At-Home Spas Need Extra Attention With Extra Use

Your spa or hot tub is a great place to get away from the stresses COVID-19 has created in our lives. While there’s plenty to worry about, routine maintenance could slip your mind or be left off your to-do list. 

Warm spa water is definitely relaxing, but it’s also a favorite hangout for bacteria. The chemicals you use, weather, volume of water, and other factors have to be balanced by your care and use of chemicals. 

The spa test kit and how to use it.

A spa test kit is standard fare at most hardware stores, and you can surely find those online for delivery right now. They include a color chart to indicate the pH reading level of the water once tested; you take a small sample of the water from your spa, add a few drops of a pH testing solution, then you match the sample water color to the chart giving you an accurate reading.

Now that you know how to use the test kit, let’s take a quick look at what it means to have a balanced, sanitary spa and why “shocking” is a good idea.

Balance

When a spa is “balanced,” that means that the acid and alkaline elements in the water are at a particular pH level: 7.2-7.6. This range is a constant, meaning the pH should stay within these levels at all times.

Maintaining pH balance means that chlorine can effectively eradicate bacteria. Chlorine will also help reduce skin irritations and get rid of cloudy water, scale, staining, and it prevents corrosion. Plus, the pH can change in your spa after only one use. So, during the shelter in place period, you may want to check your spa daily if you use it daily.

Sanitary

If bacteria is allowed to grow in your spa, the water will quickly be unhealthy for your use. The two chemicals you want to consider to stop that from happening are either chlorine or bromine. 

Everyone recognizes that poolhouse chlorine scent from their youth. That test kit you used to test pH should also contain a solution for checking chlorine levels. If you choose to use chlorine in your home spa, you probably want to check the chlorine about every other day. 

Chlorine is dangerous, so don’t breathe it in. It can cause irritation of the respiratory system, damage the lungs, and potentially even cause death. These are things to avoid, particularly in the COVID-19 era. It also goes without saying to keep chlorine out of the reach of children.

The chlorine levels in a spa should be at about 1.0-3.0 parts per million (ppm). You want to be certain it doesn’t drop below 1.0. When the spa is heavily used, or during hotter months, you may need to check chlorine daily to know when to add chlorine.

Bromine provides an alternative form of sanitation, one that is odor-free. Anecdotally, bromine is said by some women to gentler on the skin and is less irritating on soft tissues than chlorine. Bromine is also known to kill more bacteria and algae than chlorine when the spa is set at higher temperatures. 

So, back to the test kit. If you choose bromine over chlorine, those levels need to be between 2.0 and 4.0 ppm. If it falls below 2.0, you’ll want to add more. Simply follow instructions on the product label. 

Shocking

Sure, it’s shocking when cousin Jim doesn’t wear a bathing suit to sit with guests in the spa, but that’s not what we’re talking about here.

“Shocking” is a treatment or super dose of chemicals, such as chlorine, every couple of weeks. Giving your spa the shock treatment will boost chlorine residual levels (if you use chlorine). Shock treatments will also get rid of chloramines (contaminants that your regular chemicals won’t eradicate), which can cause odors, algae growth, cloudy water, skin irritations or eye problems. 

If you leave the lid off your spa and there’s a rainstorm, you will likely want to shock it afterward. Shocking is also indicated if the spa is getting heavy use.

About that algae. If shocking doesn’t take care of the problem, you’ll want to order an algaecide. But be careful! Like chlorine, these chemicals are dangerous. Read and follow the instructions carefully, and don’t store them within reach of a child. 

If your spa is balanced and clean, there’s only one thing left to do: check the temperature of the spa water. It shouldn’t exceed 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Then enjoy your spa, following the health and safety rules that should be common sense to a responsible spa owner.

Of course, A Healthier Home LLC can perform tests on your household water to check for chemical pollutants, biologicals, and pH. We know all the water elements of your home need to support your optimum wellness.