My folks have an inground pool (i think its under 20k). They are sick of the chlorine so their pool guy installed a salt system but still the chlorine bothers them as they are sensitive to it. I know of inoziers and ozonators that require a fraction of the amount of chlorine (according to their brochures). I have tried in vein to search on the site for the answers but the only response i seem to get is that ozone is overkill. These guys are willing to spend the money to reduce or eliminate chlorine. What do you guys recommend??

Sorry, no one here will be able to help much. Chlorine is the simplest and most cost effective answer to sanitizing any pool.

what do you do about the eye burning and shortness of breath it causes? there must be other options

Sounds like to me they have CC in their pool. A properly chlorinated pool does not smell of bleach, and should not burn eyes. Can you post a full set of pool chemistry results?

A salt pool only has to be kept at 3ppm. That's less than what's allowed in tap water.

what about the Del Ozone Eclipse system? anyone have experience w that unit?

I will have to check with their pool guy as i do not have those specifics. 3ppm is good but these ozone/ion systems say they need .3 - .5!

Had a neighbor in my pool a few days ago for the first time. She said, unprovoked, "Wow this is really clean. It doesn't smell like a pool at all, it just smells like water! How do you keep it so clean?"

My wife rolled her eyes and said "I'm not sure you want to get him started...."

Chlorine, used properly, is all you need. If you want to do the work, there are a lot of people here that would love to help you.

i live a 100 miles away and they are too old to mess around w the pool every day. their pool guy obviously is unable or unwilling to get the chemistry right that is why i am looking for a different method.

The only hands-off, maintenance-free pool system I'm aware of is a pool full of dirt.

i appreciate the joke, i really do, but it doesnt have to be completely maint free. something where the pool guy can come once a week and take care of stuff

I am new here, but I have learned quite a bit.

I will say, my pool water is awesome. My oldest daughter, who complains about chlorine, has no problems in my pool.

You get the water chemistry correct with a good test kit, stay on top of it, and mainly add chlorine (AKA bleach) and your parents will be fine.

Adding all the ****** that pool companies sell you (or pool service companies add) is what causes the smells and burning.

Maintaining my pool chemistry takes me about 10 minutes a day. I test in the AM, test again in the PM (2x a day is overkill but I do it anyway) and then add bleach as required in the PM - about 40 to 60oz per day on average.

My chlorine level is between 5.0 and 7.0 parts mer million - and nobody complains because there is no Combine Chlorine.

The sad fact is that even if they get an ozonator or other device, letting somone take care of their pool, whos' profit is predicated on how much stuff they can sell them, is going to cause problems.

A SWG will allow lower FC levels if they want to go that route, but again, if they let in a service, who knows what they will do.

-dave

That's exactly how a salt water pool should be, once a week checking should be fine. But if he's letting the FC level get low due to the SWCG not being set properly, or due to improper CYA level, then algae is going to form and create CCs in the pool. If CCs are in the pool, the pool is going to smell of chlorine and cause burning eyes.

Like I said, 3ppm is LESS than what is allowed in plain tap water. If they can shower without burning eyes, they should be able to use their pool without burning eyes.

http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants ... ctants.cfm

I hate making blanket statements, mostly because we have some really good, quality, trustworthy, knowledgable pool service people here. But I know there are plenty of lazy, ignorant ones out there, as I've seen how some of my friends' pools are maintained. One friend has a pool guy that stops by once a week, throws a trichlor tablet in a skimmer, then leaves. Well, that's not completely true, he told him once he needed all new grids for his DE filter, put them in, charged him, then when I looked at them there was nothing wrong with the original ones at all.

Their pool guy has the easiest of the easy, a salt water pool. Pretty much all he has to do is check the chems (pH can climb on those systems, FC consumption changes throughout the year, CYA needs to be correct to hold FC), sweep the pool, check the filter pressures, then go. I will tell you I have yet to see the pool guy check the chemical levels on any of my friends' pools. It is impossible to keep a pool properly maintained without knowing what is in it and how it's reacting.

Even if they were to go to a non-chlorine system, if it's not properly maintained it's going to have trouble, and will end up causing the same issues they are complaining about now. In fact, from what I've read here, those systems are even more prone to going out of balance than a properly balanced salt water pool.

First step is a good test kit. It sounds like their water is all messed up. With the correct ph (gets rid or burning eyes) and keeping the CC's at zero (gets rid of smell and skin issues) chlorine works the best by far. Having a SWG as they do, will make maintaining the pool a snap. We're more than willing to help, but the first three steps are on you.

1. Read pool school
2. Order a good test kit
3. Post test results

My Inlaws used baquacil to stay away from the evil chlorine as my sister-in-law was "allergic" to chlorine. We switched to the BBB system last year (which a SWG fits into nicely). Needless to say, yesterday she spent all day in the pool with zero issues to her skin.

ok let me tell them. they have a salt water generator now and still have the problem bc i guess the guy doesnt know *** he is doing. thanks for the replies

the confusing part is that most of the posts i read about ozone were its overkill not that it doesnt work. other posts say it doesnt work on outdoor pools for some reason that i could not find. so i am a little confused about it all.

So why not get a new pool guy?

this is their 4th guy!

Their problem could be something as simple as PH level. It is a much more likely culprit along with CC than chlorine sensitivity.

would you be so kind as to point to the post that lays out the basics?

pool-school/pool_water_chemistry

Like I said above, the salt water chlorine generator will make pH creep up. Algae or other organics will make CCs go up. The pool guy should be checking these, plus the FC, at the very least. And you need to check CYA at least once to know where it is at because FC level depends on CYA level.