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Oil residue in water


RoboRazz

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Hi all, I'm hoping to get some advice. We bought a MasterSpas clarity spa a few months ago and have consistently been struggling with this oily residue when we run the jets. It got so bad we had thick gray scum lines. We ran a jet cleaner through, drained and thoroughly cleaned the tub, refilled using a filter on the hose, soaked and rinsed the filter. We have used the tub literally twice and already when we run the jets we get this collection of oily looking bubbles forming. I've brought my water to our local store and chemistry all seems fine. 

I shock once or twice a week with rendezvous activate, we use chlorine granuals after each use, I use rendezvous natural clear enzyme twice a week.

Is this just part of having a hot tub and should I stop obsessing over it? Is there a way to prevent/fix this? I'm at a total loss as to what to do!

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4 hours ago, RDspaguy said:

 

I stopped washing our suits with detergent and only rinse with water, I don't use lotion really and don't get my hair wet. My younger son occasionally goes in with hair gel and will go under water.

Rendezvous is the brand, Activate is the shock they make. Their description is "Rendezvous Activate is a fast-dissolving, non-chlorine shock oxidizer that quickly destroys contaminants such as perspiration and cosmetics that cause odors and skin and eye irritation."

I've also asked our local pool store and they've just said shock it, use an enzyme clarifier like we are using (the Natural Clear). Even with the spa brand new from the store it only took a few days for this residue to show up. When the bubble form they look oily, once it builds up enough it's like a gray oily scum line I can only assume is skin and other organic contaminates.

We also use a "scum bug" to try to collect and remove it from the water. I've uploaded a picture of the water line we get when it gets real bad.

 

20200708_215945.jpg

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Are you familiar with Ahhsome spa purge? 

I know from many years of experience the kind of nasty that comes in new spa plumbing. There are numerous threads about it and the problems that result. If this has been happening since you got it, I would purge even if it isn't causing your problem. We all recommend Ahhsome above and beyond any other brand.

I just took before and after pics inside the pipes of an older spa in my thread "Ever wonder what biofilm looks like?" Have a look.

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5 minutes ago, RDspaguy said:

Are you familiar with Ahhsome spa purge? 

I know from many years of experience the kind of nasty that comes in new spa plumbing. There are numerous threads about it and the problems that result. If this has been happening since you got it, I would purge even if it isn't causing your problem. We all recommend Ahhsome above and beyond any other brand.

I just took before and after pics inside the pipes of an older spa in my thread "Ever wonder what biofilm looks like?" Have a look.

Thanks, I will definitely pick some of that up! We used "Oh Yuk Healthy Hot Tub Cleaner" to clean the jets when we just did a full cleaning. Poured 8oz in, I let it run for a few hours and then drained and rinsed everything out. The thing is, when getting it all back up and running we didn't use it for 2 days due to getting the pH and chlorine all where it should be and when I would run the jets it was clear as could be. After two uses it's got a bit of a build up already which is why I think it's coming from us, but I can't figure out to combat it! We do use the tub fairly often, sometimes even once a day up to 3 people using it. 

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The only other thing you mentioned is hair gel. It could be that.

I personally don't use mps (monopersulfate, non chlorine shock). You don't need it.

Chlorine granules contain cya (cyanuric acid, stabilizer) that can build up an interfere with your chlorine doing it's job. Read the thread in the chemistry section on dichlor/bleach. Get rid of everything else for now. Add the other stuff back in after you know what the cause of this is if you feel you must.

You need a good test kit. Saying that the pool store says it's all good does not help find the issue. Strips are unreliable and going to the pool store every time you need to test is going to prevent you from testing as often as you should.

Does your spa have ozone or uv?

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Thanks for your replies. I don't believe the model spa we have uses either ozone or UV. It has an ecopur charge filter. 

I'll definitely read up regarding the chlorine granuals and everything! We have test strips but I also use a test kit with the different drops to test chlorine, pH, alkalinity because I could tell the test strips the dealer told us to use were crap. 

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Are you showering before going into the spa? You should! Scum lines are common when there are residues of body oil, creams, lotion, etc. and especially when using a silver cartridge system that uses very low FC levels since it does not leave enough residual chlorine to oxidize these contaminants.  I would ditch the eco pure, get a Taylor K-2006 test kit for chlorine (worth every penny! If you think it's too expensive think about how much you paid for your spa in comparison. It's dirt cheap and the BEST way to maintain your water properly), keep the scumbug (they work), ditch the enzyme (they sorta work but are not worth the money , IMHO), ditch the MPS, use liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite AKA laundry beach 6% or 5.25%--the plain unscented, no additives or thickeners kind or liquid pool chlorine 10% or 12.5%--mor concentrated so you need less but shorter sellf life) for shocking and chlorination after you achieve a 20-30 ppm cynaruic acid level by using dichlor (read the ingredients on your granules, it should be either Sodium  Dichloroisocyanuric acid or Dichloro-s-Triazinetrione Dihydrate: 99%, Other Ingredients: 1% ( these are two different names for the same chemical. The Rendezvous brand is this product: Rendezvous Spa Specialties Sani-Spa Chlorinating Granules) and read this:

https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/23090-dichlorbleach-method-in-a-nutshell/

 

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