Hot Tub Water Safety - Whats Needed For Health And Safety

The hot tub is a great addition to any garden or summerhouse and can give hours of great and relaxing comfort, it is also good for massaging and hydrotherapy. The health and safety aspect of it has been overcome over the years with chemicals and sanitizers, and a good supplier will supply all the necessary products and filters for the job in hand.

They will also supply a good and simple regime advice for testing and maintaining the hot tub system to the very high standards that are necessary for such systems. Remember that any hot water system is capable of breeding microbes, and some of these can make us sick, and sometimes very sick.

Hot water makes our pores open and the microbes can then enter the pores, also the hot water droplets can fly in the air, and can be breathed in through the mouth and nose.

The nose can be a great tester for water quality so if the water smells sour or not right, then it probably is not right. Always something to remember when using a hotel or fitness centre hot tub or Jacuzzi.

The water can also be tested with testing strips that tell you if the water needs treatment. Some of the micro organisms in the water are pathogens and these can cause problems often affecting the eyes, ears and mouth and the respiratory tract and some can cause a flu like problem.

Probably the worst is the Legionnaires disease, which thrives in soil and is active in hot water systems if sanitisation systems fail. In all cases the hot tub manufacturers do provide good and adequate prevention methods if simple rules are obeyed.

The first test is the pH of the water, which must be alkaline for the chemicals to work. The first line of defence is the particulate filters through which the water passes on a regular basis, and which should be regularly changed. It is helpful to use a flush filter when filling the pool in the first place.

Bromine, chlorine or mineral sanitizers are usually used as the primary sanitizer with an ozone generator, UV sterilisation and/or silver and copper ion generators as backups. In the case that there is a problem through some error in changing filters or other problem, as a belt and braces exercise the pool can be shocked by dosing it with potassium monopersulate or granulated chlorine, although in this case the pool will need sometime to recover. One thing is do not be frightened of your hot tub water, but take care and test regularly.