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Spa Purge Product Comparison


dlleno

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Hi all. as many of you know I performed an experiment a couple of years back, where I compared the performance of five different purge products. the effort took several weeks and thousands of gallons of water, and allowed me to make several important conclusions regarding the behavior of biofilms, the condition of new spas, and the need to perform regular purges.

I have written about my efforts here briefly but I have now compile the information with photos and all of my conclusions in narrative format in a couple of rather comprehensive blog posts. what I want to know is if it is acceptable to this site to post a link to my blog. I make or allow no advertizing -- the site itself is actually my hobby photography site (zenfolio), where you will see some of my photos -- the purge blog is hosted there because thats where my purge photos are located, as they are part of the blog but the site is configured NOT to allow purchasing anything.

I will provide the link to anyone who PMs me but wanted to check first before actually posting the link.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks - its very long but contains a lot of detail.. I fought the urge to appeal to those with short attention spans but I hope that the level of detail appreciated on this forum is consistent with the length of the post. Feel free to ask questions here and I will clarify whatever is needed

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  • 2 weeks later...

Congratulations! new spas are awesome.

As for the purge, I come down heavily in favor of "yes" on your question. I think there are more of us on this forum in favor of the Ahh-Some purge than not. the same is not true on other forums.

Some (including me) have operated a spa for decades without even one purge. however, I have changed my mind on that point, and now (after my new spa purchase experience) recommend that yes a purge is very wise thing to do. its not expensive; it takes only a little effort, and the benefits in terms of insuring a trouble free spa are just too attractive in my opinion to pass up. Spas are wet tested at the factory and undergo transportation and storage delays, during which contaminants such as biofilms can accumulate -- contaminants that a traditional shock treatment may not remove (and didn't, in my case). For me, my own personal experience and knowledge of biofilms, not to mention the potential for manufacturing side-effects (lubricants used in tubing mfg for example) makes the question a no-brainer, so I personally recommend the purge, yes.

just keep in mind that there are many spa owners who do not do this and are still successful and opine differently. its up to you to decide.

you will note that I came to the Ahh-some conclusion because I personally found it to be superior to the other products I tested. you can decide for yourself, of course, but I'd encourage you to read my story to at least familiarize yourself with the issues that I encountered and dealt with personally.

At the very least, if you do not choose to purge upon delivery of your new spa, you should at least shock it per normally recommended best practices. However, the decision to add a dose of Ahh-Some to that very shock procedure is a no-brainer in my opinion.

Bottom line: You can, as I did previously, choose to use the purge only as an emergency measure if you encounter water troubles, or you could (as I now recommend), purge before the first use and at regular intervals as a preventative step.

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Congratulations! new spas are awesome.

As for the purge, I come down heavily in favor of "yes" on your question. I think there are more of us on this forum in favor of the Ahh-Some purge than not. the same is not true on other forums.

Some (including me) have operated a spa for decades without even one purge. however, I have changed my mind on that point, and now (after my new spa purchase experience) recommend that yes a purge is very wise thing to do. its not expensive; it takes only a little effort, and the benefits in terms of insuring a trouble free spa are just too attractive in my opinion to pass up. Spas are wet tested at the factory and undergo transportation and storage delays, during which contaminants such as biofilms can accumulate -- contaminants that a traditional shock treatment may not remove (and didn't, in my case). For me, my own personal experience and knowledge of biofilms, not to mention the potential for manufacturing side-effects (lubricants used in tubing mfg for example) makes the question a no-brainer, so I personally recommend the purge, yes.

just keep in mind that there are many spa owners who do not do this and are still successful and opine differently. its up to you to decide.

you will note that I came to the Ahh-some conclusion because I personally found it to be superior to the other products I tested. you can decide for yourself, of course, but I'd encourage you to read my story to at least familiarize yourself with the issues that I encountered and dealt with personally.

At the very least, if you do not choose to purge upon delivery of your new spa, you should at least shock it per normally recommended best practices. However, the decision to add a dose of Ahh-Some to that very shock procedure is a no-brainer in my opinion.

Bottom line: You can, as I did previously, choose to use the purge only as an emergency measure if you encounter water troubles, or you could (as I now recommend), purge before the first use and at regular intervals as a preventative step.

Great info!

I plan on purchasing some Ahh-some now and it will be here for when my spa arrives. It doesn't appear the carry it locally (Phoenix) so I will search for the best price online!

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great! i got my Ahh-some jar from Amazon, btw; although they may have alternate marketing channels now as well. BTW I would like to draw a distinction between the 'first fill shock' and a true purge -- the traditional "initial" or first-fill shock is often some amount of chlorine that will dissipate quickly enough to use the spa shortly after it is filled, and by this definition it really isn't a shock at all its (my opinion) more like over-sanitizing. It is typically promoted by spa stores and manufacturer's with the goal of getting you into your new spa asap while still providing some amount of protection against contaminants.

I find it much more sensible on a new spa to purge with Ahh-Some along with a 10-ish ppm chlorine level, and then drain. you can still neutralize the chlorine with peroxide if you don't want to dump that much chlorine onto whatever it is you drain your spa. the beauty of this approach is that (for the purge) you don't have to balance your water (unless it is seriously out of whack) or heat it -- just fill er up cold, add a stain and scale inhibitor if you want (for insurance), dose with Chlorine and Ahh-some (follow label directions), and then drain. Another BIG bonus in my opinion is that with a new spa you can leave your filters in their normal positions during the purge. they are new, after all -- you aren't cleaning them. But by leaving them in their normal positions you guarantee they benefit from the purge as well.

keep us posted with your progress. I will say it is very satisfying to see a spa dosed with ahh-some running perfectly clean.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Excellent test and analysis dlleno. I have be using SeaKlear System Flush for years, even before it was a SeaKlear product. I have been satisfied with the product since it always produced results. I will be switching over to Ahh-Some!

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  • 2 weeks later...

SeaKlear is an interesting product -- it produced a result on my spa so its not useless by any means; I just think based on my experimental results that there's something about Ahh-Some that allows it to clean better.  what that is I don't know but I was certainly astonished to see what Ahh-Some removed and the other products left behind.

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