Question on Stenner system placement

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dschribs

Well-known member
Mar 14, 2013
382
CT
I am doing some research on going the Stenner route for chlorinating my pool.

I'm leaning towards the complete set up that's already assembled.

Looks like this:

TANK1.jpg

I have zero room on the exterior of my house near my filter/pool pump to place this assembly. I have a bulkhead door on one side and the corner of the house on the other side. So, I was thinking I would put the pump/tank assembly in the basement and drill a hole through the exterior wall for the chlorinating tube to exit. The assembly will be a few feet BELOW my pump and filter plumbing - since it will be in the basement - it's obviously below ground level. This will also keep the chlorine cool and out of the sun.

Does anyone see a problem with placing the system below the level of my pool plumbing? I'm just thinking from a pumping efficiency standpoint since the pump will need to send the chlorine up a few feet to get discharged into the pool plumbing.

Maybe I'm worrying for nothing but I just wanted to throw it out there for some opinions.

Thanks!
Dan
 
I don' know about the height difference, but the kit is far more expensive than ordering the parts from Locke Well and Pump or other online vendors, and most likely the kit would be shipped unassembled anyways....the assembly is nothing really- a few bolts.
 
I don't know what the head pressure would be but with the small tubing I would not think it would be much. I would just make sure you have a quality check valve at your injection site above the stenner. If the tubing failed you don't want to siphon your pool into your basement. Who are you looking at getting it from. It has been mentioned that their are places that you can get the whole kit part by part. I can tell you this. It will not be shipped as the picture. You will have to put it together but it's only a few bolts.
 
If you get the high pressure pump, I doubt you would have any issue with the elevation change. Like mentioned above, you would have to monitor it as a leak in the pump tube/discharge line could cause your pool to leak into your basement if the check valve malfunctioned. I would recommend changing the pump tube at least annually. That would also give you a test of your check valve since you would need to disconnect the discharge line to replace the pump tube.

I purchased mine from Cannon Water, the complete kit (45MPHP10 with 15gal tank) and it shipped completely assembled with the suction line/strainer installed and the pump mounted with rain roof installed. There were 4 screws that were installed for shipping protection only that you need to remove so the pump is removable from it's mount, but otherwise it was assembled. If you can find the components (tank, pump, rain roof, pump mounting bracket) cheaper, it really would be simple to assemble yourself.
 
Does the area of your basement have adequate ventilation? Bleach vapors are not as noxious as acid vapors but they can build up in a poorly ventilated area and cause corrosion issues. You could wind up having the basement smell like a laundromat.

You can separate the motor from the tank and have the motor wall mounted near the equipment pad and locate the bleach tank further away. One member here on TFP is actually going to bury his bleach tank (a 55 gal food grade drum) in the ground.
 
dschribs said:
I spoke to someone at Lockwell Pump and he said this was not recommended because the pump would fail prematurely...so there goes that idea.
Click to expand...

It would not be the pump that would fail. The pump sees no liquid. What would fail would be the tube between the rollers that really should be changed out yearly anyway. You may have an issue but your millage may vary. What Lockwell was getting at is once the pump turns off normally you would not have pressure on the injection side. The check valve would prevent that but your dealing with head pressure or gravity. I would not think it would be that much but that's your call. You said you do not have room at the pad. Do you have room for the pump and timed power at the pad. Sink a 4x6 at the pad and mount the pump on it. It can take the weather. You could run the suction side in conduit to the basement. That route I would run two pickup tubes from the tank to the pump. One to use and one as spare for a leak or clog. If not I would at least keep a pull string with the pickup tube.
 
I am from the school of thought if it's made by man it can and will break at some time. Say you buried your conduit and its 40' long with several bends. If you have room pull two. If and when you have a problem just switch to the other tube. No room for two pull the tube with a nylon pull sting also. This also does not need to be water tight at the pad. 90 up at the 4x6 with long radius would be best. Come up even to the top of where the pump will be then. The conduit will be open to rain and that's bad. A fix will be two 90's to make a U. Now it pointing down and less likely to get direct water in the conduit and down to the basement. You could even give it a dollop of silicone to seal it. I would glue all the other joints except for the "U" at the end.
 

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If you are price sensitive, purchase a used food-grade HDPE tank locally...especially if you decide to mount the Stenner independently from the tank. Look on Craigs list. They can be had for ~$20 for the smaller (35 gal) version to $35 for the 55 gal version. As Matt mentioned, I am the nut who buried his 55 gallon tank adjacent to my equipment pad. I think I paid $35 for mine. Paid my gardener to dig the hole and then put gravel and sand underneath and around the sides. I also surrounded the upper part of the tank with rigid foam to help shield the tank from the warmest part of the ground. Then built a cover for it. So far, it is working out great. I've now filled the tank and the overall LC temperature has remained ~54°F. Low enough that degradation over 3 months should be minimal.

IMG_0334.jpgIMG_0338.jpgIMG_0340.jpg
 
Update: I finally got all the parts to hook my Stenner to my cistern and pulling LC from the barrel was no problem. It took a while to prime, but once that was accomplished, the flow rate was spot on.
 
Stenner tubes (tank to equipment) do have a tendency to break under certain conditions and also as a result of age (sometimes not much). As others have suggested, keeping the pump above grade will reduce a lot of the flooding risk as a peristaltic pump should keep any pool liquid from going backwards towards your basement. Any break in the tube will result in s leak, but one that happens between the equipment and Stenner pump above grade.

One thing to note, because chlorine is so susceptible to degradation, I would try to cover/ insulate your tube runs if hey are long. Small amounts of chlorine sitting in tubes all day are extremely susceptible to temperature changes. If your tube run is long enough it may contain the entire days supply of chlorine for your pool. If each days supply gets cooked in the tube the exercise will be for not. I gave up dosing liquid chlorine and converted my Stenner to acid as I was experiencing too much degradation. That said I live in a Phoenix.
 
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