Do Hot Tub Chemicals Expire?

When it comes to maintaining your hot tub, you will need to buy certain products that can help make it clean and keep the water fresh and healthy. Many people decide buy these chemicals in bulk, in the hopes that they will be able to save a significant amount of money. But others hesitate, because they are concerned that hot tub chemicals might expire and they’d end up having to throw it all away.

So, how long can you keep hot tub chemicals for and is it worth buying them in bulk to try to save money or is it a false economy?

Do hot tub chemicals expire? Yes, hot tub chemicals do expire in that they lose their potency and viability. However, they can last a long time, with most products having a shelf life of at least five years. Chemicals that are beyond the date will not be as effective in keeping the water clean as chemicals that you have just purchased.

So how long does it take before you need to throw out the hot tub chemicals you have? And how do you prolong the shelf life of your tub chemicals?

First let’s have a look at what chemicals you will most likely be using.

Popular Hot Tub Sanitizers

Without the use of chemicals, hot tub water is only safe for bathing if you change it very frequently. That’s not necessarily economical or environmentally friendly. Fortunately, there are a range of products that you can use to make sure that the water is clean and stays clean

There are two popular kinds of hot tub sanitizers that you can use: chlorine and bromine.

Chlorine as a hot tub sanitizer

You can use chlorine granules, tablets or liquid chlorine to clean the water in your hot tub. Each one has their own particular shelf life:

• Liquid chlorine that uses sodium hypochlorite is relatively unstable, and it expires within a year. In fact, liquid chlorine loses about half of its potency in six months. It’s 90 percent less potent within one year.

• Tablet chlorine or trichlor tablets have the longest shelf life at more than five years. If you keep products like the Swim Best Trichlor Tablets for three years, they will still have around 98 percent of their potency.

• Granular chlorine can dissolve completely within 12 to 24 months, but if you store it properly, it can last for more than five years. Better yet, just buy products like the SpaChoice Chlorine Granules for Spas and Hot Tubs, which comes in airtight plastic buckets that can keep moisture out.

Bromine

If you have sensitive skin, chlorine might not be for you. You can use bromine, instead. What’s more, bromine is stable when dissolved in water and even in higher temperatures.

Bromine seems to last longer than chlorine, if you store it properly. But it does react with ozone, as well as water, halogens, and some bases. So while bromine tablets and powders, like https://amzn.to/32y6JsJSpaGuard Brominating Concentrate, might have a longer shelf life, it’s best to test it first if it’s been more than five years since you bought it.

Calcium Hardness

Another thing that you should remember if you want a trouble-free hot tub is to check the calcium hardness so that the water doesn’t eat away at your hot tub’s pipes, shell, and other components.

Calcium increasers such as SpaGuard Spa Calcium Hardness Increaser and other products that contain calcium carbonate can last more than five years without any effects on its potency and viability.

Maintaining pH Balance

To keep the water in your hot tub in its ideal state, you should keep it within pH levels of 7.2 to 7.6. If it goes beyond this range, then it is time to add some chemicals that will help the water pH balanced.

pH Increaser

If it falls below this, the water can be acidic so you need to use sodium carbonate or soda ash. Products like the FDC Pool & Spa pH Increaser can last for more than five years, if kept in an airtight container indoors.

If you keep these chemicals outdoors, or in open containers, it can pull moisture from the air and harden and clump together. Moisture can also turn sodium carbonate into sodium bicarbonate, which may not have the same potency as a pH increaser.

pH Reducer

If you do need to increase the acidity of the water in your hot tub, you can use muriatic acid or sodium bisulfate for the job. Like other chemicals, it can still be very potent after being stored for five years.

However, products like the AquaAce Spa Hot Tub pH Down are acids and they usually react with the substances used to manufacture their containers. If you have pH decreasers in plastic packaging, you might want to use them all up over a short time even if they do last for years.

Spa Shock Oxidizer

When your tub has not been used for a long time, or has recently been used heavily, you will need to shock your hot tub. SpaGuard Enhanced Spa Shock and other similar products destroy water-borne contaminants by taking away their electrons, which makes them vulnerable to attacks at a cellular level.

It can sanitize the water by:

• Breaking down the levels of combined bromine or chlorine
• Reactivating bromides
• Killing bacteria
• Removing organic contaminants

In short, shocking your spa gives it a deeper level of clean that goes beyond the sanitation that you get from chlorine or bromine.

Hot Tub Chemicals Expiry

Shock oxidizers often use calcium hypochlorite, or granular chlorine. This stuff often lasts a long time if you keep it in an airtight container, which in turn is stored in a cool and dry location.

It can absorb moisture from the air so if you keep it in an open bag, which will dissolve in about one to two years. If the product you use comes in a non-resealable bag instead of a jar or canister, you might want to put the remaining product in a zip-lock bag, which can help keep it potent for more than five years.

Making Your Hot Tub Chemicals Last Longer: What to Do

When it comes to hot tub chemicals, most of them are formulated to last more than five years if the conditions are right. You will need to store them inside a container where air and moisture cannot get in. It is also important to store them indoors, to make sure that they do not get wet or frozen.

According to this page, it also helps if you store these chemicals in an area that is not hotter than 85 degrees to 95 degrees Fahrenheit and to keep them out of direct sunlight. If you buy bags of these chemicals, it might make good sense if you repack them in Ziploc bags if you don’t use them all at once.

Disposing of Expired Hot Tub Chemicals

It might be tempting to still use expired hot tub chemicals, especially if you still have lots of them in the bag. But with reduced efficiency, the water might not be pH balanced or clean.

It might also cause health problems. For instance, chlorine might cause breathing problems, eye and skin irritation, and other problems.

Using these expired products might bring more harm and hassles than you’d like. So it’s best to just dispose of them.

But don’t just put these chemicals into your trash or recycling bins. Bring them to a Household Hazardous Waste facility or check if your community has a way to handle hazardous waste.

Final Thoughts

Hot tub chemicals expire, but some expire more quickly than others. As a general rule, dry chemicals last longer than liquid chemicals and can be stored in a dry area so that you can use it for years to come.

Five years is a long time. Thankfully, most hot tub chemicals last that long, so you can buy in bulk and then just make sure to store them properly. It does help to check if there are expiration dates on the package to make sure that the particular formulation that you are buying will last long.