Hi,

Does anyone have experience using or installing a saltwater chlorine generator in their spa? I am rehabbing a tub and am thinking about installing a chlorine generator system and would like some feedback from someone who has practical experience using such a system.

They are pricey, but I feel if they work as described it would save money and headaches over time... I'm not installing an ozone generator, my wife gets a bad case of coughing fits whenever we are in an ozone equipped tub...

Thanks for any input!

Stan

chlorine generators (also called salt water chlorinators) are designed for large quantities of water, such as pools. They can be used in a tub so long as the tub water is exchanged with the pool water, so essentially the pool is still the item using the salt water chlorine generator. The tub capacity is simply too small of a water base to effectivly use the generator alone.

FYI, I have a salt water chlorine generator on my pool and do not exchange the water with the tub. I keep my tub separate. Then again I am in a northern climate and the pool is typically 15 degrees cooler than the tub in the summer, so it's not cost effective to heat the pool to such a high temp.

This site sells a chloring generater by Balboa that calims to be designed for hot tubs, is this something new?

The link to the balboa unit: http://spapartsnet.com/Chlorine-Generat... 2_1_1.html

I can't say if it's new or not, but if you notice that it's rated for 800 gallons or less. It's specifically designed for small bodies of water. Most generators can easily handle 20,000 gallons or more, hence the reason you can't use them in a tub-only situation. At that cost, you can sure buy a lot of chlorine! Also, keep in mind, the "cell" that does the actual generation will need to be replaced every three to five years, at a cost of around 300 bucks typically.

I would still recommend against it just for the cost factor. I don't use more than 10 bucks a year in chlorine in my tub. At that rate it would take around 50 years to eat up the cost of one generator that lasts maybe 5 years total.

My tub has one installed called the Tubby. Have not had any issues with it at all and works quite well. http://www.lectranator.com/mainmenu.html