Treating A Hot Tub Like A Mini Swimming Pool Is A Grave Error

27 Apr Treating A Hot Tub Like A Mini Swimming Pool Is A Grave Error

Posted at 15:59h in General Interest by
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Several Reasons Why Your Hot Tub is NOT Just a Tiny Swimming Pool

From Swim University

Its an easy mistake to make:  A Hot Tub is just a smaller version of a swimming pool, so why not treat it exactly the same?  As this informative post from Matt Giovanisci from Swim University points out, nothing could be further from the truth.  Some of the factors that make Hot Tubs a totally different animal are the super heated temperatures, higher evaporation rate, different water balance, and concentration of bathers in a smaller space.  Reading this post will help you overcome this seemingly logical mistake and keep your friends and family safe and relaxed in your hot tub.  

Here is an excerpt from the post:

In fact a hot tub is much more than just a tiny swimming pool.  There are many differences between a pool and hot tub and these differences call for a different and more strategic plan for care.  Listed below are some of the major differences between hot tubs and pools.

  • Temperature – Most pools max temp 80° Spas/Hot tubs 92° to 104°
  • Higher evaporation rate – leads to more scale and increased calcium levels
  • Air jets and blowers cause quicker chemical reduction
  • Water balance – smaller body of water means greater effect on pH, total alkalinity, calcium hardness and TDS from added chemicals
  • Bather load ratio – 3 people in average spa/hot tub = 300 in a backyard swimming pool

Using The Right Chemicals

Many hot tub owners may fall in to the trap of using the same chemicals in the spas as they do in their pools. This can seem to make sense because they get the products in bulk for the pool and save by using fewer chemicals.  However this can also be a very costly mistake.

Tri-Chlor tablets should never be used for stand-alone hot tubs

Trichlor tablets are highly acidic and heavily concentrated for treating larger bodies of water.  The acidity of Tri-chlor tablets will rapidly destroy total alkalinity’s buffering capacity leading to a severe drop in pH.

Click here to read the entire post