Zen and the Art of Hot Tub Maintenance

I have posted about the hot tub before, but this is a bit of an update on latest experiences.

As I have said before, the hot tub will typically go some months with no problems. I have some combined chlorine and other stuff tablets in a floater (not that sort of floater). Another invaluable tool I keep by the tub is a wet/dry vacuum in case bits of leaf and so on end up in the bottom of the tub. I also now have a tap properly plumbed in to allow me to put water in from above. All very slick.

The way it used to work is after a few months it would get a bit cloudy. Clarifier helps, and obviously good to change the filter. The filters are not expensive, especially compared to the cost of power, so I am lazy and change for a new filter rather than the time consuming and messy process of trying to clean a filter.

Now comes the odd bit, since the change to heat pump and the extra insulation it has changed. It no longer gets cloudy, even after many many months. But it does degrade, it seems.

Basically it gets to a point that the chlorine levels do not stay, even with loads of fast acting chlorine tablets to shock it, it then has no chlorine showing. The floating tablets no longer seem to maintain a sensible level. The other very subtle effect is the tint of the water is more green than blue. The tablets have algicide but still, but clearly there is a change.

What really made me take action, eventually, was that it was starting to cause skin irritation!

So, with shocking operation not helping, the answer is simpler, empty and refill. This is a lot quicker now I have the heat pump. The vacuum is great for ensuring fully empty and all the pipes sucked out as well. The new plumbed in pipe/tap makes filling easy as well.

So, it seems there is a change, and I cannot see why the heat pump makes a difference, but still needs a refresh every few months.

And now it is very pleasant, and blue tinted, once again.

Hot tubbing...

I have a hot tub, it came with the house over 3 years ago.

Managing a hot tub is complicated, and expensive. The expensive part is the power. But chemicals also cost. For reference, it uses around 17kWh a day on average.

I use it, I spend typically an hour or two reading a (waterproof) e-book in the hot tub most days. It is very relaxing and I feel worth it. And then Alice (granddaughter) might like to join me on occasion too :-)

When we moved in, a hot tub was new to me, and I read up on it. You need to maintain the pH, and chlorine levels, which means chemicals (last people left some for us).

Initially it got cloudy quickly, but after some time I found "clarifier" stuff. Eventually I found some cool "tablets" that have chlorine and clarifier and you put in a "floater" to dissolve slowly over several days. This worked well.

I eventually got to the stage that for at least a month the hot tub was clear and nice. But it would gradually go off. It would change a tad from a slight blue (which is normal, unless you have heavy water which is clear!), and change to a green tinge. The pH test strip would go a colour not even on the bottle. It would become a tad cloudy and more unpleasant and I would empty and refill it. This would typically take a month or so to happen.

More recently (and this is over there years now), it has changed. I got some new "pH increaser" (as what the previous people left had run out) and new "chlorine and clarifier tablets", and a new "floater" that allow slower dissolving. I have no idea which of these has helped.

But for the last, nearly, three months (and I had to check my power logs to confirm last refill), it has been nice. Crystal clear, blue not green, not cloudy. I have not even had to change the filter (which I typically do when empty/refill as compared to power cost of doing so a new filter is cheap). The pH has been stable, and sensible, and not a stupid colour.

I do have a wet vacuum cleaner thing that allows me to extract any flotsam that, err, sinks, (leaves and shit), so does not get to filters, rather nicely.

I don't know which of these things helped, but it is way better now.

I can only conclude hot tub chemistry is basically voodoo, much like RF PCB tracking design.

P.S. Environmentalists, we make more solar than the hot tub uses on average.