For many people, keeping the water in a hot tub sanitized means using high doses of either chlorine or bromine. Unfortunately, these otherwise harmless substances can cause irritation for those with chemical sensitivities. Luckily, new methods of sanitization have been developed in recent years. If you have a hard time with traditional hot tub sanitizers, and are interested in investigating ways of keeping your hot tub clean, read on. This article will introduce three alternative techniques.

Ultraviolet Light

Ultraviolet light has been used to remove unwanted bacteria from drinking water since 1910! This method is no less effective where hot tub sanitation is concerned. Here powerful UV bulbs are enclosed in a glass chamber. As water flows into the hot tub, it passes by this chamber, thus killing any bacteria or other unwanted bugs living in the water.

While both simple and powerful, UV light does have one significant downside: once the sterilized water has passed through the UV system, it becomes vulnerable once more to the growth of unwanted microorganisms. Thus, UV systems are often used in conjunction with those traditional disinfectants, chlorine and bromine. The good news is that you will not have to use as much of these chemicals as you otherwise would.

Ionizing Metals

Ions of the metals copper and silver are capable of effectively killing both algae and bacteria. This fact has long been capitalized on by roofers, who often install copper strips at the peaks of roofs, in order to prevent the growth of unattractive roof algae. More recently, analogous systems have been developed to help sanitize hot tubs using a similar principle.

Here the circulating hot tub water passes through a tube that contains anodes of copper and silver alloy. These anodes receive electric impulses, which send positively charged ions into the water. Unlike UV systems, the ions remain in the water, thus protecting against further bacterial growth in the time it takes for the water to circulate back through the system.

Ozone Gas

Ozone is a gas that is created when oxygen is exposed to ultraviolet light. When allowed to percolate through the water in a hot tub, this gas acts as an effective disinfectant--one with 3000 times the power of bromine and chlorine. Ozone gas will disinfect the water of your hot tub for approximately twelve hours. This means that, so long as your ozonating system is activated according to a regular schedule, you will not have to use chemical agents to help sanitize your hot tub. Talk to a spa company, like Budget Pool & Spa Tech Inc., for more help.