Taking care of Spa water

Sanitizing your hot tub has become an easy task because of the many types of products available on the market. 

Like a swimming pool, you will want to check your water once a week.  Typically, you will check the alkalinity, then the pH.  Depending upon the type of sanitizing regimen you use, you will want to check bromine or chlorine levels too.  Make sure you buy the appropriate test strips for your spa’s chemistry.  And make sure your hands are clean and dry before you touch the test strips so dirty fingers don’t skew the test results.

Chlorine.  Many people who have swimming pools figure that they’ll use the same chlorine in their hot tub so they don’t have to buy two sets of chemicals.  That’s not a great idea.  Swimming pools don’t operate at 104 degrees, and chlorine isn’t designed for hot water systems.  Chlorine drys out and irritates skin, makes hair brittle and itchy, destroys the elastic in your bathing suit waistband,  and prematurely causes fading of your spa cover and clothing.   When you remove the cover of your spa and get that horrible bleach smell, your hot tub’s telling you you’re using too much chlorine. Chlorine is okay as an occasional “shock” treatment to get rid of cloudiness, but you only want to use half a cap-full of the granules at a time.

Bromine is the most commonly used chemical for spa sanitizing.  It comes in tablets and can be put in a floating dispenser that will allow the tablet to dissolve over time.  Like Chlorine, some people complain of skin irritation from Bromine, some complain about the chemical smell, and Bromine also bleaches your spa top as well as your swim suits.   While bromine had it’s day, there are better forms of spa sanitizer that cost almost the same and give fewer side effects.

Mineral sanitizers use Copper or Silver ions to kill bacteria and algae.  Most people use put the mineral cartridge in their filter housing where it will contact the water when it’s being circulated through the hot tub.  The sanitizer works by releasing positively charged ions into the water which kill bacteria.  There are no caustic chemicals, no chemical smell and no damage to your hot tub cover.  Nature 2 Spa and Filter Frog are the two most common mineral sanitizers found in the marketplace

Ozonators use ultraviolet light to create ozone which kills bacteria.   There is no chemical smell or irritation, however too much ozone can damage the underside of your spa cover.  Spa owners typically use a mineral sanitizer or Bromine to augment the ozonator.  Because it’s non-chemical, the ozonator is the most “natural” of the sanitizing methods.  One downside is that an ozonator typically has a short lifespan.  While your spa should easily last for ten years with even the most modest maintenance, ozonators typically wear out after two or three years.