Chlorine for Inflatable Hot Tub

All inflatable hot tubs, regardless of the features installed, need one thing in common – properly treated and clean water. You’ll need the right chemicals to achieve this.

First off, sanitizers are the most important chemical that you will need to add to your inflatable hot tub. Since bacteria love warm water, a sanitizer’s job is to keep the hot tub water hygienically safe and clean. They do this by attacking and destroying all the harmful bacteria and algae that may grow in the water.

Even if the hot tub water looks sparkling clean and fresh, you should add it from the get-go and never trust luck.

Chlorine has become a popular way of sanitizing inflatable hot tubs and keeping them clean from invisible nasties. In fact, over the past few years, chlorine for inflatable hot tubs has become the first choice to ensure that the water you step in is free from harmful chemicals or bacteria. Even many inflatable hot tub manufacturers like Lay-Z-Spa recommend using chlorine in this regard.

What should you know about Chlorine when using for Inflatable Hot Tubs?

We all are familiar with chlorine. It is one of the main options for sanitizing hot tubs and is a favorite choice of a majority of spa owners. That’s because it’s very effective and one of the cheapest sanitizers to buy. However, it does have a slight odor that some hot tub owners dislike.

Do you remember going to a swimming pool and experiencing a distinctive chemical smell everywhere? That was the odor of chlorine that came out of the pool. So if you intend to use chlorine for an inflatable hot tub, then that’s the smell you might experience, but it won’t be anywhere near as strong as the swimming pool’s because your hot tub is significantly smaller.

If you add chlorine to sanitize water in your hot tubs, it simply disperses to turn into what is known as free chlorine. As the water becomes contaminated after use, this free chlorine combines with the contaminants and turns into combined chlorine (chloramines).

It is actually the chloramines that produce the odor that many find unpleasant. Strangely this smell of chlorine coming out of a hot tub is a good thing because chlorine only produces a smell when it attacks and destroys bacteria in the water.

There are two kinds of chlorine sanitizers that can be used for sanitizing inflatable hot tubs:

• Chlorine granules
• Chlorine tablets

Chlorine Granules

There are two ways to use chlorine granules for inflatable hot tubs. You can either add the right amount directly to your hot tub and allow the water heat to dissolve them and the surrounding air jets to swirl them around in the water. Or you can use the recommended method that you put the right amount of chlorine granules in a plastic pitcher, dissolve them in some hot water from the spa, and then put the mixture in your inflatable hot tub. This method allows you to be sure that the chlorine granules have completely dissolved and can start the work immediately.

Regardless of the method you pick, you will still have to wait for at least two hours before you can step into your hot tub.

For chlorine granules, it is recommended to buy them in small size containers as once you open the container, the granules become more susceptible to decomposition and moisture.

Our choice is the SpaChoice Sanitizing Chlorine Granules. They are designed to dissolve completely and quickly and provide a steady source of chlorine to hot tub water for controlling algae growth and killing bacteria and organic contaminants.

Chlorine Tablets

Chlorine tablets dissolve slowly and therefore require to be placed in a floating dispenser that usually comes with the inflatable hot tub. Popping them in a dispenser ensures a good flow to let the tablets dissolve and also not allow them to come in contact with the hot tub\’s surface and users.

The owners’ manual tells you the number of chlorine tablets to be placed in the dispenser; however, it is usually between 2-6 depending on the inflatable hot tub’s size, usage, and water flow. Test the water regularly after startup and observe the levels of chlorine. If the tablets are not meeting the requirement, then you can add more, or if it is too high, then you may reduce the amount. You might also have to increase the levels now and then with chlorine granules because of the slow dissolving nature of tablets, which means they react slower than chlorine granules.

Once you have added the tablets to the dispenser, put them in the water and leave them to dissolve. This will require you to wait for at least two hours before you can use the spa. The tablets will last between 3 and 5 days before requiring replacement. On average, 3-inch chlorine tablets usually last a week, which means you’re going to need many over the course of using a hot tub. Therefore, it is worth saving money and getting hold of a large container such as the HTH Super 3” Chlorinating Tablets, 25 lbs.