How do you get the scum out of hot tubs?

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Bill D

My family has a 4-6 regular size hot tub out back and we used it once in a while. It was always tended to chemically and was regularly drained but theres this mold like algae growing inside of it. Especially around the top near the filter (probably because its stagnant over there). it keeps coming back although we have cleaned and drained it. Im suspecting the cover to be the culprit but i dont have alot of hot tub no how. Any suggestions?

Answer
If you're not intending to use it anytime soon, try raising the chlorine level to a bit higher than recommended. After raising the chlorine level, run it to circulate the water for at least 5 minutes. The chlorine level should be checked at least every 3 days.

I'm not sure what kind of top you have but it wouldn't hurt to take it off and clean and disinfect it.

Will my deck be able to adequately support a hot tub I just ordered?

Ben

I just ordered a hot tub that is approx 6'x6' and I'm curious if I should worry about my deck being able to handle the load. My deck is small - 18x8 and roughly 4' above grade. The deck has 6 footings approx 40" deep. I have double 2x12 girders with 2x8 joists. I'm not a contractor so my description may be confusing - I apologize in advance, but essentially my deck is two sections that are both 9x8. The first section of my deck, where you exit the house, is 12'oc and the furthest section that has the stairs to my backyard is 16"oc. When the deck was built we didn't box out the framing for a hot tube with independent footings/4x4s. I'm planning on sitting the hot tub on the back left corner of my deck, so basically the the back edge of the hot tube will be over the rear girder and 12"oc section of the deck. Its only a small 3 person hot tube that holds approx 250 gallons of water and the tub itself is 300lbs. Oh, and the joists are sitting on top of the girders and secured with hurricane clips.

My friend who helped me build the deck swears that the 2x12 girders and 12" oc joists will provide enough support and I dont need to worry that we didnt add additional footings for the 6x6 area of the hot tub. Is this true - will the hot tub be well supported?

Answer
every deck I have built was always beefed up for the hot tub area
12" diameter concrete footings belled at the bottom below the frost line
6 x 6 posts that were notched for the beams so they had direct bearing as opposed to all the weight just hanging on a couple of bolts
tripled 2 x 12 beams - what you are calling girders -one assembly at each end of the tub
doubled up floor joists in that area - 16" on center

so it was always a total of four concrete footings, two tripled beams and doubled joists holding the tub
you didn't give any idea of how its attached to the house if its properly bolted to the framework or not but even these bolted connections are not designed to handle that much weight

your tub filled with water and people is about 2800 pounds, you deck sounds like it does exceed the minimum of a 20 pound per square foot dead load and 40 pound per square foot live load where the 12" centers are but still falls short of the tubs weight load (dead load) your tub will have a dead load rating of 66 pounds per square foot and thats without people sitting in it - basically you are parking a small car there

a dead load is non moving weight that will bear on the structure
a live load is the force, or moving weight (people) that will bear on the structure

If it were mine I would beef it up, since you can do the work it would only be a couple hundred in materials and a couple days of your time

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Title Post: How do you get the scum out of hot tubs?
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