My hot tub water smells like vinyl plastic when the jets are running. The tub has been emptied and refilled twice and filters are new and clean. Can it be the hot water is leaching chemicals from the tubing? The smell is definitely worse when the jets are on and not too bad when I first open the lid. Also, when the jets are on high it almost looks like a soapy film; not clear bubbles like my last hot tub.

How long have you had this unit? Leave the lid off for a day and try a small amount of defoamer.

Have had since December and refilled three times to get rid of the smell and this is third set of new filters (clean filters weekly). Only I use the tub maybe 4 times per week. Water is not cloudy. The plastic smell comes when the jets are on but never blew out the lines when I emptied the tub for cleaning. I notice when I am emptying tub in last few inches of water there is a lot of small, opaque particulate. I think the heat may be causing the tubing to shed. It smells like cheap plastic leaching into the water. Can you think of something else it could be. Using a defoamer won't help the smell and I don't want to start adding chemicals to the water unless it addresses the smell. Thank you.

You actually must use chrmicals in a hot tub to kill bacteria. Reformer would take care of the slummy stuff you are seeing. If you are seeing specs there is some problem. What brand is this?

It's Maax 7500. It's supposed to use ultraviolet light instead of chlorine; still add shock (peroxide diluted). The slum stuff is only visible when I drain the tub and it is floating in the last 2 or 3 inches of water in the bottom. I have had another brand tub for 8 years and it never smelled like vinyl using the same cleaning/shocking procedure. When the tub is full the water looks crystal clear and only faintly smells like plastic. The real odor comes when the jets are full on. I just have been through all the chemical and ph balancing with my other tub and found it was a nightmare adding this to balance that... to just add defoamer sounds like it will throw off the other elements and I'm back to square one. If it is coming from the tubing, how do I drain that water out when I empty my tub? Maybe I keep starting with contaminated water. Thank you.

Is it the Elite with the CleanZone option, if so, which one?

Is it the Elite with the CleanZone option, if so, which one?

Yes, it is the Elite 7500 with the ultraviolet purification option. My last one had an ozonator that worked great without odor. Somehow I think my problem here is related to this ultraviolet system but I don't know how. Thank you for your input. Do you live anywhere near Oklahoma?