Chlorine is considered one of the best sanitizers for your hot tub.
This chemical can be used in different forms for cleaning your hot tub.
For example, chlorine granules and tablets can be used to kill the bacteria and dirt in your tub and clean it on a regular basis.
But, the today’s main topic is whether you can use liquid chlorine in your hot tub as well.
If you ask my opinion, then my answer would be certainly “No”.
You cannot and should not use liquid chlorine in your hot tub.
Although it is completely safe to use liquid chlorine in your swimming pool, using the chemical in your spa can cause you adverse health issues.
But why and how?
There are actually 3 main reasons why you should avoid using liquid chlorine in your hot tub.
I will explain those reasons in this article ahead.
In this post, I will also tell you if not chlorine, what other chemicals you can use to clean your hot tub.
So, keep reading till the end.
Table of Contents
- How Does Chlorine Usually Clean Your Hot Tub?
- 3 Main Reasons Why You Should not Use Liquid Chlorine in a Hot Tub
How Does Chlorine Usually Clean Your Hot Tub?
While it’s absolutely fine to use liquid chlorine to clean your swimming pool, doing the same, can cause heavy damage to your hot tub.
When you add chlorine to your hot tub, it forms an acid named hypochlorous acid inside the water.
This very acid targets the cell walls of microorganisms present inside the tub such as bacteria and algae and destroys them quickly.
However, after a certain period, the effect of the chemical starts fading out and you must add the chemical one more time in order to balance your tub’s sanity.
How long the effect of the chemical will last in your hot tub mainly depends on the form of the chemical you have used for the cleaning process.
Among all, liquid chlorine such as Clorox has been the fastest and the long-lasting effect on the hot tub.
but it’s not safe to some extent as far as your skin is concerned.
Instead, you can use a safer alternative which is to use chlorine tablets and chlorine granules.
They are safer for your skin and are quite effective too.
The chlorine tablets and granules are also used more frequently as compared to the liquid chlorine for cleaning hot tubs.
But the main question is if liquid chlorine works the fastest and lasts for the longest, then why should you not use it to clean your spa.
Now, there are a number of reasons behind not using liquid chlorine for your hot tub.
For your convenience, I have listed 3 main reasons below which I think will help you understand why it is better to use chlorine tablets and granules instead of liquid chlorine.
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3 Main Reasons Why You Should not Use Liquid Chlorine in a Hot Tub
No. 1: Lower Water Volume of a Hot Tub in Comparison to Swimming Pool
The reason why liquid chlorine is not harmful in a swimming pool is that the volume of the pool is quite high.
Also, adding the chemical to your swimming pool, doesn’t change its pH suddenly.
On the other hand, a hot tub has a much lower water volume as compared to a swimming pool.
Thus, adding the liquid chlorine to your spa, affects both its pH and total alkalinity drastically as well as quite rapidly.
This sudden change in the pH can cause heavy damage both to your hot tub components as well as to your skin and body.
No. 2: Higher Temperature of Hot Tubs as Compared to Swimming Pools
Another major reason why you can’t use liquid chlorine to clean your hot tub is because of high temperature level of your hot tub.
Swimming pools have a moderate temperature of around 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
When you put liquid chlorine in your swimming pool water, it reacts quite slowly and gets dispersed properly throughout the pool water.
When it comes to hot tubs that have high temperatures up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, the chemical reacts too quickly with the water.
Also, it does not get dispersed evenly in the water which ultimately ruins your hot tub chemistry.
No. 3: Liquid Chlorine can Affect Your Hot Tub’s pH Directly
Liquid chlorine sanitizers come with a number of pre-added chemicals in them.
These chemicals help in stabilizing the effect of chlorine in your swimming pool.
But this doesn’t work with hot tub water.
When you add liquid chlorine to your tub, the stabilizing chemicals present in it can disrupt your hot tub’s pH directly.
And I don’t need to tell you about the issues you can face with unbalanced pH in the water, do I?
These are some of the major reasons why using liquid chlorine in your hot tub is a bad idea.
I don’t recommend this at all.
Instead of this, you can use chlorine granules or chlorine tablets to get the work done faster and safer.
That too, without harming your hot tub chemistry, isn’t it great?
Click Here to Get the Best Quality Chlorine Tablets to Clean Your Hot Tub.
Click Here to Get the Best Chlorine Granules to Clean Your Hot Tub.
References:
https://www.masterspaparts.com/faq/use-chlorine-in-a-hot-tub/
https://www.swimuniversity.com/liquid-chlorine-granules/
https://www.outdoorlivinghottubs.co.uk/blogs/inspiration-advice/chlorine-hot-tub-maintenance-guide
https://hottubownerhq.com/can-you-use-liquid-bleach-in-a-hot-tub/
