Mold, mildew and algae are common around any water sources and accessories. Moreover, its always destroy the freshness of the water. If you own an inflatable hot tub, then you should know about how to clean mold from inflatable hot tub.
So, when can you know that the hot but water becomes dirty? If you check the water clearly, you will find that whether the water color changes. Or, its become more whitish or sparkles. Then, you will be sure, something is wrong. And the most common has is mold or mildew or algae.
What Are Mold, Mildew and Algae
All these 3 are common water diluting substances and differentiating among them isn’t easy. Moreover, if you don’t know the difference, you may take wrong measures for right type of substances. That will be harmful for you and your hot tub. In addition it will not solve the problem.
Regular maintenance needed for exclusive accessories like inflatable hot tub. All these problems arise, when you neglect to clean and maintain the hot tub on regular basis. Take regular and extensive care, hopefully you will never face these problems.
Both mold and mildew are type of fungus or fungi. However, algae is a plant. All the 3 can attack your hot tub water, tub surface or tub cover at a time. However, only one type can do so too. So, be sure about your current condition before acting.
All these can take different colors and shapes. Usually all look same. However, look closely and you will find the differences. From white to black, yellow to green colored mold, algae can get into your hot tub. Moreover, sometimes they may look like white slimes other times just changing the water color.
After the water color change, check the tub cover and you will find the mold and algae there. Most of times, it attacks the cover then the whole hot tub. Therefore, clean the cover first.
Causes for Mold, Mildew and Algae
There are many causes. However, if you clean and maintain the hot tub timely basis, you can prevent all these. When, you don’t have enough pH level or don’t maintain the standard. Algae will attack your hot tub. Usually, it happens if the water doesn’t have enough sanitizing minerals like chlorine or bromine.
Moreover, under sunlight, algae reproduces at a faster rate. Therefore, you must cover the whole tub after using it. Don’t let it under sun many times unattentively.
Mildew is a surface type fungi so cleaning it will be easier. However, mold always mix with the water and discolor it completely, In addition, the tub surface will be slippery and discolored for it. Soaps, lotion or shampoo are the main cause for mold and mildew.
So, every now and then, check the cover first. Because mold, mildew first appears on the cover. After that, spread on the whole hot tub and water super fast. Now that, you have basic idea about these. We can move onto the cleaning process.
Different Types of Mold
White Mold: This mold type is hard to recognize or identify. People often asks, is white mold in hot tub dangerous? Like all other molds, white mold presents high health threat to the user body. Although, its hard to identify, after detecting the white mold, please clean the whole hot tub ASAP to prevent future health problem.
White mold may cause nausea, headaches, swelling, eye infection, respiratory disease, mild depression. Moreover, most common symptom is allergic infection to any part of the body or whole body.
If you find out white mold in the hot tub along with above symptoms on any family members, contact physician immediately. Also, clean the mold from hot tub in the mean time.
Yellow Mold: As the most durable type of mold, its hard to get rid of too. Moreover, with regular pH level and sanitizing products like chlorine or bromine, it can still exist within the hot tub.
Green Mold: Its the most common type of mold. After contaminating the hot tub, green mold changes the water color to green. Though we can tell its mold, but the main cause of it is algae.
The tub surface will become slippery and other stains will be visible on it. Ensure minimal pH level along with alkalinity. Chlorine shock therapy is common against green water problem.
Pinkish Mold: Sometimes, people may mistake that pinkish mold is similar like green mold. And the main cause of it is algae. However, that isn’t true. Pinkish mold is a type of bacteria and similar to white mold. In other words, it may be rare case. Similarly, like the white mold, getting rid of it is hard and time consuming.
Brown Mold: Although, it may seem as mold but that is not the case. If water turns brown, then iron-oxide is the reason for that. Not any type of mold. The main cause of it, broken water filter cartridges. Clean the brown water, wash the hot tub with clean water. Change the dysfunctional filter cartridge. Problem solved.
Preparations Before Start Cleaning
You can’t just start cleaning before preparing for it. In addition, you will need certain chemicals and accessories before starting. You will also need enough clean water and time for the whole process. We have listed most needed cleaning items below for you:
- Hand Gloves
- Goggles
- Hot Tub Cleaners
- Tub Scrubbers
- Bleach
- Detergent
Steps: How to Clean Mold From Inflatable Hot Tub
- Firstly, inflate the whole tub to full size, if you stored it indoor. Bring the inflatable hot tub cover along with it.
- Secondly, mix the hot tub cleaner with enough bleach and water to make the solution.
- Thirdly, put on the gloves and goggles to keep your hand and eyes safe from bleach and cleaners.
- Fourthly, spray or use the cleaning solution on the hot tub all over the place. Use specifically built tub scrubber or brushes for hot tub. Small and hard to reach places, use toothbrushes to scrub.
- Fifthly, clean the whole inflatable hot tub along with cover. Moreover, clean the side of the floating chlorine dispenser also.
- Sixthly, wash the whole hot tub fully and cleanly.
- Seventhly, full the whole tub with clean water and add a lot of chlorine or bromine to increase the pH level around 30-40 ppm. Its called shock therapy. It will get rid of all the mold, mildew along with algae.
- Eighthly, Now, rinse the tub cover and dry the whole tub. Keep it under sun for half an hour for fully drying.
- Ninthly, spray anti-bacterial and anti-fungal agent on the whole tub and cover after drying. It will prevent future mold related problem for longer period.
- Tenthly, if the contamination is severe, you should follow the process several times. Thus, will ensure full recovery from mold, mildew and algae.
Prevention from Future Mold Related Contamination
Inflatable hot hubs are different from regular hot tub. Because, you can store it in small places while not using. After that, when needed you can inflate it and use it. However, it has shortcomings too. If not cleaned well before storage or not dried enough, mold, mildew or algae can grow all over the tub.
So, what to do to prevent all these unnecessary problems or contamination. First of all, if you want to store it after use, make sure it is fully cleaned and spray some time anti-bacterial and anti-fungal agent on it for future contamination.
If you continue using it, then dry it regularly and cover it well. Because, if you keep under Sun for long time. Its ideal for algae contamination. Moreover, the tub will lose color and effectiveness for longer term.
Regularly check the tub and cover for contamination. Always use fresh water. Moreover, check the pH level of the water regularly. Change water once in a week. If any change with the water color, change it immediately.
Use high level chlorine sanitization periodically to prevent unwanted contamination. If you buy an used hot tub, make sure to shock and drain it several times before using. Clean it with sanitizer and top rated tub cleaner before using.
End Words
Regular cleaning and sanitizing will keep your tub mold free. However, you must learn how to clean mold from inflatable hot tub before using one. It will give you better advantage of cleaning and preventing future contamination.
Although, if its first time, the whole process may seems complex. However, if you have previous shower or bathtub cleaning experience then this process will become easy for you. We want you to be safe all the time, and if our article can help you prevent future problems, we will be really happy.