You know something is off with your hot tub when you see foams floating in the water. It doesn’t feel good soaking in a foaming hot tub. But what causes foaming in a hot tub?
Personal care products, low calcium levels, beverages, faulty tub components, and other tub chemicals are likely causing the foams in your hot tub. When the foam starts appearing on the water’s surface, it may indicate that your hot tub has high impurities and total dissolved solids (TDS).
Read on because I will discuss the safety of staying in a foaming hot tub. I will also provide more details about why hot tubs experience foaming. Moreover, I will discuss how to get rid of hot tub foams.
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Is a Foamy Hot Tub Safe?
A foamy hot tub water may not mean an outright danger to you or your family. It may only mean that you need to do some maintenance.
However, if your hot tub foams, contaminants or chemicals could also possibly trigger it. It means that the water chemistry is off. The alkalinity and pH level may also not be within the acceptable range.
If this is the case, staying in the hot tub may cause some skin irritations. The contaminants, chemicals, or bacteria may cause skin problems. Thus, foamy hot tub water could be concerning.
You would also not want to damage your hot tub. Imbalanced water can cause possible corrosion and discoloration. When this happens, you would likely incur hefty repair costs.
What Causes Foam in a Hot Tub?
There are many possible causes of hot tub foaming. These causes include personal care products, low calcium, food and beverages, faulty tub components, and other chemicals.
Personal Care Products
Personal care products are known to cause hot tub foaming. These products include your body lotion, shampoo, deodorants, and makeup. We use these products daily, so there is a high chance that we will contaminate our hot tub with them.
Experts highly recommend taking a shower before stepping into your hot tub to remove your body chemicals like lotion and makeup. But you must also ensure to rinse well the shower soap and shampoo to avoid them causing water foams.
Calcium Hardness
Balancing the calcium hardness of your hot tub is critical. If the calcium level of your hot tub drops, the water becomes very soft and leads to foaming.
The ideal calcium level in your hot tub should be 150 to 250 ppm. Performing a water test would tell you whether you need to decrease or increase your hot tub’s calcium level.
Food and Beverages
Holding a bottle of cold drinks while you soak makes you feel good. I love to hold a bottle of soda or beer when staying in a hot tub. However, you must ensure that these items do not get into the hot tub.
The ingredients of these drinks and snacks can cause water imbalance. If you allow these products to mix with your hot tub water, you will likely get some foaming issues.
Faulty Hot Tub Components
Yes, you read it right. A faulty tub component can cause foaming. But what particular components?
A dirty or malfunctioning hot tub filter is a known cause of foaming. Hot tub owners must clean the filter at least once every couple of weeks to avoid it becoming the culprit of the foaming issue.
A faulty pump or heater can also possibly cause water foaming. Always include checking the tub’s heater or pump every time you conduct maintenance.
Other Chemicals
Chemicals alter water chemistry. When the water becomes imbalanced happens, foams are likely to build up.
The possible chemicals that can mix your hot tub water and cause foam are surfactants and detergents found in your clothing, algaecides, and phosphates.
Adding too much algaecide or cheap brands of algaecides in your hot tub is known to cause foaming. Many have shared their experience, and they end up draining the hot tub and filling it with fresh water.
Related Read: What Does Vinegar Do to a Hot Tub?
How Do You Get Rid of Foam in a Hot Tub?
Getting rid of the foam in your hot tub is a serious business. It can be difficult to determine what caused the foam.
Hot tub experts do not recommend using hot tub defoamers as they think it is a band-aid solution. However, you can try them anyway to see if they work. What they are strongly suggesting is to drain and refill your tub.
If you find draining and refilling the hot tub a taxing job, you can try skimming your hot tub water or manually removing the foam. After scooping out the foam, you can add oxidizing and foaming agents.
As a responsible hot tub owner, you should replace your hot tub water after three to four months. So, when the foam starts appearing on the water surface, reflect if it’s been three months since you last drained your hot tub.
It would also help address hot tub foaming if you understand or pinpoint the cause of the issue as best as possible. When you know what causes the foam, it becomes easy to pick which steps below are most applicable.
Related Read: How to Clean Hot Tub Water Without Draining?
Personal Care Products as the Cause
Foaming due to the body products we use is common. We sometimes take for granted some critical steps like bathing and rinsing ourselves well before going in a hot tub.
Getting rid of the foam is not very complicated. Take a look at the general steps below.
Step 1: Test the balance of your hot tub water. If the pH, alkalinity, calcium, and TDS levels are out of range, try to address the issue first or replace the water.
Step 2: Manually scoop the foam out of the water.
Step 3: Apply an oxidizing shock/agent to activate the chlorine to eliminate the foam.
Step 4: Introduce spa enzyme into your hot tub. Spa enzymes biodegrade soaps, oils, lotions, and other personal care products. Natural Enzyme promises to help dissolve impurities quickly.
Quick Tips:
- Avoid using oil-based skin products.
- Rinse yourself and your swimwear thoroughly before stepping into the hot tub to remove traces of detergents, soap, and fabric conditioners.
Low Calcium Level as the Cause
Your hot tub water contains calcium and magnesium. Calcium hardness determines how much calcium and magnesium are dissolved in your hot tub.
Low calcium problem with your hot tub does not only cause foaming. It can also potentially destroy the walls and floor of your hot tub and cause corrosion.
Putting the calcium level in the correct range is important to avoid foaming.
Step 1: Test your hot tub water with a test strip. The ideal range is 150 to 250 ppm.
Step 2: Scoop out the foam manually.
Step 3: Add calcium chloride or calcium increaser products. The SpaGuard Calcium Hardness Increaser is a good choice to help you raise the calcium level of your hot tub.
Step 4: Test the water again. Add more calcium chloride as necessary to obtain the correct level.
Food and Beverages as the Cause
Foaming caused by food and beverages may be fixed by skimming the water. You can try to scoop out the foam manually and any food particles, then apply hot tub enzymes.
The spa enzymes will help dissolve the food ingredients that cause the foam. If foaming persists, it is best to drain your hot tub and fill it up with new water.
Faulty Hot Tub Components as the Cause
This one is pretty hard to diagnose. However, after skimming your hot tub water, you can try cleaning your filter. A malfunctioning or dirty hot tub filter is a popular cause of foaming.
You should regularly clean your hot tub filter. The frequency should be once every two weeks or twice a month.
If the foaming continues after cleaning your hot tub filter, you might consider draining and refilling your hot tub. The water may be severely imbalanced, and replacing it could be the best solution.
Other Chemicals as the Cause
If the foaming is not fixed through skimming and adding defoamers, my best guess is that there are chemicals in the water that you need to remove.
Using defoamers may work as a band-aid solution, according to experts. To permanently fix the foaming issue, they advise you to drain your hot tub and fill it with new water.
How Much Foam is Normal in a Hot Tub?
Some people may mistakenly identify normal bubbling as foaming. Your hot tub water may form bubbles when the hot tub jets run. As long as the bubbles quickly disperse, this bubbling should not be a concern.
What is not normal is when the bubbles build up on one another. You know you have a foaming issue when bubbles grow over one another and climb higher.
The foaming issue is severe when the foam stays in the water longer than a minute, even after you turn off the jets. Take action to balance your water and see if it fixes the issue.
If the water pH, alkalinity, and calcium are within range and you still experience foaming, you can use defoamers or oxidizing agents to fix the issue. If that doesn’t work, consider draining the tub and filling it with new water.
Verdict
Foaming is a common issue that hot tub owners face. There are many possible causes of hot tub foaming, including the personal care products you use, the detergent and surfactants on your swimwear, the low calcium level, a faulty or dirty filter, and others.
Although a foaming hot tub may not cause immediate health issues, it is important to address it. The foaming phenomenon implies a problem with the water balance. To get rid of the foam, try to skim your hot tub water and add defoaming agents or drain and refill your hot tub.
