daysinn86323 Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Hi! First post on this forum. I'm the assistant manager of a Days Inn hotel and we are in need of some assistance. My maintenance guy and I have tried multiple different things and nothing is helping. We have a 700 gallon hot tub that always has a TON of foam in it. We have tried multiple different brands of defoamers and the only time it isn't incredibly foamy is right after we do a 100% water change, which we do approximately every 60 days. We ask that guests shower before entering the pool to remove any lotions, soaps or shampoos from their hair and skin, but this hasn't seemed to help. Our chlorine and pH readings are within acceptable limits per our county inspector. We have asked her about the excessive foaming and she just shrugged and said "It's just something your hot tub does, apparently." This, however, is not an acceptable answer for our guests. I am attaching pictures of the hot tub as it is running, so you can see how ridiculous the foaming is. This is after just two or three minutes of the jets being turned on: This is after about eight or nine minutes: After about 15 minutes: Close up of the bubbles/foam: We are in the process of doing our 100% water change on the hot tub right now, so I will post pics of it as soon as we get it refilled, as well, for a comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chem geek Posted May 19, 2015 Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 Two things. One would be to do a treatment with Ahh-Some to remove any biofilm or greases in piping and other areas of the tub. Then after filling again, make sure to raise the Calcium Hardness level to 120-150 ppm as that will help reduce foaming (harder water foams less), but make sure to control the pH so that it doesn't get too high. Also note that the standard Water Replacement Interval (WRI) formula is (1/3) x (Spa Size in Gallons) / (# of Persons per Day) So with a 700 gallon spa and changing water every 60 days this implies a bather load of only 60 = (1/3) x 700 / (# of Persons per Day) so around 4 people per day. Is that spa usage really that low? If not, then you should be changing your water more frequently anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daysinn86323 Posted May 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 My maintenance guy checked the chemistry today, as it already has started foaming again, less than 24 hours after we completely changed out the water. Total Alkalinity: 110ppm Calcium Hardness: 90ppm Cyanuric Acid: 35ppm We aren't a very busy hotel, to be honest. Weekends are usually busier, as we are usually sold out this time of year (we are a 55-room hotel), but there are days during the week that the hot tub is lucky to see one person in an entire day (it is open from 9am to 10pm). I will definitely talk to my owner about using the Ahh-Some. And I just talked to my maintenance guy and we are going to start changing the water out once a month (since it doesn't take that long at all) from here on out. How would you suggest raising the calcium hardness? I'm surprised it is as low as it is, because we have naturally hard water in our area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlleno Posted May 21, 2015 Report Share Posted May 21, 2015 just a quick observation from my own experience - Hotel spas are expecially vulnerable to foaming because guests often don't shower and their bathing suits probably have soap residue -- the problem is just tougher to deal with in a public setting. not to interrupt the fine advice from Chem Geek -- but Calcium hardness is easily raised with the addition of dry Calcium Chloride such as in the below example. http://www.intheswim.com/p/calcium-hardness-increaser FYI I have personal direct experience with Ahh-Some myself, having completed a rather comprehensive set of controlled experiments. nothing else I know of is capable of removing what this stuff can remove; I highly recommend it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrwrick Posted June 3, 2015 Report Share Posted June 3, 2015 I got sudden foaming after using the non-splash form of chlorine bleach to sanitize. I scooped out the foam, added some water, made sure I do not use the emulsified bleach again and it did not reoccur. I think the soap residue may be part of it. There is no control over the cleaning products people use. Too bad you were not able to use the Ahhsome before doing the water change. You will definitely be amazed at the crud that comes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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