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Ozonater Education |
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Ozonators: Although
ozonators have been used for close to two decades in
spas, recently there was an explosion of its use in the
hot tub industry. |
Simply explained,
there are two major ways to produce O3, which is
ozone gas. One would think that making ozone gas
would be troublesome because isn't that one of the
major problems pollution creates? You will have to
talk to experts about that; but the assure us this
is different. The two ways is by glowing UV bulb and
a Corona Discharge chip/chamber. |
What happens is this
device create ozone gas. The water movement sucks
the ozone gas into the spa's water. The ozone gas is
an oxidizer. So it likes to kill organic matter...
The same stuff you kill with your sanitizer. It does
this is a mild less smelly way. Most people don't
smell the gas but it gives a sweet motor kind of
smell. The ozone kills and dissipates. End of
organics; end of gas. Dead stuff gets picked up by
the filter and you clean the filter. Result: clean
water. |
Most spas with ozonators
ONLY work when the low or #1 pump is on. Also, most
boards are designed to turn off the ozonator when
anyone touches the topside for 30-60 minutes. After
that time, the board will turn the ozonator back on. Typically you use
less sanitizer or even need to only "shock" the
water weekly and use no sanitizer. You still must
balance Total Alkalinity and PH but your weekly use
of chemicals can be severely lowered. Because of
this, the wear/tear on your spa can lower since you
are not allowing the spa's water chemistry to drift
to extremes. |
The life of an
ozonator is a challenge. A rule of thumb is thinking
you normally will get 3-5 years of service. On some
CD models you can often just replace the CD chip or
chamber. On bulbs you usually replace the whole
unit. You can purchase testing kit to check ozonator
output but most who see the positive affects of
their working ozonator and clearly see when the
amount has dramatically lower or stopped.
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FYI:
You don't HAVE to have
or HAVE to replace your ozonator. Its a real plus
but the spa will operate without. If you stop using
yours, you will need to tend to your sanitizer
to make sure you don't allow too many organics to
grow. Remember, the ozonator is a sanitizer so if
you don't use it, you will have to replace with
chemicals. |
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