Another Stenner install

[Poolray]

Call it Stenner for cheap-skates, because that's how I roll.

After reading almost everything in TFP about automated chlorination, I decided that the Stenner was the best overall option for us. The thing that bothered me though was the price and dimensions of the Stenner tanks. So I looked around and came up with a pretty reasonable alternative, and I'm sure others have come up with very similar setups.

One thing I have to say is that I was pretty surprised at the size and heft of the Stenner pump when it arrived. I knew the dimensions but was still picturing something smaller and lighter. This is a serious piece of machinery! The optional rain roof doesn't fit on the planned horizontal mount setup, so I zip tied some left over solar panel material to protect the unit from excessive sun and rain. You can pretty much throw anything on there, like a cut up plastic jug as long as there is space for air movement.

I found a blue 15 gallon tank at glasswatersystems.com for 50 bucks.

Everything else is very straight forward. I positioned the pump on the tank so there is no interference between the chlorine lines and filling area.

Here's the cost breakdown:

Stenner 85MPHP17	$208	Locke Well & Pump
15 gal. Polyethylene tank	48	glasswatersystems.com
Woods 50015 timer	19	Home Depot
Mounting hardware	6

Total - $281, which is below the $300 I was shooting for.

I plan to dispense 3 times a day, noon, 3PM, and 6PM. This leaves a 3 hour buffer at both ends for clock skewing with the pump timer which is on from 9AM to 9PM. As this is a totally chlorine-novice effort, please feel free to add any advice or constructive criticism.

 

[joshua5438]

Nice setup. I think that will work out just fine. I like the tank... Still weighing my options before I purchase but everything keeps leading me back to the Stenner pump.

 

[JohnT]

How do you plan to keep chlorine from being injected if one of your timers gets off on time? That Woods timer is going to inject chlorine at the set times regardless of whether the pool pump is on.

 

[garyengr]

How do you plan to keep chlorine from being injected if one of your timers gets off on time? That Woods timer is going to inject chlorine at the set times regardless of whether the pool pump is on.

I worried about this during planning of my install. Other moderators on this site convinced me this was not an issue. The timer in my pump and the timer on the Stenner clocks are very accurate and maintain time accurately even during power outages. I have seen at most a +/- 1 minute change over a couple of months. I have been adjusting the clocks in both approximately quarterly.

Gary

 

[camueller]

I worried about this during planning of my install. Other moderators on this site convinced me this was not an issue. The timer in my pump and the timer on the Stenner clocks are very accurate and maintain time accurately even during power outages. I have seen at most a +/- 1 minute change over a couple of months. I have been adjusting the clocks in both approximately quarterly.

Gary

I'm in the same boat and plan to operate my Stenner 10gpd on a woods wifi enabled timer I got from Amazon for $30. But I'm going an even cheaper route to get started for the storage tank, just a 5 gallon HDPE bucket. At a roughly half gallon a day appetite for chlorine, 5 gallons should give me 10 days, and that's plenty for me.

But regarding the timers getting out of sync, I don't see the worry, as long as you aren't trying to time the stenner to start and stop exactly with the pump. Plan for a much shorter run time of your stenner than of your pool pump, aim the stenner for running in the middle of the larger window, and any time fluctuations shouldn't matter much. Only way I could see issues is if you lose electricity a lot. I don't.

 

[Poolray]

It's a concern because the pool pump is on a mechanical timer. If the power goes out for a few hours, then it's possible the Stenner will inject chlorine into a non-running system when the power comes back. In that case, the chlorine will dilute with the water still in the pipe and slowly drift down towards the pool. I've asked myself, what's the worst that can happen?, and I guess worst case is someone can get a bleached bathing suit if they are near the return when the filter pump comes back on. I'll see how it goes, maybe I'll replace the mechanical timer with a digital one if it looks like a problem.

 

[camueller]

It's a concern because the pool pump is on a mechanical timer. If the power goes out for a few hours, then it's possible the Stenner will inject chlorine into a non-running system when the power comes back. In that case, the chlorine will dilute with the water still in the pipe and slowly drift down towards the pool. I've asked myself, what's the worst that can happen?, and I guess worst case is someone can get a bleached bathing suit if they are near the return when the filter pump comes back on. I'll see how it goes, maybe I'll replace the mechanical timer with a digital one if it looks like a problem.

That's along my line of thought as well. Fortunately for me, if my power went out for more than 10 minutes it would be a pretty significant event and I don't think it would be too hard for me to remember to go out and make sure the mechanical timer is still set properly.

To be honest, I check my mechanical timer for the correct time every time I open the cover to manually activate it. I just don't see it being an issue very often, and even if it did, it would inject a small amount of bleach into my pvc return line that would eventually get hit with a blast of water that would likely dilute it so much that even if a swimmer was pressed against the return jet they probably still wouldn't get bleached.

 

[JohnT]

It's a concern because the pool pump is on a mechanical timer. If the power goes out for a few hours, then it's possible the Stenner will inject chlorine into a non-running system when the power comes back. In that case, the chlorine will dilute with the water still in the pipe and slowly drift down towards the pool. I've asked myself, what's the worst that can happen?, and I guess worst case is someone can get a bleached bathing suit if they are near the return when the filter pump comes back on. I'll see how it goes, maybe I'll replace the mechanical timer with a digital one if it looks like a problem.

The bleaching action isn't the only concern with liquid chlorine. It's also very corrosive, so equipment like your pump or a heater could be damaged by having liquid chlorine injected without water flow.

Seems to me the very best option is a 240VAC repeat cycle timer powered by the same timer that runs the pump. Even then you could have trouble if you have a pump failure.

 

[mikespoolfl]

If the heads of the bolts are in the tank not sure how long they will last being exposed to the chlorine.

 

[rphpool]

If the heads of the bolts are in the tank not sure how long they will last being exposed to the chlorine.

Beat me to it! Was thinking same thing.

 

[Poolray]

If the heads of the bolts are in the tank not sure how long they will last being exposed to the chlorine.

I bought stainless steel. That's the $6 in mounting hardware. They are 10-24 button head allen cap screws, and under that is a neoprene washer to keep it water tight from above.

 

[gary300]

I bought stainless steel. That's the $6 in mounting hardware. They are 10-24 button head allen cap screws, and under that is a neoprene washer to keep it water tight from above.

Depending upon the type of SS in the bolts, they could still be corroded by chlorine fumes in the tank. I would replace those bolts with plastic bolts LIKE THESE.

 

[Poolray]

Depending upon the type of SS in the bolts, they could still be corroded by chlorine fumes in the tank. I would replace those bolts with plastic bolts LIKE THESE.

They are the Home depot variety of stainless, so I may be looking at plastic replacements soon enough. Thanks for the tip.