Watercare Guide
Welcome to our general watercare help page which has been designed to allow our customers to visit this page and get the answers to the most common water care and technical support questions 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Water Care Guide – Chlorine Granules
Water Care Guide – Smart-Dose
Holiday Let and Rental Hot Tubs
Hot tubs that are in a holiday let or rental environment fall under the Health and Safety HSG282 and Health and Safety L8 regulations. We advise the owners of all holiday let/rental hot tubs read these documents and to make things easier we have put links to both below. You can view a copy of HSG282 and find out what commercial owners legal responsibilities are by clicking here. You can view a copy of the L8 handbook by clicking here
Hot Tub Water Has Gone Green
Green water tends to be caused by an incorrect sanitiser level in your water. The first thing to do is to dip a test strip in your water and see what your Chlorine level is. We want the Chlorine to be showing between 3-5ppm on the test strip and this should be a purple colour on your test strip.
What to do if the Chlorine is zero and white on the test strip.
Firstly make sure no one uses the hot tub until we establish the correct Chlorine level. Add a heaped tablespoon of Chlorine granules to the spa water with your jets running and leave the jets running for around 20 minutes to circulate the Chlorine in the water.
After 20 minutes test your water again and the Chlorine level should be high and a deep purple colour on the test strip. In this situation this is ok as the Chlorine will be used up clearing the green water. It may take a day or two for the water to go clear again and once it has gone clear and you have established a 3-5ppm on the strip you can use the hot tub again.
**If your hot tub has Smart-Dose make sure you have tablets in the pod**
What to do if the Chlorine is zero and white on a test strip but there is a strong smell of Chlorine.
Sometimes if the Chlorine level is extremely high a bleaching affect can happen. In this case to obtain a more accurate reading, take a pint glass and fill exactly half full with water from the hot tub. Then fill the remainder of the glass with clean water from the tap and dip a test strip in to see what the reading is.
When you get a reading, double what this reading is on the test strip and that will tell you what level the Chlorine is in your hot tub water.
What to do if the Chlorine level is high and a deep purple on the test strip
If the Chlorine level is high the quickest and easiest way to reduce it is to turn your hot tub off at the socket and take some water out of the hot tub, then replace it with fresh water to dilute the high Chlorine level down.
Warning – Do not use your hot tub if your Chlorine is not between 3-5ppm
Water Has Gone Cloudy
Cloudy water is caused by either a chemical inbalance or contaminants in the water. Firstly test your water with a test strip and check your Alkalinity, pH and Chlorine are all within the ok range on the test strips.
What to do if your test strip readings are ok
If your test strip readings are ok it is going to be contaminants in the water that are causing it to go cloudy. The first thing to do is add Spa Sparkle to the water with your jets running as this will collect any contaminants in the the water and bring them to the surface which will then result in a greasy foam being produced.
Skim this foam away with a clean cloth making sure the cloth has not had any detergents on it, then rinse the cloth in a bucket of hot water. Leave the hot tub to circulate and re check in a hour. When you are satisfied that no more greasy foam is left in the hot tub we recommend you change and clean your filter.
Your water should now start to look better. If you find after repeating this process your water is still cloudy we would then suggest you drain and refill your hot tub
My Water Keeps Foaming Up
Foam in the water tends to come from swimwear that has been through a washing machine or a cloth that has had some detergent on it.
You will have Foamaway in your kit which will kill the foam for you, but use it sparingly as Foamaway is a silicone based product which will could contaminate your filter and this can cause the water to go cloudy if too much is added.
Why Is There Never Any Chlorine In My Water
Sometimes you may find that you can never get a Chlorine reading on your test strip. This can be caused by a few different factors including the pH level or what we call ‘catch up’. Firstly make sure your pH is no higher than 7.4 as a high pH makes Chlorine ineffective.
If your pH level is ok then you will probably find you need to add a mass of Chlorine. If you let the Chlorine level drop over a prolonged period anything you add will be used up quickly trying to recover the water and this is why you can’t get a Chlorine reading.
In this case you need to add a mass of Chlorine which will recover the water and leave extra Chlorine in the water so when you add Chlorine the next time you are adding to a mass still in the water rather than to nothing.
To generate a mass of Chlorine add 2 tablespoons of Chlorine granules to the water with your jets running and also leave the cover open for 30 minutes after adding the Chlorine.
Your Chlorine level will be very high after adding a mass so make sure no one uses the hot tub at this point, but you will find the Chlorine will be used up quite quickly. Once the Chlorine level is back to between 3-5ppm it is safe use the hot tub again.