Importance Of Hot Tub Maintenance
Even if you keep your tub well covered, it is going to get some dirt and debris in it from the surrounding environment. On its own this isnt usually that big of a deal and may not even be very noticeable due to the use of a filter- but once you begin using the tub as you should, you are going to see a big difference.
Every time you set foot in the tub every bit of dirt, dead skin, body oil, and perspiration is getting washed off in the water. If you use a lotion, the residue will be left behind if you use hair products, they now have been added to the water and whatever you feet came in contact with before stepping in the water is also in the tub with you- or is it?
This is a common cause for dirty water and sounds gross, but in reality isnt as bad as it seems because the chemicals you use are actively attacking any bacterias and other yuckies you may have just introduced. They break these down quickly and allow anything left behind to efficiently filter to keep you soaking in clean water- rather than the disgusting human soup I just described.
Chlorine For A Hot Tub
Chlorine is chlorine, right? Wrong! There are five types of chlorine sodium hypochlorite, lithium hypochlorite, calcium hypochlorite, dichlor, and trichlor. Each type of chlorine has a different chemical make-up and intended use.
According to The Chlorine Institute, chlorine is an essential chemical building block, leading to a myriad of materials that are used to make the products we use every day for health, safety, nutrition, security, transportation, lifestyle and high-tech innovation.
For example, sodium hypochlorite is made by combining chlorine and sodium hydroxide. It is a great disinfectant and antimicrobial product. Most people would know it as bleach.
Dichlor and trichlor are stabilized with cyanuric acid, which acts as a sun protectant for the chlorine. The addition of cyanuric acid makes these types of chlorine ideal for use in outdoor pools and hot tubs.
But just because dichlor and trichlor have similar properties and can be used in similar ways, they cannot be used interchangeably.
What Is A Hot Tub Sanitizer
Hot tub sanitizer is a chemical that kills bacteria and purifies the water. As a general rule, it will be bromine or chlorine-based, but alternative sanitizers do exist.
Hot tub sanitizer is the most vital component needed in keeping a hot tub healthy.
As a hot tub gets used, it is gradually filled with contaminants and microorganisms that are gross and can lead to diseases.
This is definitely not the kind of water youd like to soak in, right?
So, theres a need to sanitize the water often to rid it of these harmful elements. Sanitizers keep your water clean, clear, and safe.
To do this effectively, there are two major sanitizers that hot tub owners use. They are chlorine and bromine.
Lets check each one out.
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What Is The Difference Between Chlorine Shock And Non
Chlorine shock dissolves quickly and has a neutral pH. It is also effective for restoring chlorine or bromine sanitizer levels. Non-chlorine shock has a lower pH. It is effective, but not as much as chlorine shock, and it can also leave the water cloudier.
Both are oxidizers aimed at breaking down bacteria, organic matter, and other contaminants. However, chlorine shock is more effective. But, it leaves a strong odor, and you have to wait for 24 hours.
Non-chlorine shock cannot kill off algae and bacteria.
So, it is not as effective as chlorine. The upside is that you can use the hot tub twenty minutes afterward. It is also a safer alternative because, unlike chlorine shock, it leaves no odor.
But it is pricier than chlorine shock and, when used in large quantities, can raise the hot tubs total alkalinity.
It has a low pH and also dissolves quickly. And unlike chlorine, it works well under the sun and under extreme heat. Chlorine, on the other hand, is more sensitive to the sun and extreme heat.
So, must you use a non-chlorine-based shock if you use bromine? Check out a recent article I published.
I get into whether its okay to use a chlorine-based shock if youre currently using bromine as a sanitizer and the differences between shocks and sanitizers. But I also shared the difference between chlorine and non-chlorine-based shocks.
Just click the link to read it on my site.
It Removes Chloramines Or Bromamines
You know that chlorine smell you associate with public pools and hotel hot tubs? Its not the chlorine that smells its the chloramines.
As chlorine is used up killing bacteria and removing organic contaminants, it produces waste products. Those are chloramines, theyre what you smell. Theyre also what youre breathing in until you get the sanitizer level back where it needs to be.
Hot tub shock brings that level up quickly, and eradicates chloramines from the water, getting rid of the smell, and allowing you to breathe easier.
If you use bromine as your sanitizer, it also produces waste products called bromamines. Theyre not as noxious as chloramines, and you may not even notice them. But theyre still not something you want to breathe in. Keep the bromine level steady, and shock regularly.
So you see why shocking your hot tub is an essential part of caring for it. But not all shocks are created equal. Some types eradicate all contaminants, while others only work on a few.
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What Does Adding Shock To A Hot Tub Do
Adding shock to hot tub water ensures that it breaks down organic waste contaminants, which cause odor, and cloudy or foamy water. It also reactivates sanitizers making them do their job better. In a nutshell, shock makes your hot tub clean and sanitary.
But arent sanitizers enough?
No, they arent because over time, sanitizers become less effective as they destroy contaminants. In fact, they bond with them to form chloramines and bromamines, which could deceive test strips into giving false readings.
So, tests could indicate there is still some sanitizer when in fact, it could be very low or non-existent! Imagine the danger to the users if the hot tub is not being shocked consistently.
Both sanitizing and shocking are needed. Sanitizing removes bacteria and viruses, while shocking removes organic matter and reactivates the sanitizer, making the latter more effective.
When your hot tub is shocked, it converts the chloramines back to chlorine if you use chlorine, and it converts bromamines back to bromine if you use bromine.
But note that if you use non-chlorine-based shock and bromine, the shock does activate bromide ions, but they have no cleansing power.
Having owned 4 different hot tubs over time, I know a thing or two about shock, in fact, about all the chemicals you need to keep your hot tub in the best shape.
Here are my top recommendations.
How Soon Can You Go In Hot Tub After Adding Chemicals
Chemicals in your hot tub water can be a delicate balance. So it’s crucial to maintain the levels of pH, Alkalinity, and Chlorine or Bromine, also known as sanitizers. You should wait 12 hours before entering the hot tub when you’ve added either chlorine or bromine to allow it to take effect properly.
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What Type Of Shock Should I Use For My Spa
Below will walk you through the types of chemical products to use and the various methods that all achieve the same outcome of clean, crystal-clear, hot tub water.
There are two main types of shock recommended for hot tubs: Chlorine and Non-Chlorine shock. The type you pick to shock your hot tub will depend on which type of sanitizer you use to regularly clean your home spa. If you use chlorine, a chlorine shock is recommended.
Chlorine Shock: Hot tubs that are used quite often and with a high number of people in it on a regular basis should be treated with regular chlorine spa shock to sanitize the water. You could also use non-chlorine shock in between periodical chlorine shocks to keep the organic buildup at bay.
Be sure to never mix any chemicals dry and to always test the water getting in after a shock treatment. It is important to keep the cover off of your hot tub for 20 minutes after a chemical shock so that chemical damage does not occur to the spas pillows or covering. Hot tub users should wait 24 hours after a chlorine shock before entering the water.
The Amount Of Use Your Hot Tub Gets
If you use your hot tub daily, youll probably have different chemical needs than someone who uses it once a month. For example, you may have to shock your tub more often, so youll need to keep pool shock on hand. Or you might have to buy a foam reducer since body and hair products tend to cause extra suds.
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Why Is My Ph Always High In My Hot Tub
Hot tubs in particular generate a lot of bubbles and tend to have higher temperatures. This combination creates a gas called carbon dioxide very quickly. Carbon dioxide builds up and makes the pH go up. This is why hot tub owners, on a regular basis, need to add something to lower their pH and alkalinity.
Shocked By How Easy That Was
Now you know how to shock a spa! Which also means now you have no excuse to skip it. But trust us, even if maintaining your hot tub is a royal pain sometimes, youll be glad you did when you can soak in clean, sanitary water with no worries about nasty stuff like algae or bacteria.
Remember, always read the manufacturers instructions before you begin. Preventing a chemical mishap is much better than possibly have to drain your hot tub and start over.
Happy Soaking!
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What Type Of Shock Should You Use
There are a few different types of shock available for use. Lets take a close look at which ones you can use for your tub.
Important: You can use chlorine shock in either chlorine or bromine hot tubs, just dont mix chlorine shock and bromine at the same time. Add the shock, wait for the chlorine level to go down, and then add in your bromine sanitizer.
Lightens The Load On Free Chlorine
Remember, chlorine is a 2-in-1 sanitizer and oxidizer. Non-chlorine shock is only an oxidizer, and only destroys oils and organic matter in the water.
It allows for the free chlorine to be more efficient at disinfecting the pool. The non-chlorine shock will take care of oxidizing the water, essentially taking half of chlorines job off its plate.
The free chlorine now has a lighter load and can focus solely on only sanitizing the water. It will also stay effective longer as its no longer doing both the sanitizing and oxidizing of the pool water pollutants.
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Frog @ease Floating Sanitizing System
- Chemical Type: Chlorine and Mineral
- Amount: Each refill lasts 3-4 weeks
- Application: Floating, self-regulating application
This floating sanitizing system is designed to work in tubs up to 600 gallons. Self-regulating, it kills bacteria 2 ways with minerals and a Smartchlor chlorine application. Cartridges are prefilled for a no-mess option that leaves out the stress of measuring. Each pack comes with one floating Frog and 3 cartridge refills, as well as a start shock treatment and testing strips.
Pros
- Easy to measure
Cons
- Too much use can create skin sensitivities and dissolve certain bathing suit materials
Pro Tip
Can be used with both chlorine and bromine systems, and is a gert alternative to chlorine due to skin sensitivities.
How To Shock Your Hot Tub Or Spa
- |April 13, 2021
With a high bather load in a small body of water, hot tubs are subjected to high levels of pollutants every time theyre used.
While their water chemistry contains a sanitizer such as chlorine or bromine, if the level of contaminants in the water exceed the level of sanitizer, youll be bathing in filth.
Shocking a hot tub refers to dosing the tub with a massive concentration of sanitizer, in order to kill off any viruses, bacteria, and pathogens that the day-to-day sanitizer can no longer eradicate.
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Stress Less Relax More
Hot tub maintenance does not have to be stressful or time consuming. With a Master Spas hot tub, you can enjoy the benefits of hydrotherapy. Learn more about the EcoPur filtration system, which works with chlorine and an oxidizer. Or, contact your local Master Spas retailer to learn more about spa ownership. Wondering how much a hot tub costs? You can request a quote here.
Can You Over Shock A Hot Tub
Far too many people assume that they have high chlorine levels without taking a look to see if that is true. They think that they can notice specific things such as skin irritation, a certain smell, or even eye discomfort.
The fact of the matter is that most of those sensations have nothing to do with the chlorine levels. There are other things such as the pH, copper levels, and chloramines that are causing those changes within the water.
To know whether or not you have over shocked your hot tub with too much chlorine, you will have to test the water. There are chlorine test strips specifically made to test out the water.
The Center for Disease Control recommends that a hot tubs chlorine levels should be somewhere between 1 and 3 ppm for optimal use.
When you are done testing the water out, you may need to either add or reduce the amount of chlorine within your hot tub.
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How Long Do I Need To Wait After Shocking My Hot Tub
There is no set time to wait before using your hot tub. All brands give different recommendations, ranging from 20 minutes to 24 hours. However, before donning your swimsuit and stepping inside, we suggest using a test strip to ensure your chlorine levels are safe.
Top tip: Non-chlorine shock treatments don’t sanitise the water. This means you can usually use your hot tub after approximately 20 minutes of adding the chemical.
Should I Shock My Hot Tub
All hot tub owners need to shock their hot tub once a week. Additional shock can also be added after extra heavy use. Shock both revitalizes the sanitizer in the water, but it also removes chloramines or bromamines which can render the sanitizer inert.
So the important thing is to shock your hot tub to keep it clean.
Why should you shock your hot tub? A few of the most important reasons are listed below:
- It helps keep your hot tub water clean.
- It prevents the water from getting cloudy and murky looking.
- It removes any organic materials in the water.
- It gets rid of any non-bacteria in the water.
- It gets rid of the chloramines and bromamines from sanitizing your hot tub.
It is important to shock your hot tub consistently and to also keep it nice and sanitized.
Without this, the water can get gross and murky looking, and no one will want to use the hot tub. It may also damage the hot tub itself if left sitting long term. You need to make sure your hot tub is clean for use whenever you are done with it for the day.
Unsure of the difference between sanitizing and oxidizing?
Both a good sanitizer and a good oxidizer are crucial for the water quality of your hot tub. But they are are also essential for the safety of everyone soaking in the hot tub.
If you want to know the difference between using oxidizers and sanitizers check out this recent article. I get into all the differences and whether or not its OK to use a chlorine oxidizer and a bromine sanitizer.
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Leisure Time Chlorinating Granules
- Specifically formulated for spa and hot tubs
Leisure Time Chlorinating Granules is another chlorine product perfect for hot tubs. This formulation is about as pure as you can get, so you can use it with any of your other preferred chemicals.
Chlorine for hot tubs basically comes in two types of materials liquid or granular. Liquid chlorine has a tendency to spill and splash, but granular is much easier to control.
What Is A Hot Tub Shock Treatment
In essence, shocking your hot tub means adding a higher than usual dose of oxidiser chemicals to the water. This is also known as oxidising.
We advise everyone to shock their water once a week to reduce bacteria and impurities. You can do this with one of two products chlorine shock or non-chlorine shock.
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Chlorine Shock Treatment Alternatives
Potassium Monopersulfate from Dupont
The use of Potassium Monopersulfate, a non-chlorine shock treatment, has significantly increased in both use and popularity among hot tub and spa owners over the last 10 years.
The benefits of using a non-chlorine shock like Monopersulfate instead of a chlorine or bromine shock include reduced odor, less irritation to your eyes and skin and it requires only a short waiting period before soakers and bathers can re-enter the water.
MPS was developed by DuPont and acts as a highly effective oxidizing agent when used in hot tubs and spas. When used at full strength, many hot tub and spa owners refer to MPS as the Non-Chlorine or Non-Bromine Shock Treatment Alternative because of its effectiveness to destroy and remove contaminants and bacteria.
Chlorine Shock
Chlorine is the most widely used water shocking sanitizer for hot tub, spa and pool owners because of its ability to quickly and effectively sanitize pathogenic disease-causing bacteria and viruses.
Surprisingly, only 10 per cent of the chlorine added to spa water goes on to kill living organisms. The other 90 per cent of the chlorine oxidizes waste products in the water, such as sweat, skin particles, and sun screen introduced into the water by bathers. Chlorine also has to oxidize dust, bugs or grass, which always seem to find their way into the water all by themselves.
Non-Chlorine Shock
Using Monopersulfate With Chlorine
Using Monopersulfate With Bromine
