Calling all Canadians!

[Pooldoctor]

You have to make sure your AG pool has polymer top n bottom rail. That is for corrosion, once you know you do, then you can search out a properly sized unit. Unfortunately your AG is a big one, most AG SWG will not produce enough chlorine per day. You should look at one for IG pools. Hayward Aquarite with t15 cell would be my recommendation because they are easy to install, great warranties and with it being oversized you can get 10-12 years out of the cell. Poolsuppliescanada sells that unit at $1,399 I think. The difference between an AG SWG and a IG SWG is the addition of the flow switch for the IG units.

In our short season, with spring clean ups and fall lowering of water. You can easily use pucks and rarely have an issue with cya being to high.

Pucks are the cheapest most efficient way for us northerners. Liquid bleach costs could be over $300 a year, pucks could set you back $150. SWG plus the extra cya they require would cost around $150-$200 every year.

 

[Swampwoman]

Ex-pat here and my pool is in the states but Michigan and Ontario weather are the same and definitely seasonal

While tabs might be cheaper, they are a moving target in terms of CYA...so the question is do you want to use the TFP philosophy of maintaining a target cya and then dosing to the correct ratio to ensure sanitization (see the FC:CYA chart in my signature) and prevent algae, or do you want to fly blind, constantly trying to adjust to an ever-increasing cya level...with a product that adds 6 ppm cya per puck?

I've seen lots of folks here in Michigan struggle with algae by early August with cya at 100 or more. They end up in the pool store loop of adding more costly elixirs and still not getting ahead of it.

Further, if a pool is winterized correctly using the TFP method, you will not lose cya over the winter. If your cya zeros out, you'll be fighting ammonia. I open in spring with a FC residual and cya in tact. Its also not necessary to drain water on closing, and actually better for most liner pools to close using gizmo in skimmer box and duct plugs after blowing out the lines...keeps liner intact and from floating... in many areas of Ontario in particular, ground water pressure in spring is an issue.

For all those reasons, if my Canadian friends ask, the TFP method of liquid chlorine (or bleach) is what I recommend in Ontario, no ones ever reported a problem getting liquid chlorine from the pool store or hardware store.

The trick is getting the Taylor 2006 reagents inexpensively.

 

[Pooldoctor]

A lot of eastern Canadian pools can and do get along great with just pucks. Liquid chlorine in my area is brutally expensive. I completely agree with the rising cya being an issue but you have to remember a lot of our pools up here are only heated above 70 degrees for about 4 months. Those pools normally have a starting cya of around 30 ppm with the closing in fall and subsequent winter fill, than the vacuum to waste in spring. Most will only approach 80 ppm by the first of September, but the temps are falling off by then. I was merely pointing out cost wise for pucks being cheapest. Of course liquid is always best.

Closing pools without draining water below jets is asking for trouble with overflows. Any water that goes over the coping will cause issues by draining. Pool companies are skipping doing this step for one reason only, it gets the job done quicker. quicker means more pools per day, no pump require, just a blower.

 

[Swampwoman]

^i agree that people should determine their own comfort level with choosing to drain or not drain as there are two schools of thought on this. Standard TFP instruction for DIY closing indeed recommends it.

My pool is in a high water table with built-in drainage surrounding the pool and a part-solid/part-mesh cover. In this case my techs are more comfortable (though perhaps as you point out, lazy) leaving the level high to support the cover's snow load and keep as much pressure against the liner walls as possible. Perhaps they are also comfortable with the degree of water-tightness they achieve closing the lines and skimmer, and perhaps one day I will regret their confidence

The point of my post is that where possible, targeting a fixed cya level and then dosing with unstabilized chlorine is in essence the TFP method of pool management. To use the same method with pucks would require constant cya testing and attempting then to control the FC precisely to meet the FC:cya ratio below which the level should never fall.

It makes the treatment method a moving target. But if other options (eg liquid chlorine) truly aren't available it is still possible to at least test regularly and aim to adjust levels accordingly. But its not exactly "trouble free" to do so

 

[Pooldoctor]

If your techs are doing this to all pools regardless of cover or no cover, then you could have overflow/erosion issues. While safety cover standards state that water should be maximum 12" below to support it, I can attest to that being hogwash. If a heavy snowfall occurs before freeze up, that cover will stretch to its maximum going deep below the water and will in fact straighten the d rings on the springs. That being said, that height is only good if freeze up occurs before snowfall. If heavy rains happen after you close your pools this way, we both know the water will overflow said pool. Water can and will make its way down the backside of the pools causing erosion. Ask how many people have small indentations or gaps in their vermiculite. Vinyl tightness is the same whether you drain 4" below skimmer or do no draining at all. Have you measured your rainfall averages between the time you close your pools andfreeze up? A quick check shows your area can receive upwards of 10" before solid freeze up occurs. Using the TFP closing method, that brings your pool levels actually above the 12", but if your pools have no drain done at all, they are overflowing. Several companies started doing this when skimmer face plate plugs came out, only to save time and move on to the next pool. Open those pools in spring and you can see those same plugs floating in the pool. Allow a skimmer to fill completely with water, regardless if gizmo is in and it will crack once freezing occurs.

There is no question that liquid bleach is the absolute best way to keep a pool trouble free, however, some people just do not have the time or patience for it. Liquid chlorine for a 20,000 gallon pool up here can costs upwards of $400. I know, I have done it with my pool. SWCG would be the next easiest route, but the initial cash outlay scares some away. The fall back is pucks, no question a bad thing for year round pools, but relatively easy for short seasonal pools. A simple cya test mid season can determine if dilution is needed. In Canada, we rarely suffer the water woes of our southerly neighbors, so this drain refill isn't difficult. The weekly addition of poly 60 can aid those puck pools as well. Again, it's cheaper in these circumstances. If we had the liquid chlorine prices that exist in the states, I would certainly be pushing that method. Never mind I have serious issues with the amount of containers going somewhere.

 

[Swampwoman]

I don't know about the east coast, but I believe in Ontario there are some pool supply stores that, like mine in Michigan, sell refills of chlorine in either a carboy or in a four-pack of reused bottles. Not particularly cheap, but definitely kinder to the planet. I absolutely hate the waste of bleach bottles, which is why I go this route.
I have a Canadian friend who switched to TFP last year that gets them, so I'm guessing that'd be available in other metro areas for anyone interested.