How do I make my spa biofilm free? ‘Flush’ and Moss!

In my last blog we discussed biofilm and how it affects your pool, spa, home, really anywhere water, bacteria and a surface come in contact.  It is an important new discovery that is helping us understand how to keep water clean, safe, crisp, clear and provide a pleasant experience.  You can see a newly posted, short video about biofilm and sphagnum moss on our website.

How do I get my spa, or pool to be biofilm free and keep it that way?

So the question remains, how do I get my spa, or pool to be biofilm free and keep it that way?  First, if you haven’t done anything to remove the biofilm or keep it from forming, then be assured you have biofilm on every surface.  It is very difficult to remove biofilm once it has formed.

The best example of how difficult it is to remove biofilm is the tartar on you teeth.  That is biofilm and all the brushing, flossing, and mouthwash use will not remove the tartar.  Your dental hygenist has to scrape it off with sharp (an often painful) tools.  It would take toxic acid to remove the biofilm.  That would destroy your teeth and gums along with the biofilm.  Scrubbing the surface of your pool or spa might remove some of the biofilm, but not all of it.  If it isn’t totally removed, any remaining will re-infect all the surfaces and restore the biofilm in hours.  All the interior surfaces of your spa or pool are impossible to clean.

Spa System Flush

I know of one chemical that is EPA certified to remove biofilm.  We tested it.  It did remove some of the biofilm, but it off gassed a chemical or chemicals that were very toxic to my lungs and all those in the same room.  We found a spa flush that claims to have an effect on biofilm and it does break biofilm free from the spa and doesn’t cause any severe side effects.  This is supplied in our SpaNaturally kit (Spa System Flush).

Soon we will be releasing a new solution that is even better at removing biofilm with no side effects.  We test these products in our laboratory on biofilms grown in cultures and then also test them in the field.

The bad news for spa owners is that they need to flush the spa to remove biofilm whether it is new or old.

Here’s the problem:  When spas are made at the factory they are tested for  leaks by filling them with water from tanks in the factory.  Biofilm grows in these tanks so the water transfers bacteria and biofilm to the new spa.  It is impossible to remove all the water from the spa.  It is then shrink wrapped and stored.  Everywhere there is water there is biofilm that dries and hardens as the spa is stored.

brand new spa being flushed!

When you refill your new spa the dried biofilm comes back to life and spreads throughout your spa water.  Another fact is that the more jets in your spa, the more biofilm there is also.  Each jet is fed by a tube made of plastic that comes from a manifold.  The more jets, the more pipe, the more places where water collects and forms biofilm.

I proved this by using a long scope like those I used to use for colonoscopy.  In a new spa, the tubes leading to the jets were clean until they curved.  Along the bottom arc of the curve the biofilm started and continued until the tube curved back either up or down.

Another place where biofilm forms is in the housing of pumps.  These are wet tested in the factory and have the same problem as the spa jets.  In fact, I recently had to replace my circulation pump in my own spa that is biofilm free.  Three days later the water became cloudy and started to foam.  I flushed the spa and black biofilm came out with the flush.  After flushing the spa returned to crystal clear water, with no foaming.  I then checked other pumps and found black biofilm in the pump housings.

Heat also affects biofilm formation.  Bacteria and biofilm are very temperature sensitive.  The closer the temperature of the water gets to 100°F the higher the bacteria growth rate and therefore the more biofilm forms.  Lower temperatures inhibit (but don’t stop) bacterial growth.

How much flushing is needed?

Depending on the amount of biofilm in the spa, more than one flush may be needed to completely remove all the dried biofilm.  I needed to flush my new spa seven times (using our current flush) before it stayed clean and clear.

You are probably asking the same question I did while this problem was being understood and researched.  Could the spa manufacturers make a biofilm free spa? I know they can.  We have been working with spa manufacturers to flush their water tanks and treat the water with moss so they don’t transfer biofilm to the spa when it is wet tested.  So far, the results are very encouraging.  When we flush the new spas, very little biofilm is removed even after months of storage.

In review.  Biofilm coats all spa and pool surfaces in contact with water.  It is very difficult to remove.  Using the right chemicals and system can remove biofilm.  All spas, new and old must be flushed.  On the horizon, biofilm free new spas are possible.

Next, I’ll talk about pools and preventing biofilm from forming.

David Knighton, MD

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 10:52 pm and is filed under Biofilm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.