 | Tom Peterie
is President of STM Factory Direct Hot Tubs and Spas. Factory Direct Hot Tubs and Spas is a wholly owned subsidiary of STM Inc. which is located in Augusta KS. It was founded in 1965 and is under its current owners since 1996. Tom and his partners started Factory Direct in response to a lack of mid-priced hot tubs and spas. It is one of the few facilities in the country that allows the customer to come into the factory and custom design a spa by picking out the location of the therapy jets. You can reach Tom at (316) 775-2223 or TPeterie@stmplastics.com. |
Hot Tubs & Spas
2003-11-01 09:16:00
How do I sanitize my hot tub?
: When sanitizing the water in a spa or hot tub, you can use either chlorinated crystals or bromine tablets. How do you know which to use?
ANSWER: Both are halogens, although the use of bromine in pools and spas is much more recent than chlorine. When bromine first became an option in early 1980's, it appeared to be the best thing for spas and hot tubs. It is more stable in water than chlorine since it has a very high evaporation point as compared to chlorine. Less of it escapes from the tub as a gas. Bromine continues to sanitize the water even after it combines with organic compounds to form bromamines. When chlorine combines to form chloramines, they are a nuisance, sting your eyes and smell up your tub. Chloramines are eliminated either by draining and refilling the tub, or by shocking the water with fresh chlorine. So, bromine seemed like a great thing when it first appeared. But then the industry started to pick up on the problems with bromine. It was so stable that it was difficult to get into the water. Erosion feeders needed to be supplied with a mixture of one third chlorine and two thirds bromine so the chlorine could give the bromine a "kick". There have also been reports that bromine is not as wide spectrum a sanitizer as chlorine. That is, there are some forms of organisms, most notably certain forms of either a black fungi or algae according to anecdotal reports, that are not susceptible to bromine. Furthermore, because bromine is so stable, its odor is much more difficult to wash off the skin after bathing. And, those wonderful bromamines that maintained their ability to sanitize? It turns out that they are far more carcinogenic (cancer causing) than their chloramine cousins. With chlorine there are three basic types, liquid, sodium-trichlor and sodium dichlor. The first two should only be used in swimming pools. Liquid chlorine will throw your pH so far out of wack it will be nearly impossible to balance your water. With the trichlor, the higher temperatures of hot tubs tends to make it a little caustic to your skin. If you choose to use chlorine, sodium-dichlor is the way to go. Thus, when using halogens, granulated chlorine added manually is still the best method. This way, you have complete control over the process. Regardless of which halogen you use and the method you employ to get it into the water, testing will be required to verify that the halogen levels are not too high or inadequate.
