Original > Hot Tub Forum
Circulation Pump - are they truly a cost saver?
ebirrane:
--- Quote ---Mendo keep in mind that the flow through the chamber in a 2 speed pump system is not such "high flow" because only a portion of the flow gets diverted to the chamber.
--- End quote ---
I think he meant compared to a less powerful 24/7 pump. Or are you saying that a 24/7 dedicated circulation pump actually moves more water through a contact chamber than tubs which use the jet pump?
ebirrane:
On tubs with a 24/7 circulation pump is it guaranteed that all water being pulled from that pump is going through the contact chamber?
Empolgation stated that in at least one brand of tub only 1/8 of the water pulled from the pump on clean cycle is going through the contact chamber.
On the assumption that:
1) a spa has x gallons of water
2) a 24/7 pump moves 10X a day
3) a 24/7 pump has all of its water going through the contact chamber.
4) a jet pump on clean cycle moved 60X a day
5) 1/8 of the water on a jet pump clean cycle goes through the contact chamber
then a tub with a 24/7 pump moves 10X of water through the contact chamber
And a tub with a jet pump moves 60X / 8 of water through the contact chamber, or 7.5X.
Even though the jet pump method moves less water past, I am assuming it still moves the water at a faster speed than the 24/7 pump water. Is that correct?
Can some actual hot tub techs chime in on some other brands of tubs and how they feed the contact chamber?
Also, I think that we assume that ozone is somehow evenly distributed throughout the chamber. It that true? Is ozone injected across the whole 20'? It seems like the shorter the contact chamber the easier it is to get a more uniform distribution of ozone.
Starlight:
--- Quote ---Starlite,
I appreciate your comments. Are you saying that for example that if you are using a high flow system.( 2 speed pump) and moving more water but doing so with an adequate contact chamber say 20 ft or greater than it is effective ? or are you saying that for spa use the slower moving circ pumps does offer better ozone zanitation....or that both are truly still up for debate as to which is significantly more effective.
--- End quote ---
As I said earlier, we really don't know. But, my a.s.s.umption (software altering word unless I added periods) is that the actual amount of ozone produced is the real limiting factor. If true, it really wouldn't matter how that ozone was dissolved into the water(hi/low speed, large/small contact chamber) as long as both methods dissolved equal amounts into the water. The actual effects of the ozone (because of its short lifetime) would probably only be observed in a small "slug" of water that is in the contact tube and near where ozone is introduced into the tub. As emplogation points out, just because your pumps move more water doesn't mean that you are moving that water through the ozone system. If you *could* move that water through the contact chamber AND if it resulted in a higher percentage of gaseous ozone dissolving into the water, then there could be advantages to that type of setup. The other thing we don't know is if ozone from this generation of systems is effective as a sanitizer. If it is, then you'd want ozone 24/7 to help kill the reproducing bacteria; if it isn't, then all ozone does is burn up other organic matter and as long as your "slow & continuous" and "fast & concentrated" systems both delivered and made effective use of the same quantities of ozone, they'd be equivalent.
Your friend's point about the effectiveness of ozone suggests that the amount of ozone generated--or at least the ammount able to be dissolved into the water--is the limiting factor. If the current ozone systems can oxidize the equivalent of "4 user-hours" per day of body oils, etc., one would find the most dramatic reduction of spa sanitizer demand in a spa where the spa usage fell at or below "4 user-hours"--one person for four hours, two people for 2 hours, etc. If the whole family uses the tub, then the ozone is still taking care of its "four user-hours" of stuff, it just isn't as apparent when the demand is for a much higher "user-hours" of stuff introduced into the spa.
Starlight
Spatech_tuo:
--- Quote ---On tubs with a 24/7 circulation pump is it guaranteed that all water being pulled from that pump is going through the contact chamber?
--- End quote ---
Yes.
soon2float:
Wow, I cannot believe the controversy this topic created. It seems the only agreeable conclusion here, by so many of you who I would feel are experts on tubs, is that there does not seem to be any documentable proof as to the actual effectiveness of Ozone in hot tubs.
Logically, one would assume that Ozone has some beneficial effect in hot tubs or companies would not want to increase their cost of a tub, so studies must be available some where. Are there any chemical engineers out there who are aware of any research papers written on the subject that might help us resolve these questions here?
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