Simple Hot Tub Chemistry:Just Add Water
Portable Hot Tub Refill Cost: $2.96
Yeah...let that soak in for a minute. Sounds too simple doesn't it?
Even here in San Diego with "some of the higest water rates in the country" you can still drain and refill a 400 gallon hot tub with a fresh, clean batch of water for about $2.96!
Most portable hot tub owners are frustrated with complicated, expensive chemical systems with sometimes confusing or contradictory advice on how to use them.
Just because you can fix a water problem by adding more chemistry doesn't mean you should. You can replace the entire batch of water in a typical portable hot tub for less cost than a single pint or a single pound of any product designed to treat the water!
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Worried about your water bill?
A typical single-family home in San Diego uses around 83,000 gallons per year and pays $5.540 per Hundred Cubic Feet (HCF) of water. One HCF = 748 gallons.
$5.540 / 748 gallons = $0.0074 per gallon!
A typical, portable hot tub holds around 400 gallons.
400 gallons x $0.0074/gallon = $2.96 !
Even when you include sewer rates, a whole batch of water is cheaper than any pint or pound of product sold to treat the water.
Water Rate
per HCF |
Cost per Gallon
(Water) |
Cost per Gallon
(Sewer) |
Cost per
400 Gallons |
| $5.540 |
$0.0074 |
$0.004 |
$4.56 |
| $7.915 |
$0.0105 |
$0.004 |
$5.80 |
| $11.130 |
$0.0148 |
$0.004 |
$7.52 |
Click to see San Diego water rates and calculate hot tub refill cost!
You can pour more money and more products into your tub so you can soak in more chemicals or you can drain the whole complicated chemical mess out and refill with fresh, clean water for about $2.96!
Portable hot tub 'Two Buck Chuck Rule': If it costs more than $2.00 in chemistry to fix a hot tub water problem you might be better off just chucking the whole batch down the drain and starting over with a fresh batch of water.
Even your time is worth more than a whole batch of hot tub water. You can fix a hot tub water quality problem with several doses of chemistry over several days if you have time for that and don't want to soak yourself until the water is fixed.
You can also just drain and refill a typical, portable hot tub in one or two hours so the next time you soak yourself will be in a clean, fresh batch of water rather than a big bucket of expensive hot tub chemicals.
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Worried about water conservation?
Your covered, portable hot tub doesn't actually use water! Your tub stores, filters, sanitizes and recycles water so you can use the same batch over and over again for weeks or months.
Every other water-using appliance in your home dumps the whole batch of water down the drain after just one use. Showers, bathtubs, toilets, dish washers, clothes washers and every single sink drains every drop directly to the sewer after each and every use.
.jpg "A covered portable hot tub stores & recycles water")
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You get more miles-per-gallon from your portable hot tub than any other household water use
Your covered, portable. hot tub is essentially a sealed tank that stores, recycles and maintians a single batch of water keeping it clean and sanitary for weeks or months.
Your tub is the only appliance that automatically recycles and filters the same batch of water every day so it's always clean, sanitary and invinting whenever you walk out and lift the lid to soak yourself.
Simple Hot Tub Chemistry: Calculate Hot Tub Refill Cost
You can simplify hot tub chemistry, avoid spending money on unnecessary products and greatly improve your soaking satisfaction if you simply drain and refill your hot tub every three or four months.
Total Dissolved Solids (chemical byproducts)
When you drain your hot tub, the water actually weighs more than when you filled it!
Think about it: When you get to the bottom of a 2 lb container of any solid hot tub product (powder, granular, tablet, etc) you have deliberately dissolved 2 lbs of stuff in the water.
Every pint, quart or pound of everything you add to the water leaves behind chemical byproducts that eventually build up as "total dissolved solids" added to the water.
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As total dissolved solids build up, water balance and water clarity are much harder to manage. The accumulation of chemical byproducts begins to cause undesireable and unstable chemical reactions especially when you turn on the jets and disturb the water to take a soak.
The only way to eliminate Total Dissolved Solids in your hot tub is to drain it out and refill it with a fresh batch of water.
Complicated hot tub chemistry can include shock stuff, waterline stuff, oxidizer stuff, sanitizer stuff, cloudy clarifier stuff, crusty scale stuff, calcium stuff, cleaner stuff, pH stuff, scum stuff, foam stuff testing stuff. That's a lot of stuff!
Top shelf: $150.00 worth of complicated hot tub chemistry.
Bottom shelf: $40.00 worth of Simple Hot Tub Chemistry
Would you rather soak yourself in $150.00 worth of complicated hot tub chemicals or $40.00 worth of Simple Hot Tub Chemistry and $2.96 of fresh water?
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An old batch of water in your hot tub can become saturated with chemical byproducts making it difficult or impossible for you to perform simple tasks like balancing pH or keeping the water clear.
Every pint or pound of product you pour into your hot tub increases total dissolved solids and chemical byprodcuts so complicated chemistry systems with a dozen different products can quickly turn your hot tub water into a chemical brew.
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Total Dissolved Solids (people byproducts)
When you soak yourself, the hydromassage action of your hot tub jets rub off body oil and dead skin and the hot water makes you sweat up to 3 pints per hour so you leave behind organic byproducts every time you sit and soak.
When you get up in the morning, every bit of lotion, cologne, perfume, deodorant and other 'personal products' you put on your body ends up in the hot tub at night unless you take a shower before every soak.
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The longer you simmer, sweat & soak yourself in the same pot of hot water the more it resembles people-flavored-stew.
Don't waste your time pouring more and more chemistry into your tub trying to fix people flavored stew! When in doubt, drain it all out and start over with a fresh, clean batch of water!
When in doubt: Drain it out!
Simple Hot Tub Chemistry starts with the idea that a clean, fresh batch of water is usually the most effective and efficient way you can solve a complicated water quality problems in a portable hot tub.
You can run to the supply store and buy yet another bottle of something designed to fix a particular water quality problem or you can dump all the problems down the drain at the same time and start over with a fresh, clean batch of water.
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You still need to test and possibly adjust pH and sanitizer levels before each soak but you dump the whole $2.96 batch of water down the drain and start over as soon as the water becomes even a little bit 'complicated'.
Simple Hot Tub Chemistry: When in doubt, drain it out!
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