Hot Tubs and Spas purging and cleaning

Vinegar, pathogens, safety, and home spa remedies

I have received some requests to comment on the use of various home remedies for hot tubs, particularly vinegar. There are so many of these remedies that I can’t comment on all of them, and frankly I haven’t tested any of them — primarily because I haven’t seen compelling evidence that they work better than […]

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Hot Tubs and Spas purging and cleaning

when “Shock level and maintain” doesn’t work

Greetings Hot Tub enthusiasts.  This post addresses a common “rescue prescription” for bad water:  The SLAM, or “Shock Level And Maintain”.  Its basically what the name implies — raising the level of chlorine in your water to a very high level, and then maintaining that level for some period of time.  It’s a procedure to […]

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Hot Tubs and Spas purging and cleaning

What does EPA registration mean?

Having demonstrated the performance of Hot Tub Serum “Total Maintenance” in previous posts, I feel you should know about EPA registration.  EPA registration is neither trivial to obtain nor inexpensive, but the manufacturer has gone through the impressive rigor. That, by itself, says a lot. It means that proving the science is more important to […]

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Hot Tubs and Spas purging and cleaning

ahh-some vs “Serum Total Cleanse” – is there a difference?

An astute reader brought to my attention that a product very similar in appearance to Ahh-Some, known as “Serum Total Cleanse” has been available for some time now.  My curiosity got the best of me, so I brought in a small jar and did a little recon:  Turns out they are the same product, only […]

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Hot Tubs and Spas purging and cleaning

Silk balance vs Hot Tub Serum

As the spa products industry is finally starting to recognize the benefits of “quaternary ammonium cations” (sometimes called “QUATs”), the concept of a regular water maintenance product is starting to become  more prominent.  This post is about two such products — both of which hold familiar places in the market. Those of you who follow […]

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Hot Tubs and Spas purging and cleaning

Ahh-some vs bioGuard and ecoOne

  This post describes my September, 2020 test of two additional products against “Ahh-some”, the current king of purge products.  For this test, I continue with my normal protocol, which is to purge with one or more “under test” products and then purge again with Ahh-some to see what the others leave behind. The contestants […]

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Hot Tubs and Spas purging and cleaning

Pushing the limits of Hot Tub Serum

In the foundational materials on this site (see the Hot Tub  home page) I highlighted that biofilms can survive chlorine concentrations of 1-3ppm — levels that some authorities still promote for regular use.  In addition to ahh-some as a purge product, Hot Tub Serum (or “Serum Total Maintenance”) gives us another tool in our toolbox […]

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Hot Tubs and Spas purging and cleaning

SeaKlear and Silk Balance vs Ahh-some

In this post, I continue my passion for testing spa purge products, and exposing myths and marketing hype, with a test of two new products, “SeaKlear” and Silk Balance “Clean Start” against ahh-some.   SeaKlear My first test in this round is the familiar product, “SeaKlear”, a  blue colored liquid who’s active ingredient is a […]

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