I'm tired of adding bleach everyday....but don't want to go to bromine. Can I float chlorine pucks?
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Chlorine Pucks
- Thread starter daveooph
- Start date
Yes you can BUT you need to know that each puck will add CYA to your pool. After a while your CYA will get too high and you will have to drain the pool and refill to lower your CYA.
There are ways to not have to add chlorine each day-SWG (salt water generator) or something like a Liquidator that will add chlorine to your pool using a pump. There are many threads about both of these.
Kim
There are ways to not have to add chlorine each day-SWG (salt water generator) or something like a Liquidator that will add chlorine to your pool using a pump. There are many threads about both of these.
Kim
Sorry I should clarify this is for 350 gallon above ground hot tub
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I am sorry. I did not even look at what section it was in. The same thing goes for the pucks though but even faster as there is less water to mix with it. BUT it would be faster to drain and refill so...............
Kim
Kim
- May 23, 2015
- 24,382
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Every 10ppm FC added from trichlor adds 6ppm CYA. 1" spa tabs are typically 0.5 oz and 3" pool trichlor pucks are typically 8oz. In a 350 gallon spa, one (1) 1" spa tablet of trichlor will raise the FC by 10ppm. Therefore every 1" spa tablet you float adds 6ppm CYA.
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- May 23, 2015
- 24,382
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
It should also be noted that trichlor is very acidic. One 0.5oz spa tablet will lower the pH by roughly 0.5 units. Trichlor's acidity will also reduce your TA. Assuming your TA is 60ppm and you have 50ppm borates, one 0.5oz spa tablet of trichlor can lower the TA by roughly 10ppm.
So over time with constant use, trichlor tabs will add too much CYA and dangerously lower your pH and TA (if you don't keep it in check). Low pH and TA can corrode metal parts and destroy heating elements.
So even though tablets might save you some time each day from dumping bleach in the spa, you will have to spend more time managing pH and TA to safely maintain your spa. So in the end, you're probably not going to save anytime using pucks AND you increase the risk of accidentally damaging your spa equipment.
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So over time with constant use, trichlor tabs will add too much CYA and dangerously lower your pH and TA (if you don't keep it in check). Low pH and TA can corrode metal parts and destroy heating elements.
So even though tablets might save you some time each day from dumping bleach in the spa, you will have to spend more time managing pH and TA to safely maintain your spa. So in the end, you're probably not going to save anytime using pucks AND you increase the risk of accidentally damaging your spa equipment.
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Trichlor also dissolves more quickly in hot water and in a small volume of water like a hot tub you can get your chlorine too high and pH too low pretty quickly. So you need to use a special feeder designed to be dialed down significantly. There are some like this for hot tubs that say they are for bromine or chlorine. They all have solid tops (i.e. you fill from the bottom) so that outgassing doesn't damage the hot tub cover. As Matt noted, you'll have to watch your pH and maintain your TA that will drop over time. Several hot tub manufacturers void their warrantees if you use Trichlor and it's mostly because of these risks as well as damaging hot tub surfaces due to the acidity of Trichlor where the feeder can park itself in one place especially if you don't have 24 hour circulation.
Well what I am reading from Math and chem geek I would NOT use pucks in a hot tub! Of course you can but..........sounds like more work and trouble than it would be worth.
Kim
Kim
Joyful is dead on but ^its not actually too bad IF you hapen to be allergic to bromine and never want sanitizer to zero out. However, I suspect for OP maintaining a background bromine level would be easier 
If there's a compelling reason to avoid bromine such as an allergy, its much more important to prevent ever zeroing out on hot tub sanitation than managing the cya, IMHO. In that case this is what maintaining it looks like (in my case) -- but while this approach affords the occasional miss on daily sanitation, I'd never let the hot tub sit a week without ph mgmt.
A) you use something like pentair's spa dispenser, which you can dial down to an 8th of an inch or less for slow residual release, eg 2-3 ppm so that you get about 20+ days out of a loaded dispenser that holds 7 1-inch tabs
B) ideally, you're soaking and running the jets daily (raises the ph back up a bit), on circ 24/7 (mine's auto and circulates every hour), test every other day to see if you need a bit of ph up...this avoids ph crash
C) you're willing to do partial water changes to reduce cya, which will accumulate monthly (see A...so by about 42 every 20 days)
And
D) I also add 2 oz liquid chlorine BEFORE I get in most days...normally you oxidize after, but I prefer to raise the FC before soaking due to higher cya levels that accumulate
Using this method, my skin is fine etc. Water crystal etc. I've experimented a good deal to get a balance that seems to work. Water changes in winter are a pita, but I do them or the cya gets crazy. I use a hose from inside my studio and add hot water in the deepest, snowiest parts of winter
SO that's what a working, always sanitized and not corrosive set up looks like. And the only reason I go through the hassle is because when I tried bleach alone there would inevitably be a day where I wasn't home, son plus friends would use hot tub etc. and it would zero out because more people used it than i'd dosed for. So the pita part is to ensure that others always have background sanitation even if they don't test or dose, if they're wearing suits and don't want to pour bleach, etc.
This part is important because while pseudomonas (hot tub itch) might suck the real danger of zeroing out is allowing things like legionella to grow in the pipes...a very real health hazard not to be fooled with.
If there's a compelling reason to avoid bromine such as an allergy, its much more important to prevent ever zeroing out on hot tub sanitation than managing the cya, IMHO. In that case this is what maintaining it looks like (in my case) -- but while this approach affords the occasional miss on daily sanitation, I'd never let the hot tub sit a week without ph mgmt.
A) you use something like pentair's spa dispenser, which you can dial down to an 8th of an inch or less for slow residual release, eg 2-3 ppm so that you get about 20+ days out of a loaded dispenser that holds 7 1-inch tabs
B) ideally, you're soaking and running the jets daily (raises the ph back up a bit), on circ 24/7 (mine's auto and circulates every hour), test every other day to see if you need a bit of ph up...this avoids ph crash
C) you're willing to do partial water changes to reduce cya, which will accumulate monthly (see A...so by about 42 every 20 days)
And
D) I also add 2 oz liquid chlorine BEFORE I get in most days...normally you oxidize after, but I prefer to raise the FC before soaking due to higher cya levels that accumulate
Using this method, my skin is fine etc. Water crystal etc. I've experimented a good deal to get a balance that seems to work. Water changes in winter are a pita, but I do them or the cya gets crazy. I use a hose from inside my studio and add hot water in the deepest, snowiest parts of winter
SO that's what a working, always sanitized and not corrosive set up looks like. And the only reason I go through the hassle is because when I tried bleach alone there would inevitably be a day where I wasn't home, son plus friends would use hot tub etc. and it would zero out because more people used it than i'd dosed for. So the pita part is to ensure that others always have background sanitation even if they don't test or dose, if they're wearing suits and don't want to pour bleach, etc.
This part is important because while pseudomonas (hot tub itch) might suck the real danger of zeroing out is allowing things like legionella to grow in the pipes...a very real health hazard not to be fooled with.
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