Original > Hot Tub Forum
Another Newbie, Another question. Something a bit different - water changes?
bud16415:
When I installed my, tub built my deck etc. I added an outdoor faucet the type that goes thru the wall and drains down as to not freeze. As it happened the location was behind the kitchen fridge and I made my connection with PEX tubing under the sink. I mounted a mixing valve setup under the sink so the water to the deck can be adjusted between pure hot to pure cold. I then made a short hose that would be easy to drain to just reach around the deck about 12’ long and gave it a fire hose nozzle that makes a powerful concentrated spray.
What clogs up the filter is a greasy, waxy stuff as it is oils and soaps and dead skin and such that get dissolved in the hot water. Blasting a filter with cold water is like cleaning a bacon frying pan with cold water it just makes more sludge. What cleans a filter best is even hotter water.
I go in the house reach under the sink flip the valve to pure hot and spray the filter pleats for about 10 minutes. You can just watch the color of the filter return to white as the dirt washes away. The dealer when we bought our tub said at least once a year replace the filter ours is going on 4 years old and looks new.
As a side benefit of having hot water on the deck is ice removal from the steps and walk way and also the cover. I blast the ice a little and it comes loose from the deck and I can shovel it off easy. It is very hard on a cover to be folded open with chunks of frozen stuff on it. When we have friends over I hit the deck and stairs with hot water right before we go out and they like the fact they are not walking bare foot thru snow.
When the tub needs topped off hot water also works great as it doesn’t cool the water.
Michael Russell:
The conduit for me is the conduit in the tub itself. I was planning all along of running Tek cable (heavy armoured/rubberized cable) directly to the tub. The corner of the tub I went in though the conduit in the tub does not line up with the hole in the tub. It could probably be adjusted but I had the installer put the cover lifter on which block the panel I would need to remove to adjust it. In the end I just ran the tek along the outside of the tub. Its hidden and out of sight so its ok.
As my well water needs some PH Decreaser and Calcium increaser. I have most of the majors covered off already. More bottles of chems then I know what they all are :) Still only a couple days in so trying to find that happy place. Using the tub twice a day is not helping I am sure! Really my well water is quite good. The biggest issue I have is that it has Iron Bacteria in it. Out of the well though I am getting a PH of 7.9, Hardness of 106ppm and alkalinity of 181. So really we are not to far off of balanced. To deal with the iron bacteria the dealer suggested some descaller which I used. Ring went away..
Performance wise.. Love the tub. The master seemed to have slightly better pressure out of the seats which still seems to hold true. That said the Hot zone jets in the Marquis kicks A$$. The two big jets in the Epic are super strong. I love them!
All said super happy. The conduit thing is minor inconvenience. Fit and finish on the tub is great. I don't like the small plastic caps they use over the screws. They break off super easy. Not the end of the world though as you don't see them from the deck.
--- Quote from: swilly1000 on November 04, 2018, 09:47:18 am ---I read some stories and watched a lot of videos about the conduit not lining up with the right spot on the underside of the tub and overkilled my planning on that as a result. When the conduit was being trenched in I noticed the electrician was off by six inches and had him move it. That was stressful because I didn't want to take the effort to run it underneath only to find out we missed the mark. It worked fine but I did stress that one.
I've been using test strips and they are fine. I had some cloudy water and a ring around the tub one time (from an overly scented soap I used for a day when I ran out of Ivory) but I fixed it with some choriaid. I went to a local chemical supply place (not the dealer) when my alkalinity and ph were low, got some alkalinity increaser and quickly got the water back in balance. They ran a water test and gave me the detailed report on the water which greatly supplements and confirms the test strips. By all means go to the guys in town rather than a long drive to the dealer.
I'm using Spa Marvel and bought a one year supply from HTU in appreciation of the great info I got there. Only a month in so far so time will tell on that but so far so good.
This week I ordered a second set of filters to rotate in when I do the overnight clean so I don't have to shut down the tub. I'm told that it's a good idea to let them dry out fully after the deep clean which should prolong their lives.
I used the x10 filter when filling the tub. Can you use a sequestering agent to make up for not using the filter?
Most of all......HOW DO YOU LIKE THE PERFORMANCE??????
--- End quote ---
Michael Russell:
My issue is the water through my filtration system is not ideal for the tub. My softner removes all hardness down to 0. It also throws the alkalinity and PH off a little bit....
My hose is actually right beside the tub. I changed it to bypass the filtration system as we use it for the gardens. It would not be much to put a bypass switch in to have either though or mix in some hot.. Something to think about. Thanks for the suggestion.
Filters I plan on washing inside in my laundry sink. Its only a few steps inside the house from the tub and I have hot water there. I plan on swapping filters out for washing. Will see how that goes for now.
Still lots to learn and find that happy place in dealing with the chemicals.
thanks all
Mike
--- Quote from: bud16415 on November 04, 2018, 10:57:57 am ---When I installed my, tub built my deck etc. I added an outdoor faucet the type that goes thru the wall and drains down as to not freeze. As it happened the location was behind the kitchen fridge and I made my connection with PEX tubing under the sink. I mounted a mixing valve setup under the sink so the water to the deck can be adjusted between pure hot to pure cold. I then made a short hose that would be easy to drain to just reach around the deck about 12’ long and gave it a fire hose nozzle that makes a powerful concentrated spray.
What clogs up the filter is a greasy, waxy stuff as it is oils and soaps and dead skin and such that get dissolved in the hot water. Blasting a filter with cold water is like cleaning a bacon frying pan with cold water it just makes more sludge. What cleans a filter best is even hotter water.
I go in the house reach under the sink flip the valve to pure hot and spray the filter pleats for about 10 minutes. You can just watch the color of the filter return to white as the dirt washes away. The dealer when we bought our tub said at least once a year replace the filter ours is going on 4 years old and looks new.
As a side benefit of having hot water on the deck is ice removal from the steps and walk way and also the cover. I blast the ice a little and it comes loose from the deck and I can shovel it off easy. It is very hard on a cover to be folded open with chunks of frozen stuff on it. When we have friends over I hit the deck and stairs with hot water right before we go out and they like the fact they are not walking bare foot thru snow.
When the tub needs topped off hot water also works great as it doesn’t cool the water.
--- End quote ---
bud16415:
I haven’t tried it but one hot tub dealer in our area suggested using the dishwasher also. He warned to use a setting that didn’t have heated drying.
Michael Russell:
Hey Bud..
You mentioned the dishwasher and it reminded me of an article I skimmed over back when I was looking at tubs..
https://www.hottubworks.com/blog/clean-spa-filters-in-the-dishwasher/
In short the author felt it did not clean the filter adequately.
There are some other suggestions to look at...
Mike
--- Quote from: bud16415 on November 04, 2018, 04:31:21 pm ---I haven’t tried it but one hot tub dealer in our area suggested using the dishwasher also. He warned to use a setting that didn’t have heated drying.
--- End quote ---
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