Everfresh Water Care System

[AV05]

8 months ago I bought a home that had a new (4 month old) HS Vanguard tub. The previous owner was using (and left me a supply of) Everfresh chemicals and I have done the same with mixed results (mostly good). I am using FreshWater silver ion—MPS—and sodium dichlor once a week. I use test strips for MPS only and a Taylor K-1004 Trouble shooter kit for FC, TC, PH and TA.

My tap water test are: FC 0.5 TC 1 PH 7.2 TA 90 (city water website say my Calcium hardness is 148). My issues over the past 8 months are that ph and ta are always low or on the low end. I use a lot of ph up. If I leave the tub for a day or two it will turn cloudy/dirty looking and I have to shock with 2 ¼ tsp chlorine often.

I plan to drain and refill the tub tomorrow and I have some questions.

1) I bought Leisure Time PH Balance in hopes of keeping my ph and ta from going low all the time. Is this going to work for me?

2) I have come to believe that I do not understand enough about the dichlor. My local dealer told me not to worry that I was getting zero readings on my chlorine. Is this right? Shouldn’t I have to have some chlorine in the water? I say this because my water quality goes south so fast even after following the owner’s manual water treatment guide.

3) The FreshWater silver ion instructions say to use 1.5 tablesoons of dichlor per 250 gals “as Needed” but HS manual says 1.5 teaspoons per 250 gals. How much should I be using and when?

I know from reading that most of you are chlorine/bromide only fans but my husband has had skin issues with both of these chemicals and we were so happy to find out that this spa does not use either of these so we want to stick with the FreshWater system.

Thank you for your help.

[PreservedSwine]

That's a great set-up.

I agree with your dealer- don't sweat the low chlorine reading. But if it's getting cloudy quickly- I'd suggest adding (1) teaspoon of dichlor as soon you get out of the spa, then hit the "clean" cycle, and walk away.

The FreshWater silver ion instructions say to use 1.5 tablesoons of dichlor per 250 gals “as Needed” but HS manual says 1.5 teaspoons per 250 gals. How much should I be using and when?

Are you certain it's not referring to the monopersulfate? That's too heavy on the chlorine, but sounds about right for the MPS.

[AV05]

Sorry about the delay (pc issues) and thank you so much for your fast reply. I am Positive that the FreshWater Continuous Silver Ion Sanitizer Owner’s Manual says 1.5 Tablespoons of dichlor—not monopersulfate per 250 gals. For now, I have only been using that much dichlor during start up as per step 3 of Install the FreshWater ag+.

Re: water getting cloudy quickly. For example, yesterday around noon the tub looked great and the test strip showed my MPS was okay. We did not use the tub last night and today the tub water is dirty again. GGGrrrr MPS (tested w/test strip) is okay, FC is 0, CC is 5+ (I assume mostly from the MPS), PH is 7.5 and TA is 80 (all tested with a Taylor test kit). This water is only 8 days old and it breaks my heart to open the cover and see this yucky water again. I will try your suggestion (as soon as I get the water clear again) and use one teaspoon of dichlor instead of the MPS when we get out of the tub. Thanks again for your help!!!

[AV05]

Sorry about the delay (pc issues) and thank you so much for your fast reply. I am Positive that the FreshWater Continuous Silver Ion Sanitizer Owner’s Manual says 1.5 Tablespoons of dichlor—not monopersulfate per 250 gals. For now, I have only been using that much dichlor during start up as per step 3 of Install the FreshWater ag+.

Re: water getting cloudy quickly. For example, yesterday around noon the tub looked great and the test strip showed my MPS was okay. We did not use the tub last night and today the tub water is dirty again. GGGrrrr MPS (tested w/test strip) is okay, FC is 0, CC is 5+ (I assume mostly from the MPS), PH is 7.5 and TA is 80 (all tested with a Taylor test kit). This water is only 8 days old and it breaks my heart to open the cover and see this yucky water again. I will try your suggestion (as soon as I get the water clear again) and use one teaspoon of dichlor instead of the MPS when we get out of the tub. Thanks again for your help!!!

A quick thank you. I have started using a teaspoon of dichlor every third soak and my hot tub and I are both happy campers. Thanks again