I have changed to using chlorine in my tub instead of bromine. It works much better. My tub is a smaller one 250 – 300 gallons. I find it best to keep changing out a little water on a regular basis. And until I replace the cracked check valve that has a slow lead I will keep doing that.
My question. Is there anything wrong with using chlorine bleach instead of the spa chemical formulas? It seems that it is considerably cheaper to buy chlorine bleach at the grocery store.

from google (sorry, didn't save the source)

Available chlorine in bleach at time of manufacture, 6%. Can drop by 50% in 30 days. pH of bleach, 13.

Besides the low concentration of available chlorine, it also greatly increases total dissolved solids by adding 2 pounds of salt with every gallon.

Some misinformation below:

1) "Not only is bleach a poor sanitizer at higher water temperatures, it readily affects pH balance and tends to have a much harsher chlorine odor. Being a liquid, it easily splashes on surrounding surfaces, including your spa cover, and may cause permanent damage. Bleach also reduces filter life when used for cleaning."

2) "Available chlorine in bleach at time of manufacture, 6%. Can drop by 50% in 30 days. pH of bleach, 13. Besides the low concentration of available chlorine, it also greatly increases total dissolved solids by adding 2 pounds of salt with every gallon."

First, to address the above misinformation.

a) Bleach is an EXCELLENT sanitizer and is widely by millions of people all over the world for that purpose.

b) Bleach (aka sodium hypochlorite) does not significantly affect the pH when added to water in normal treatment doses. A 6 wt % sodium hypochlorite solution (i.e. 'Bleach') does have a pH of about 11 but pH is NOT additive. Add a treatment dose of bleach to your tub and the pH will not increase by any amount that you can measure because the 'bleach' contains sodium hypochlorite and does not contain substances that significantly reduce the concentration of hydronium ions in water (for technical types, 'pH' is the negative logarithm of the hydronium ion concentration).

c) A 6 wt. % solution of sodium hypochlorite contains about half of a pound of sodium hypochlorite per gallon. Sodium hypochlorite consists of sodium, oxygen, and chlorine so that half of a pound of sodium hypochlorite only contains about 4 tenths of a pound of sodiumand chloride which is the 'salt' that remains in your tub. Adding the same amount of chlorine with dichlor (approx 1 pound of granules) instead of bleach would leave about 5 tenths of a pound of sodium, chloride, and cyanuric acid in your tub by comparison.

To reply to your question:

Bleach is an excellent, inexpensive sanitizing agent that you can use in your hot tub. Just unscrew the cap and pour in a couple of ounces every day and then monitor the chlorine residual with test strips or your test of choice. Just exercise normal caution with liquid bleach to avoid spilling it on your skin or clothing or getting it in your eyes. I also recommend using a non-chlorine shock such as GLB Oxybrite once or twice a week to prevent buildup of oils and 'slime.'

Avoid houshold bleach- much better alternatives available. As already mentioned, very high PH- instead of blech, try granulated "sodium dichlor" type chlorine- virtually PH neutral, unstable, and an excellent sanitizer with (when used properly) virtually no odor.

Avoid houshold bleach- much better alternatives available. As already mentioned, very high PH- instead of blech, try granulated "sodium dichlor" type chlorine- virtually PH neutral, unstable, and an excellent sanitizer with (when used properly) virtually no odor.

There is nothing wrong with using 'household bleach'. It does NOT have any effect on the pH in the hot tub. It does not give the hot tub any odor other than a slight chlorine odor, just like dichlor does. The chlorine in bleach and the chlorine in dichlor are the SAME chlorine. Bleach is a liquid and is a little more difficult to handle than granulated powder and can damage your clothes, eyes, skin, etc if you spill it on them and don't wash it off. And, of course, if small children discover your bleach and drink it, they will need immediate medical treatment. However, tens of millions of people use this dangerous liquid every day and are able to manage its dangers.

I use both bleach and dichlor. They both do the job just fine. Dichlor lasts a little longer in the tub than dichlor. Bleach doesn't build up the 'stabilizer' cyanuric acid like dichlor does. It is six of one and half a dozen of the other. Try them both and you will see the advantages and disadvantages of each. Bleach is cheap, easy to buy, easy to add, and very effective. Knowledge is power.

Bleach does indeed affect the PH- as for cost, Dichlor is cheap as well.
Of my few customers that use household bleach, nearly all of them add too much, stain their spa shell, shorten the life of their equip, and their PH is all over the board. Their spas are constantly cloudy.

I do believe that bleach can be used "properly", (the spa may be useable) but it's far more common for bleach to cause more harm than good. Speaking of knowledge, I have another well informed customer that uses only Hydrogen peroxide to sanitaize his tub. Despite my best efforts to persuade him to use something else, he claims to simply know more than anyone else- Needless to say, he's a regular customer. I appreciate his efforts at putting my kids through college- if he keeps it up, I may be able to afford Yale.

A good rule of thumb, if it's liquid, don't add it. Use granular chlorine, granular PH increaser and decreaser, and when you make a mistake, it won't be costly one.

I'm glad that you are able to make houshold bleach work for you, but it's certainly not something I would recommend to anyone- The "savings" might add up to 10 dollars a year...

<i>Bleach does indeed affect the PH- as for cost, Dichlor is cheap as well.
Of my few customers that use household bleach, nearly all of them add too much, stain their spa shell, shorten the life of their equip, and their PH is all over the board. Their spas are constantly cloudy.</i>

No, bleach does NOT affect the spa pH in any amount that you can measure. Using dichlor lowers the pH somewhat. Directionally, bleach (sodium hypochlorite) will increase the pH very slightly, but the increase is too small to see with normal spa pH test strips and such. If your customer's pH is 'all over the board,' it is because they never bother to monitor it, not because they use bleach.

No, bleach does not 'stain' the spa shell. The only effect that sodium hypochlorite could possibly have on the spa shell would be to fade the color and that would only occur at concentrations that are thousands of times greater than what is used in a hot tub.

No, bleach does not cause 'cloudy' water. Cloudy water is caused by improper sanitizing, improper filtration, build-up of organic contaminants, or some combination thereof. In my experience, the most common thing is that people don't monitor the chlorine residual frequently enough because they forget or are lazy, let it decrease to 0, and then have a lot of microbial growth. Then they dump a mountain of chemicals in, attempting to correct the situation in a few minutes. None of this has anything to do with bleach.

No, bleach does not shorten the life of the equipment. Most of the material in contact with the spa water is some type of thermoplastic that is resistant to corrosion by the spa water. Pump housings and pump impellers can sometimes be metal and the heater us usually metal and vulnerable to corrosion. The biggest source of corrosion to these materials is the chloride (or bromide) in the water that is an after effect of using the sanitizing agent and is the same regardless of whether you use bleach or not. The best way to minimize corrosion and maximize equipment life is to not let the pH drop, keep flow through the equipment (the best spas automatically turn on all of the pumps a few minutes every day), and keep oxygen in the tub, such as with an ozonator. Using bleach at a few parts per million will not increase corrosion.

Why isnt hydrogen peroxide a good choice?

re: Hydrogen peroxide---> it's a poor disinfectant, not approved for use in spas. I imagine the amounts needed to get close to any safe range would be immense, gallons upon gallons on a regular basis.

If you're interested in Hydrogen peroxide, might want to consider Baqua-Spa.
Although persoanlly, I've never experienced as many consumer complaints with any product as I have with Baqua Spa, many of the sellers believe strongly in the product.