Did you know spas sometimes get foamy? Not clean, fun, bubble bathy foamy but rather fly up in your face, ring around the tub, slimy green bits foamy.
The Internet is less than helpful:
Squidoo says: Extra foamy water in your hot tub could mean that it is too soft, contaminated, or has a high Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) level. To fix extra foamy water add a stain and scale preventative, pH or Alkalinity Up and sanitizers to the water in your hot tub.
At this point I was completely confused. Which one do I add? My testing strips say everything is in balance. I kept searching and found Your Spa Guy:
Check your water balance first. (Did it. No problems) A high bromine level can cause foam. If the water is in balance, the filter may be due for a cleaning. (Aha!) Your filter should catch all of the oils or detergents that can cause foamy spa water. After balancing the water and cleaning the filter, try some water clarifier. This will coagulate all of the detergents together and so they can be filtered out.
I cleaned the filter first. It is kind of fun. You take it out and hose it off like crazy with the “jet” setting on your hose attachment, watching all the dull gray stuff you did not notice was there wash away to reveal the pretty white color you are supposed to see.
As an added boost, I tossed in some clarifier, conveniently found at my Raley’s grocery store, which carries a full line of Spa-Kem products. Handy.
The Internet also said I should “shock” the water once a month (or was it once a week?) and “up” this and “down” that. It is too overwhelming and confusing. I had Pool School in the early spring and my spa girl told me to simply drain and refill the spa if things get out of whack.
I bought a $30 pool vacuum hose with which to drain it. MUCH faster than draining with a skinny garden hose. It empties out in about twenty minutes. A little scrubbing as it drains, about an hour to refill, then a mere two to three hour wait for it to heat back up.
I know I keep saying this to anyone who will listen but I had no idea I would love my spa so much. Now if I could only get the Shorty McShortersons spa light to stay on rather than come on, turn off ten minutes later, turn on again with no prompting, flicker, then finally turn off for good for the evening, my spa experience would be complete.
If it turns on and off during the night when the cover is on but there is no one around to see it, did it really happen?
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P.S. I welcome your jacuzzi maintenance tips!
