) to shock your tub instead of chlorine. This will help the chlorine oxidize waste, but will not kill bugs. Therefore you still need some chlorine.

If you maintain your FC level at all times, you shouldn't need to shock.

The chlorine will do the most damage to your tub on a fresh fill, when your CYA is low. Keep that in mind when you first start adding Dichlor. CYA acts as a chlorine buffer, and after it builds up, the chlorine will do less damage. Therefore, you could add more CYA (like 50 ppm) than the recommended 20-30 ppm. Maybe Chem Geek can comment on this.

Lastly you could consider using the Nature2 system to sanitize your tub. It still requires chlorine, but much less.

Hope that helps a little.

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Most likely, the slacking off of using sanitizer for extended periods of time got you way behind on oxidizing the bather wastes so ammonia/urea built up. Then, when you added chlorine, it mostly formed smelly chloramines. The key is to not get behind -- if you always measure a residual FC, then you'll be fine and not get behind. You can adjust how much chlorine you use based on the FC you measure before your next soak.

Remember to never use bleach right after a fresh refill. Start off with Dichlor first so that you build up some Cyanuric Acid (CYA) in the water. About one to two weeks of daily Dichlor usage should be about right. You can thereafter (until the next refill) switch to using bleach, but if you do that then follow Nitro's guidelines here to minimize the rate of pH rise by keeping the TA lower and using Borates as a pH buffer.

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Thanks. I have read somewhere on here before about leaving the cover off for a while after you get out of the spa, to help it clean itself out some. Is that something I should be doing in our case? If so, how long? We usually go in at night, when it is cold outside, so the longer it stays open, the more heat will be lost.

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Thanks. I have read somewhere on here before about leaving the cover off for a while after you get out of the spa, to help it clean itself out some. Is that something I should be doing in our case? If so, how long? We usually go in at night, when it is cold outside, so the longer it stays open, the more heat will be lost.

Leaving the cover off for about an hour after you soak helps to dissipate some of the volatile by-products from the oxidation of your sweat/urine. It also wears a little less on the hot tub cover. You are right that there is a tradeoff in terms of heat loss. If you maintained a sanitizer level during your soak, then you'd probably not need to keep the cover off afterwards, but then you'd likely smell the sanitizer during the soak. It's really up to you. It's a good thing to do, but it's not essential. If you can compromise and keep it off for about 15 minutes after you've added sanitizer after your soak, then that's probably reasonable.

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  • 10 years later...

Wow I wish this thread wasn't so old.  I have the exact same issue with my Softub;

- strong plastic/vinyl smell

- lots of bubbles

I recently had a brand new vinyl liner put on it.  First time I filled it up it was ok, but after a couple of months the smell got stronger and more bubbles.  The tub has seldom been used (I would say less than 10 x 20-minute soaks in 3 months).  No sunscreen at all (late fall season).  Sanitizer is bromine.  All levels have been checked regularly and alkalinity was reduced with vinegar a few times.

I feel like this thing is off-gassing from the manufacturing process.  I need to empty it and clean it out completely.  Not sure how though.

 

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  • 6 months later...

I've have had my tub for about 8 years. For the last couple of years, I always have strong vinyl smell and bubbles as you describe. The air is unusable as the smell gets intolerable. I suspected the liner is end of life and is just leaching plastic into the water, and a water change only helps for about a week. But maybe it's something I am doing or not doing in maintenance. Not sure...

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