Not having success with BBB in my hot tub

[tphaggerty]

Actually, it will go higher, but there is a thermocouple controlled cutoff. You can get it to go a bit higher by turning the motor on high about 5 minutes before you get in, but once you are in, agitating the water cools it down. There used to be a post on the web about using the adjustment for the thermocouple to "fool" the tub into heating up an extra degree or two, but I haven't been able to find it (and I'm not really sure I want to try).

Without the extra heat conserving stuff, it the tub would run for quite a while when trying to recover. What we got was a kit that had the insulating foam (for under the tub), a floating "heat blanket" (like a solar cover but stiffer AND a soft cover to go over the cover. Actually, in the US (again), if you don't have the soft cover, they won't warranty the vinyl hard cover!! The whole thing was about $300 (US), but it seems to have been a good investment.

[CanuckPool]

yea, sound like something you don't want to mess with, at least while it is still under warrenty. We are enjoying ours so far. I think its good enough to get heated up and relax, we really got ours to compliment our pool... so we dont have to keep the heater on the pool on too long. I think if we didnt have a pool we may have opted for a more permanent spa. I cant wait for the winter as it seems thats where most of the hot tub people use theirs.

The only other thing is the 6 person rating... I really think its a 4 man with plenty of room, but you could fit 6 in a pinch... not to mention if you do have 6 people in the amount of water that spills over the edge.

[DerekM]

I have the 4 passenger Canadian Softub 220. I used to run it on liquid bromine and non-chlorinated shock (monopersulfate). It worked well, but for one reason or another, we decided to convert to Chlorine, and I started with cal-hypo. After a few weeks, though, the calcium precipitated out, clogging the filter and putting white chalky stuff everywhere. I then switched to bleach, and have had nothing but clear water since. I do find that I have to add bleach frequently, but it is not difficult to splash in a cup or so everytime I use it. Our spa supplier recommends lithium hypochlorite, so that is another possibility, but is much more expensive than bleach.

Re the "winter" kit: I have never heard of it in Canada. Our Softubs are made in the Sudbury area, known for cold temperatures, so I would guess that our models come with better insulation than the American ones. Softub Canada seems to have an interesting franchise - their models are often quite different than the ones build south of the border.

[CanuckPool]

Maybe you're right about the Canadian models. I know for 2006 they had some updates... Ozonator/New Colours/Colour LED light and spa seat for the 6 man version. I was also told that there was no need to get any extra covers for the winter and it would still be under warranty. Underneath does have some sort of foam pad that is built into the unit, not sure if this is the option for the stateside models.

Derek, have you thought of going to a bromine floater, its great that on the days you dont use it you dont have to worry about it, just keep the floater filled.

[DerekM]

Re the bromine floater: our local spa company does not recommend them for the Softubs. I think the outgassing from the bromine tabs through the floater cover probably does the foam tub cover no good. Anyway, I switched to bleach because we eventually decided that we preferred the smell of chlorine to that of bromine. I suppose I could always float a chlorine puck from my pool supplies if I have to be away from home any length of time.

[CanuckPool]

Interesting about the bromine floater outgassing, I should look into that. The only thing I was told was not to have the air on while the cover was on and the pump running as that could cause premature wear on the cover.

On a sidenote, I have to empty my softtub soon, would it be ok to empty the 300 gallons into the pool??? The pool holds approx 14,500 gallons and is an SWG pool. The softtub is bromine, is there the potential for a chemical problem???

[chem geek]

On a sidenote, I have to empty my softtub soon, would it be ok to empty the 300 gallons into the pool??? The pool holds approx 14,500 gallons and is an SWG pool. The softtub is bromine, is there the potential for a chemical problem???

You should not empty your softtub water into your pool because you NEVER want to add bromine to a chlorine system. The reason is that hypobromous acid (analgous to hypochloric acid) will turn into bromide (analogous to chloride) when it disinfects or oxidizes items in your pool and the chlorine (hypochloric acid) will then convert the bromide back to hypobromous acid thus reactivating it, but the chlorine gets consumed (turns into chloride ion) when this occurs. Hypobromous acid is a less effective disinfectant and oxidizer than hypochloric acid so the net effect is that you replace some of your chlorine in your pool with a less effective sanitizer and you can never get rid of this bromine (except by drain and refill).

Essentially, once a bromine pool, always a bromine pool.

Richard

[CanuckPool]

Thanks Richard for not letting me turn my pool into disaster!

[CanuckPool]

Hey Derek, I was checking on the softtub canada website and they sell a bromine floater. Curious that the canadian softtub is ok for bromine but the US is not.

http://www.softubcanada.com/english/...essories6.html

[RavenNS]

@ Canukpool...

I wonder if the canadian soft tubs are okay with the use of bromine tablets because we don't have CYA in it?
( & considering that CYA is banned in two states, perhaps that is why the USA has a different guideline)

or rather, all the bromine products that I have ( powdered flakes & tablet form) don't contain cya ( or salt!)... maybe it's a Canadian thing ( or maybe it's just what is local here in NS)

I would find it interesting to know why the difference between the two countries ( & does Mexico follow the USA or Canadian guidelines for soft tubs?);
Is the actual structual materials of the tubs different?