Filter Change Frequency

[ottawa_mike]

After 2.5 months with my Artic Spa I am starting to get the hang of things re: water balance and clarity. The first month was a bad experience due to an Onzen issues and I never want to see my tub that cloudy again.

Anyway, after the first month the Onzen "element" was replaced and tub emptied, cleaned and refilled and filter changed. The filter was quite discusting which I felt was understandable with all the factory goop issues etc. from a new tub.

I have been running pretty good for 6 weeks but starting to have slight cloudiness and it has been hard to keep the chlorine high. I shocked twice this week as the onzen has not been handling the load ( average 3 people hours per day). I also used "bright plus" to eat up the bad chlorine. I was wondering if my onzen unit was starting to degrade in performance as I have heard of this due to calcium build up ( though my calcium is not high). I checked the filter I put in 6 weeks ago and its quite coated with greyish sticky goop again - I guess its body oils and lotions though I think our family is probably pretty average in our use of skin products etc.

Question: does it seem normal to change a filter every 6 weeks? I have a Filbur FC-2392 no maintenance / disposable filter.

Water readings:

-free chlorine: .21 ppm

-total chlorine: .73 ppm

-PH: 7.9 (little high)

-Alk: 87

-Hardness: 100

-CYA: 45ppm

Thanks all!

[Pathfinder]

In my professional opinion lose the disposable filter & get a proper pleated filter which you would rinse weekly & clean after a month or rotate it with another so you will always have one clean. Those filters will last a few years. Tubs have been ran for 25+ yrs on pleated filters without issue. 1 micron fibre filters i find are a temporary filter media like if you are going to have a party or summer time when there are lots of lotions. If you have lots of females in the tub get a $9 Scum Bug and put it in the tub.

[great white]

Not sure about our issue, but the filters on my HS grande are reported to last 2-3 years......Sorry, can't tell you from actual experience, still waiting for delivery. But my conversations with a few other owners in the area seems to bear this interval out as truth.

Arctic Spa is every bit expensive as my HS, I would hope the filter life would be just as long for you.

Also, about the "ozone", in my research before purchasing it seems that the ozone system is a supppliment to the chems, not a replacement. My (admittedly) inexperienced advice might be to have another look at you chem balance or have your local shop do a water test on a sample for you? My dealer will do it for free and give me a "recipe card" for chems to add...

[steve_a]

We bought an extra pair of filters for our spa and every two or three weeks (when I remember) I swap them out. The ones I pull out I rinse well (i made my own horseshoe shaped sprayer for my utility sink) and then I spray down with a filter cleaner, let sit for five minutes, rinse again, and then hang to dry. About once every two months or so, or when they look really bad I use an overnight filter soak. These filters should last 2-3 years or more this way.

Not pimping anybody's product, but I got my spare filters and the EcoSpray and EcoSoak from spadepot [dot] com. They were the cheapest overall and the shipping was less than $4. The quality of the filters and the cleaners seem to be as good as anything else I've found.