Blue Water

[Yuma John]

Greetings, I am new to this forum and hope somebody can help me. We have an inground spa that is 6 years old. It is approximately 13 ft long, 5 ft wide and 3 to 4.5 ft deep. The side are gunite. The heating system is a heat pump. About 3 or 4 weeks ago the spa turn a beautiful blue color. The cover on the spa and the plastic components along with the side and floor of the spa turned blue. When dry a blue power comes off on your hand. We have twice weekly pool maintenance and the pool guy said he noticed the PH dropping and thought if we used the spa it would increase but we didn't use it. Of course he didn't mention it to us until it was already blue. He said that he had to use soda ash to solve the problem. He added the ash about a pound at a time. After the first addition of ash the spa looked very dark and swampy. I was waiting for mosquitos to start breeding. We had to go away and when we returned about a week later the water was clear but everything was stained. When we were finally able to talk to the "tech" he was at a loss as to what to do next. The ph never changed and the color didn't go back to normal. His boss said the water was probably dead and suggested we drain the spa and start all over again. We have done that and the spa is now refilling but the sides etc are still a blue color.

1. Do you all concur with what the tech said in that this was caused by low ph and a reaction to the copper piping?

2. How do I get rid of the blue coating. Can I give the spa an acid bath or something?

Thanks for listening and I look forward to some advice.

I live in Yuma AZ which is starting to get hot this time of year but so far the temp has not exceeded 100.

Yuma John

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

Greetings, I am new to this forum and hope somebody can help me. We have an inground spa that is 6 years old. It is approximately 13 ft long, 5 ft wide and 3 to 4.5 ft deep. The side are gunite. The heating system is a heat pump. About 3 or 4 weeks ago the spa turn a beautiful blue color. The cover on the spa and the plastic components along with the side and floor of the spa turned blue. When dry a blue power comes off on your hand. We have twice weekly pool maintenance and the pool guy said he noticed the PH dropping and thought if we used the spa it would increase but we didn't use it. Of course he didn't mention it to us until it was already blue. He said that he had to use soda ash to solve the problem. He added the ash about a pound at a time. After the first addition of ash the spa looked very dark and swampy. I was waiting for mosquitos to start breeding. We had to go away and when we returned about a week later the water was clear but everything was stained. When we were finally able to talk to the "tech" he was at a loss as to what to do next. The ph never changed and the color didn't go back to normal. His boss said the water was probably dead and suggested we drain the spa and start all over again. We have done that and the spa is now refilling but the sides etc are still a blue color.

1. Do you all concur with what the tech said in that this was caused by low ph and a reaction to the copper piping?

2. How do I get rid of the blue coating. Can I give the spa an acid bath or something?

Thanks for listening and I look forward to some advice.

I live in Yuma AZ which is starting to get hot this time of year but so far the temp has not exceeded 100.

Yuma John

Blue/green is usually caused by copper, which low PH can strip off your heat exchangers if they are copper. You can try a stain/metal remover. . If he is maintaining the spa, why did he not address the PH dropping sooner? i would bring a sample of you water to a different testing place and have it tested also. What type of filtration system does it have?