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Selecting The Best Hot Tub For Water Sanitation


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I would like to avoid chlorine and bromine and would like to purchase a hot tub that has the best built-in sanitizer (knowing that I will still need weekly shock and an ionizer). I have spoken to reps from Jacuzzi, Hot Springs, Dimensions One, and ThermoSpas. They all seem to tell me that their brands have the best system for water purity. I am frustrated at how to get factual information. What is the best brand for water sanitation? Also, is UV better than ozone? Or, which ozonator system is the best? Which ionization cartridge system is the most effective? Which brand has the best recirculation flow rate and which is the most energy efficient? Thank you in advance for any guidance you can provide.

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If you don't want a salt water chlorine generator, then the brand of a spa is to water chemistry about as much as the brand of a car has to do with gasoline quality. Brands have nothing to do with water sanitation- they have to do with water filtration.

The ozone systems today all all quite powerful and capable, but ensure you have a spa equipped with a 24/7 small circ pump that will continually introduce new ozone to the water in order to be effective.

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I'd go with one that has more filter like the hot springs. My old tub was a dimension one it had one filter. My new tub is a hot springs with three. I have never had trouble with water quality in the hot springs tub.

Number of filters is irrelevant really. Sq footage of filtration surface area would be a better metric, but still really doesn't effect water chemistry. Quality manufacturers will match their filtration to work for the whole system. Would you buy a car because it had 3 oil filters?

There is a lot of sales hype in this industry. 3 filters is not necessarily better than 1.

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I would look at D1 Spas for the Bay and Reflection product lines, they both offer Ultrapure Plus Water Management System. This system offers both UV and Ozone/ with a 24 hour circulation pump. I used to work for D1 and can provide many testimonials off the effectiveness of this system. I will also suggest you wet test any model or brand before you settle on a spa, comfort should be equal to cleanliness.

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I'd go with one that has more filter like the hot springs. My old tub was a dimension one it had one filter. My new tub is a hot springs with three. I have never had trouble with water quality in the hot springs tub.

Number of filters is irrelevant really. Sq footage of filtration surface area would be a better metric, but still really doesn't effect water chemistry. Quality manufacturers will match their filtration to work for the whole system. Would you buy a car because it had 3 oil filters?

There is a lot of sales hype in this industry. 3 filters is not necessarily better than 1.

 

Eh .. while I'm not going to jump on the Hot Springs is the only choice band wagon, the above comparison is completely inaccurate. Your '1' car filter filters 100% of the oil every time it passes through the engine. This is what the 5 filters in most hot springs do (small ones have 3). Every other spa, including lower level hot springs only filter 25% of the water at one time regardless of the size of the filter.

Now how important is filtering 100% of the water all the time? If you follow the water you are just dumping the filtered water back into unfiltered water where it promptly mixes and becomes unfiltered again. However, the HotSprings will filter your entire tub more often (when the jets are running) and will not allow any physical debris into your jets, ever. This does have 'some' value.

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Every other spa, including lower level hot springs only filter 25% of the water at one time regardless of the size of the filter.

Not quite true. The original design of a single filter, with bypass, is such that when in heating and/or filtration mode (pump on low speed), nearly 100% of the water is being filtered. This is the majority of the time most pumps operate. When the user is then in the spa, and turns on the pump for the high speed action of the jets, then much of the water bypasses the filter. First, there's no real reason to need to filter the water during this short period of time. Second, it would take a MUCH larger pump to move the same amount of water through the filter, with the pump on high speed. Third, with %100 filtration, as the filter get dirtier, the pressure at the jets becomes less and less. This "value" equates to a more expensive spa, with a nice sales pitch.

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I appreciate the direction this discussion has gone. I have been perplexed by the 3 filter sales pitch and the $2,000+ value that this might add to the filtration system. The Hot Springs Rep explained that cause greater debris removal from our bodies thus requiring greater filtration during the times the jets are running. Not sure if this is pure sales talk or reality. Perhaps 3 filters have a greater surface area and can go for longer periods without cleaning??

The UltraPure system sounds superior to anything I have seen. I wonder though if the addition of UV is helpful or overkill? I also wonder what makes UltraPure better than the HotSprings ozone chamber?

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It's reality.

The reason they have so much filter area, is because in the Hot Spring line, 100% of the water is filtered. There is no bypass. In virtually every eveery other model I'm aware (including Hot Springs other lines), when the jets are running, not all of the water is being filtered, it's simply being recirculated.

Is that good enough? For most applications, it's fine. But their [Hot Springs] sales pitch of 100% filtration is not only a sales pitch, it's the truth.

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