We love to soak in a relaxing bubble bath after a long day. However, a foamy hot tub may cause more frustration and concern when it suddenly appears in our hot tub. While the immediate reaction is to worry, a bubbly hot tub occasionally happens to hot tub owners regardless of how well they maintain it.
Unfortunately, this is one of the most challenging water quality problems to fix and control adequately.
But this should not be a worry now because, in this article, we’ll examine the numerous reasons why foamy water happens in your hot tub, the methods to fix bubbly water, and how to prevent it from happening again in your hot tub. Make sure to read through the end.
What Causes Hot Tub Foam?
Before we get straight to the methods, it is essential to understand what we are dealing with in the first place. In this part of the article, we will learn why your hot tubs are filled with foamy water.
Failure to clean your hot tubs and their water supply regularly or after frequent use, like having a hot tub party, is the leading cause of foamy water. This surfactant starts building up and can come from various sources, including the following.
Water Imbalance
One typical source of foams in hot tub water is poor water balance, particularly in hot waters with low calcium hardness. While a water imbalance alone won’t result in foamy water, a lack of water balance affects the surface tension, like a buildup of surfactants, which might aggravate other potential problems.
Adding fabric softener to your spa water supply can also cause excessive foaming. It may have several detrimental effects and can cause cloudy, hot tub water.
Products for Personal Care
Your cleaning chemicals can work extra hours and ultimately cause warm soapy disasters if you use personal care products like makeup and hair products like shampoo, hairspray, body lotion, conditioner, and deodorant. The likelihood that surfactants will accumulate in your hot tub increases as you use more of these items frequently.
Other significant irritants are soap residue and laundry detergent. While it is necessary to wash bathing suits, any detergent residue in the material can seriously disrupt the water’s chemical balance. Before soaking, do just a quick rinse to remove the body oil.
Low concentrations of the chemicals in these products don’t have any adverse consequences. Still, over time, they can accumulate in the hot tub water, particularly on or around the hot water’s surface. These oils and body oils will collect to a point where they will generate bubbles if left unmanaged.
Drinks
You might like a glass of red wine, a sip of cold beer, a sophisticated tropical cocktail, or perhaps a soda with your weekend bath. There’s nothing wrong with it, although you might want to avoid drinking near it to prevent hot tub foam. Splashing a considerable amount of these alcoholic or sweetened drinks can lead to foamy hot tub water.
Bacteria or Biofilms
Any collection of bacteria or micro-organisms in the hot tub water clings to the surfaces that frequently come into touch with hot tub water is referred to as a biofilm. This bacteria can cause hot tub foam to happen. Biofilms will gradually attach to the hot tub’s surface if not removed, most frequently in the plumbing system. Once connected to it, it will start to grow and create a wall of slime.
It is challenging for antibacterial soaps like bromine or chlorine to remove this protective film successfully. The disinfectant will be used up more frequently as these bacteria grow to eliminate surfactants and other things that will potentially cause the hot tub water to foam.
How To Get Rid Of Bubbles In Hot Tub?
Now that we have learned the primary causes of having foamy hot tub water let’s dive into the proven and tested methods to help eliminate foam from your hot tub.
While it may seem challenging and messy, these methods can appear basic when done appropriately.
Check The Water
Before taking remedial action, check and test your hot tub water to determine its alkalinity, pH, and disinfectant levels. You should also look for the total dissolved solids (TDS), also known as Surfactants. After the foaming process, you can figure out how to prevent the issue from happening again by understanding what your hot tub water chemical balance looks like.
Additionally, poor calcium firmness may result in having foams in hot tubs. It’s crucial to monitor these levels constantly because having low calcium can also lead to additional issues like oxidation and peeling on your hot tub’s surfaces.
Drain And Refill The Hot Tub Water
One great way to clear the foam is to empty all the water and cleanse your hot tub after testing your water and monitoring all the chemical levels. You may also want to perform a system clean and change your hot tub filters if the amount of detergents in your water is high enough to produce foaming.
When draining your hot tub, it is recommended to use a mainline cleaning product. Next is to remove the hot tub filter by replacing them or just cleaning them out using a cleaning solution. You must also ensure you’ve flipped the switch, unplugged all electrical devices, and shut off the hot tub’s power supply. Lastly, use the drain plug to empty the water in the hot tub.
The next process involves adding hot tub cleaner, like white vinegar in one part to the water’s four parts to do a deep cleaning. You have to wipe this to the hot tub’s surface after it has been drained. You can also opt for commercial hot tub cleaning solutions for this process. You must thoroughly rinse the hot tub with fresh water and ensure no residue is left from the cleaning solution. Otherwise, you’ll end up with foamy water again. You can choose to clean your filters or set up a new filter again before refilling your hot tub with water. Use a hose filter like a garden hose to make the job easier.
Use Anti-Foam Hot Tub Chemicals.
If you don’t want to go down the entire process, there is a quick solution that will save you time and effort. You can use foam remover chemicals to remove the foam in your hot tub water. You can make your hot tubs clean and clear for up to 24 hours. This is ideal if ever you have urgent plans of hosting a party or if you have visitors coming.
However, using this method is not a guarantee that the foams in your hot tub water will stop from occurring again. It is because these hot tub chemicals do not directly fix the cause of the foamy water. You also need to avoid using cheap chemicals, which may worsen the problem. To permanently remove the foam from your hot tub, you will still have to empty and refill your hot tub water, as stated above.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you want to know more about your foamy hot tub water and the different ways to get rid of it, here are some frequently asked questions to help you out.
Is It Bad To Have Foam In The Hot Tub Water?
Hot tub foam is often not dangerous. However, you should not soak in it. Cleanliness is not maintained to a satisfactory standard if there is a presence of foam in your hot tub. Thus, you should not engage with it.
How Often Should You Change Your Hot Tub Water?
You must clean and change the water to prevent long-term damage to your hot tub and for the safety of the hot tub users. It is ideal for changing the hot tub water weekly or every three to five months.
How Do You Diagnose The Cause Of A Foamy Hot Tub Water?
Fixing the foam in your hot tub water can be challenging because of various causes.
The first step in a successful treatment is diagnosing the foam’s source. First, have your water tested by an expert. There’s a significant chance that your problem is caused by unbalanced water. If the water balance is good, but your sanitizer levels are low, the problem can be caused by bacterial buildup.
If you notice a greasy “circle” around the surface of the hot tub’s shell, the reason could be an accumulation of oils for body lotions and other personal care products. If you can still identify the cause, this might be a buildup of cleaning detergents.
Conclusion
Witnessing your hot tubs filled with foam can be a nightmare. Soaking in foamy hot tub water is never recommended as it can cause harm or possible allergic reactions. Who would want to soak in dirty water? Indeed, you don’t.
If ever you find yourself in that situation, you can follow all the methods above to help you get a safe and comfortable hot tub experience. After doing all the above processes, let the hot tub’s water run for at least a day after draining, cleaning, and refilling it. Once the water has finished running, check to see if it is suitable for soaking.
