Submitted by a customer

“We didn’t know”.

Hot tubs, water heaters, and “legionnaires” disease.

Late April 2006 my wife and I decided to take a nice relaxing time in a hot-tub after a day of working on the landscaping around our home.
The next day, close to midnight my wife started shivering uncontrollably and I felt like the onset of a flu.
For three days we rested and tried to recuperate. On the third day our daughter insisted we visit our respective physicians. They advised us to increase our moisture intake since we where becoming dehydrated. They also advised us to go to the hospital emergency department if there was no improvement to our health. We went to St. Mary's hospital on the fourth day.
They could not figure out what was ailing us and even put us in isolation until I mentioned that we where in a hot-tub. The attending physician, Dr Hentschel, connected that information directly to “legionnaires” disease.
At that point the proper treatment was given and a week later we were discharged. It is not a pleasant experience to go through. We lost a lot of weight (no, that is not the way to do it) and it can take up to three months to completely recover.
All this because we “didn’t know” what can happen if a hot-tub is not properly maintained.
The Region of Waterloo Public Health was informed about this situation and they performed tests, not only on the hot-tub, but also on the domestic water supply in our home.
They found legionella pneumophilla in the hot-tub and legionella like organism in the garden hose.
Legionella like organism was also found in the hot water tank. No explanation can be found about how this bacteria entered the hot water tank. The temperature in this tank is kept at 140F (60C).

 How can all this be prevented?

First let’s deal with the water heater. 

After Tiger Plumbing Inc. installed a Watts 70A water tempering valve (adjustable temperature output) we raised the temperature of the water in the tank to 150F (66C). We then flushed the hot water pipes for 20 minutes to kill off any legionella bacteria. The system has been retested by The Region of Waterloo Public Health and was found to be safe.
Our intention is to keep the water temperature in the tank at 145F (63C) and the system water at a safe temperature setting.
Legionella bacteria does not survive in water temperatures over 140F (60C). There are Watts valves available with different temperature settings.

Additional information about legionnaires disease and water heaters is available at http://www.osha.gov/dts/osta/otm/otm_iii/otm_iii_7.html

A very informative site about Legionnaires disease: http://www.legionella.org/

Now the hot-tub.

All the information pertaining to maintenance and decontamination can be found here;

http://www.nspi.org/ConsumerResources/Water+Safety+and+Health+Benefits/Maintaining+Your+Spa.htm
Hope this will help protect your health.