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  1. #151
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    Feb 2008
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    Quote Originally Posted by ghosthop View Post
    A friend has a setup that is a metal feeder trough with offset copper pipes that go into the top and bottom of a copper coil.

    Small enough to drain after every use so you're not soaking in a bacteria soup.
    Ha! I have a buddy that made something similar about 15 years ago, but for his pool he used a Rubbermaid trough.

  2. #152
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    Fill and spill is the only way to go.


    Make a fresh batch of soup each time......

  3. #153
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    Jan 2008
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    Quote Originally Posted by ghosthop View Post

    Small enough to drain after every use so you're not soaking in a bacteria soup.
    I bet you go around with your own toilet seat covers and wash doorknobs before you touch them.
    (BTW what kind of asshole--not talking about you--covers the seat with TP and then leaves it for the next guy to remove and flush? Seen at Alpine Meadows men's room.)
    If you properly maintain a spa it is not a bacterial soup. A public spa--who knows. I'd worry more about eating at restaurants though.

  4. #154
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
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    Tldr; old heater died, replaced 14 mo ago, dead again, installed new one, worked for <1hr and stopped, it's getting voltage

    Is the heater bad or is there something I'm missing?


    So my spa stops heating. Heater is getting power but not making heat. I replaced the heater 14 months ago so no warranty.
    I order the replacement. I install it. It gets hot like it should. An hour later I noticed the temp hasn't come up, no hot water coming out, I open the equipment compartment, and the heater is cold to the touch. Still there is 240V across the relay.

    I call up Spa Depot who sold it. The SD lady goes "well how do you know its not making any heat." I explain the above.
    SD: "Oh it is not supposed to be hot to the touch. That would be bad, a flow restriction."
    Me: "It's a 6KW heater. It's always been hot to the touch when on. Is there any other troubleshooting you want me to do here?"
    SD: "Wait a overnight. It takes time to heat a hot tub."
    Me: "It is not making hot water."
    SD: "Well the heaters are tested. They just don't arrive dead. You can drain your tub, remove it, send it back to us, and if we find it faulty, we'll send you a new one free. Or you can pay for a new one and we'll refund you later if we find it faulty."
    Me: "It wasn't DOA. It became dead after a bit. And you are asking me to front $320 or keep my spa out of service for who knows how long while you test."
    SD: "Those are your options."

    Last edited by Summit; 06-21-2019 at 05:10 PM.
    Quote Originally Posted by blurred
    skiing is hiking all day so that you can ski on shitty gear for 5 minutes.

  5. #155
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
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    Park City
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    5,013
    If there is air in the “circuit” it will kill a heater dead almost immediately. Always run the pumps etc for a while and then connect power to heater. Could that be it?


    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
    I rip the groomed on tele gear

  6. #156
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
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    the ham
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    Exactly what I was going to say.

    If the water isn't flowing, the element can boil the water in the manifold, overheat, and fail.

  7. #157
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    I suspect that is exactly what happened
    Quote Originally Posted by blurred
    skiing is hiking all day so that you can ski on shitty gear for 5 minutes.

  8. #158
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    Picking up a hot Springs Vanguard this week. Our well water has a lot of non iron minerals, should I filter it at all when filling it? What chemicals to start with?

  9. #159
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    Quote Originally Posted by neufox47 View Post
    What chemicals to start with?
    A nice sessionable IPA and a mellow edible.

  10. #160
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    Good suggestions.

  11. #161
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    Quote Originally Posted by neufox47 View Post
    Picking up a hot Springs Vanguard this week. Our well water has a lot of non iron minerals, should I filter it at all when filling it? What chemicals to start with?
    No need to filter as far as I know as long as the pH is ok. I believe you can get scale buildup from the minerals if you let the pH get too high.
    There are many ways to go. What I do is this--start by measuring the pH and adjust using pH test strips and either pH increaser or pH decreaser. You may also need to use total alkalinity increaser if the total alkalinity is low with the pH normal, but I never have to do this.

    Then use silver ion sanitizer like this one https://www.amazon.com/Spring-Freshw.../dp/B00CJ9KMUI. It goes in the filter tube, lasts 4 months.

    It needs a little bit of chlorine to activate (NOT bromine), not a full sanitizing dose. i use dichlor, 1 tsp every use for a 300 gal spa.
    https://www.amazon.com/Granular-Dich.../dp/B00B76JH2S

    I shock once weekly, with MPS. https://www.amazon.com/2-Pack-Oxy-Sp.../dp/B00AVYTYS4 I use 4 tbs in 300 gal. Before shocking test and adjust the pH.
    I don't use for 24 hours after shocking. If the MPS still tests high with the test strips the next day I will skip the dichlor after use that day and start using it the following day.

    You can activate the silver with MPS and you can shock with dichlor but the way I have described works for me. They both due essentially the same thing. I don't like the idea of putting a lot of chlorine in to shock; the MPS seems more benign on the skin, but the dichlor for the daily use is cheaper. I shock the spa if I'm not going to use it for a long time.

    Clean the filter every month--so get some filter cleaner.

    If the spa water gets cloudy you can use clarifier--the directions say to treat weekly but I only use when it gets cloudy.

    If you use the jets with air you may need an anti foamer but I have never used it.

    Change the water every 4 months, more often if you can't keep it clear.

    So to start with pH increaser and decreaser, silver ion dispenser, dichlor, MPS, filter cleaner, test strips.

    Our Hot Spot came with good maintenance instructions.

    As far as other chemicals, I strongly recommend against bottle beer. as stepping on an upside down bottle cap in the bottom of the spa is very painful.

  12. #162
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    Jan 2017
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    on the banks of Fish Creek
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    That's like heating your house with a woodstove. it provides heat all right but it is very hard to control to a certain temperature.

    If you really want to be sure that your pool/spa is chemically balanced, you need to get a controller. Strantrol is the cadillac, but there are plenty of cheap versions out there that work just as well.





    Remember, you are dealing with a very small volume of water at a relatively high temperature. The chemical reactions will happen rather quickly and what could be an adequate sanitizer level when you first get in can be rapidly depleted by a high bather load. 6 people in a hot tub is a similar load to 200 people in a regular high school sized pool. Without a controller, it will be impossible to keep the water balanced.


    Cloudy water is an indicator that your water is out of balance, or that your filter is pugged. A simple backwash will clean your filter. No extra chemicals needed. Then check your calcium hardness. The calcium is what helps the burned out organics combine together into big enough clumps to be filtered out. This is why you often see cloudy pools after swim practice. Lots of sweat in the water with out enough calcium in the water to give the filter a chance to do its job.




    it is a lot more expensive to do this shit properly than most people are willing to pay. If you're not on metered water, your best option for safety is to fill and spill every time. Depending on how screwy your make-up water is, balancing such a small volume of water after filling is usually very easy.


    a balanced body of water with a properly sized controller and pump setup should never need to be shocked. it will be safe to use every time you get in no matter the load.



    and don't get your chemical advice from the pool store. they are salesmen, not chemists. pH up? your chlorine will do that naturally. pH down? also known as muriatic acid. you can get it cheap at agway. calcium flake can be bought much cheaper there also.

  13. #163
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    Nov 2003
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    It’s not that hard to maintain balanced water. Strips aren’t accurate enough, you need a good test kit like the Taylor K-2006.

    Get this:

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004B..._t2_B001DNXK78

    Read this:
    https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/i...er-maintaince/

    Thank me later.

  14. #164
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    a good test kit is a good start.....

  15. #165
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    Jan 2008
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    You guys make it way too expensive and complicated. My routine takes at most 30 seconds every time I use the spa, which is daily. Cleaning the filter takes about 15 minutes. (A Hot Springs portable spa is not designed to backwash the filter) The water stays clear--we have low calcium so once in a while I use clarifier, which does the same thing the calcium does--coagulates small particles into bigger ones the filter traps. Neufox has a lot of minerals so maybe won't need to do this. If I was running a built in spa at a resort I might consider a controller but hardly necessary for a small home portable spa, which is not really designed to use one as best as I can tell.. As far as test kits go I've used them but I find the strips a lot easier to read for pH.

    I could make it simpler by using only MPS or only dichlor but I'm not going to give advice about a method I'm not using. The way I do it the water stays clear and is stable with minimal effort and no one seems to be getting sick.

    Drain and refill after every use? I must be misunderstanding because that makes no sense to me.

  16. #166
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    on the banks of Fish Creek
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    Quote Originally Posted by old goat View Post
    Drain and refill after every use? I must be misunderstanding because that makes no sense to me.
    It is an extreme measure at one end of the spectrum. If you drain your water and allow everything to air dry for a sufficient amount of time then you will not have to worry about bacterial buildup and other organics in your pool. It would be a good alternative to somebody that was very rarely using their hot tub. In other words if you had it at a vacation house that you only used very occasionally.


    It is obviously impractical for somebody that uses it every day the way that you do. There would not be enough time for the system to sufficiently dry out to kill the organics that you were trying to kill.


    My experience in this realm comes from trying bringing public pools and spas up to the New York State health code standards. I made a lot of money doing this when the The new standards were first introduced.

    Most people aren’t willing to bear the expense it it takes to uphold those standards. That’s fine with me. The public standards are definitely higher than what is needed for the average person will use. Just be careful about who you let into your pool and be vigilant about your testing and you’ll probably be fine.

    However, if you are of the income level that a lot of the dentist around here are at, you probably don’t want to spend your time fucking around with test strips. Then in that case a very suitable alternative is available to you in the form of automated chemical controller’s that will take all the shit right off your mind and allow you to jump in that little fucking puddle of water whenever the hell you feel like it without having to worry about the possible disgusting health ramifications.




    Surgeons, they clearly do not make enough money. Perhaps you should try taking up dental surgery. Perhaps that will help to improve your income bracket.

  17. #167
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    Jan 2008
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    truckee
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    I get it why public health standards for public pools or spas are so tight, especially in a place like NY. You have all those immigrants using them.

    I'm not sure how you would hook up a controller to a portable spa like a hot spot, and if you tap into the plumbing you would definitely void the warranty. I don't know about controllers--seems like they're intended for built in spas?

    As far as the accuracy of test strips--they seem to be accurate enough for things like urine pH and blood sugar.

    As far as surgeons--retired or otherwise--not making enough money, it's not a question of not making enough, it's a question of spending too much. We tend to be away from our families a lot so we buy them off with too-big houses and lots of fancy furnishings and toys. Like spas. Plus once you're on your third or fourth wife paying for the exes and their kids gets pricey. Also the Ferrari to make us feel young again. There's all the money you lost investing with your wife's brother's kid. Then there's rehab . . .

    You obviously know a lot more about the subject than I do--I'm just relaying my method with a very similar spa that seems to work. It comes straight from the manufacturer's instructions.

  18. #168
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    Sep 2011
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    I'll thrown in my 2 cents. I'd say pH strips are consistent, not necessarily accurate. I've got the test kit shredhead linked but I don't use it every time. Seems every test strip kit I get reads slightly different. I use the taylor kit the first couple of strips until I know if they read high or low. Unfortunately tub test strips don't seem to be manufactured at the same quality as medical strips.

    Sent from my SM-G950U using TGR Forums mobile app

  19. #169
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    Nov 2002
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    Behind the Zion Curtain
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    I replaced my inflatable hot tub with a rotomolded plug and play Aquarest back in October. Filled it up and been pretty much just winging it adding about the same amount of bromine and shock that I’d been doing with the inflatable.

    Found out that Folliculitis shit is real. I have a nice rash on my legs and back and the wife the same. Threw in a test strip tonight and found alkalinity and PH colors not even on the scale, free bromine deep purple.

    Got it draining right now, headed to the pool supply store tomorrow and picking up a new filter. I think I’ll be dipping test strips regularly now till I figure it out.

  20. #170
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    Nov 2003
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    Hot tubs. A discussion.

    https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/i...er-maintaince/

    This is the easiest and cheapest method of water maintenance.

    Get a Taylor K-2006 test kit. Strips are OK once you get your water balanced, but just aren’t accurate enough.

  21. #171
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    Apr 2004
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    cordova,AK
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    3,686
    anybody have experience with this product.
    http://www.freshrain.com/faq.php
    no chemicals
    off your knees Louie

  22. #172
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    Quote Originally Posted by BFD View Post
    anybody have experience with this product.
    http://www.freshrain.com/faq.php
    no chemicals
    No experience
    Ionized oxygen is a chemical.
    Whether you dump hydrogen peroxide into the spa or it's created from the ionized oxygen you put in your spa the end result is the same.
    No idea if it's better or worse than any other spa chemical, but their advertising is misleading.

  23. #173
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
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    1,064
    Bumping this thread now that I'm in the market. How do people feel about this guy's brand reviews? https://hottubuniversity.com/brand-reviews/

  24. #174
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
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    12,609
    Quote Originally Posted by cravenmorhead View Post
    Bumping this thread now that I'm in the market. How do people feel about this guy's brand reviews? https://hottubuniversity.com/brand-reviews/
    Not to dissuade you, but at least for some brands, orders are like 8-12 months out right now. After talking to a few people in the business, you are basically ordering a hot tub for next winter at this point unless you can find a floor model, or cheapy from Costco or something. Or used but that always seems sketch.

  25. #175
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
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    1,026
    I was in our Hot Springs dealer yesterday for some supplies. It’s amazing how empty their showroom is. The Watkins plant was shut down for 6 months. They’ve resumed production but now freight is the bottleneck.

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