by: John Gall
Scale floating in your hot tub can be a frustrating problem to solve. Scale builds in the pipes and then slowly breaks apart and comes out your jets. Symptoms are typically small and large chunks of square beige colored particles floating in your hot tub. Hot tub filters catch some of the scale but because much of it is large it doesn't make it in the filters. The larger scale pieces sink back into the jets only to return when you next run the hot tub jets. Scale buildup is usually due to periods of high PH levels in your hot tub. Scale can also appear if you miss the once per week application of a scale defense spa chemical. Draining your hot tub may reduce the scale but usually hot tub owners are disappointed when the scale returns after they refill the hot tub.
How to get rid of scale floating in your hot tub?
The key to reducing the floating scale in your hot tub is to stop relying on the hot tub to filter the scale. It is also necessary to begin a regular application of a spa chemical scale protector or scale defense. This will prevent additional buildup of new scale while you get rid of the old scale floating in your hot tub. Now remember I said the scale sinks down to the floor and comes back out when you run the jets. This is to your advantage because you can make the scale come up to the top, and filter it out with a swimming pool net. Spend 30 minutes a week running the jets on high for 15 seconds. Then kill the jets and run the net across the top of the hot tub water. Shake out your net with each sweep. Then after a few passes run the jets and re sweep the scale out of your hot tub. You'll notice an immediate improvement in the level of scale floating in the hot tub. The key here is to do this many times to catch the scale before it can fall back into your jets. Rinse out your filters more often as well so you can get the smaller scale particles out of your hot tub.
There is a spa chemical called System Flush that you use just before training your tub. I imagine it is a fairly harsh spa chemical that breaks scale from the inside of the spa jets. You then must flush out the chemical. This may take a few time draining and filling with rescreening in between. The key as well is to keep PH in the proper range so scale doesn't continue to build.