| Outdoor Spa Operation
Make sure the cabinet is nice & tight, with no way for the wind to blow through it. That is usually enough to keep the spa from freezing when you have power. When you lose power, make sure you have a way to drain all the water out of your tub. If the tub has a malfunction and is not heating the water, usually a 100 watt light bulb under the cabinet will keep it from freezing and will get you by until you can get it fixed.
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Hot Tub Leaking?
You can determine if you have a leak very easily with a simple "bucket test"! Mark the water level in your tub. Now fill a bucket and mark it's water level, and put it next to your tub. If your tub loses more water than the bucket, it is leaking! www.harmonspool.com
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Hot Tub Maintenance
As a rule of thumb, you should change the water every 2 months. This is when I would change or clean the filters. If your water is cloudy, time to drain it. If it looks like you've been cooking chicken in it when you turn on the bubbler, time to drain it. Waters cheap.
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Oil and Lotion in the Hot Tub
Yes! They sell natural enzymes that actually eat the oil. Most pool stores have them. Also, there is a sponge they sell to put in the basket that absorbs the oil & you can wash it.
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Spa Hygiene
Make sure to have your test kit handy! It takes just a few seconds to check the water condition with test strips. They make many different kits for the different sanitizers. I use a potassium based shock treatment that requires no waiting time to enter the tub, so we keep it next to the tub, test & if needed we can oxidize any contaminants and get in right away!
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Black Algae
Black algae is a hard one to kill. If your pool is plaster, you can get a stainless steel brush and scrub vigorously. The algae secretes a slime to protect itself, and given enough time, can actually build a hard shell made out of the calcium in the plaster walls & floor!. Black algae sink deep roots into the plaster, damaging it over time. These roots are hard to kill even with very high concentrations of chlorine. But like I said, scrub vigorously with a s/s brush, then scrub with a chlorine tablet (*only* if your pool is plaster) , they sell attachments for this at pool stores. Keep the chlorine levels fairly high 1.5-3.0 for a few weeks, then you can back off to normal. Use a copper based algaecide and make sure to scrub those little black dots!
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Why is a swimming pool called a swimming pool?
Ancient Greeks and Romans built artificial pools for athletic training in the palaestras, for nautical games and for military exercises. Roman emperors had private swimming pools in which fish were also kept, hence one of the Latin words for a pool, piscina.
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Sanitizing a Swimming Pool
Always follow the directions on the package before using any chemical. If you are talking about liquid chlorine (12 percent solution) there are a few variables. First, is the water clear? What is the chlorine reading on your test kit? I would put in 1 gallon for every 10,000 gallons to produce a 1.5 reading if the water is clear. Sometimes if the water is getting cloudy or greenish in color, it is necessary to us 2-3 times as much. The proper reading on your test should be 1.0-3.0, with a pH of 7.4-7.6 .
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Solar Pool Covers
Yes, use a solar cover! Your uncovered pool will lose 90 percent of it's heat through evaporation. When you heat your pool, the cover will trap the heat, and even when the heater is not running the sun will heat the water. Never swim in the pool with the cover on, as this is very dangerous!
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