the clorine geni

[Ohm_Boy]

Yeah.... nice. I was thinking about writing:

I am going to go get one. I'll simply connect it to my pool and add less than $10 worth of salt. I'll amazingly save at least %60 in electricity over a conventional SWG systems, while avoiding all the problems they have! It will trickle chlorine into my pool in a consistent manner, and I will of course add the other necessary chemicals needed for normal pool maintenance. My cell will deliver years of dependable service, unlike conventional SWG systems which only supply chlorine when the pump is running, and are constantly exposed to  pool water, which can lead to scaling and shortening their life. Since the Chlorine Geni's cell is only exposed to tap water which has been filtered via a reverse osmosis membrane, and will not contain harmful minerals which can cause scale or pitting of the surface of the cell's electrodes, the cell longevity will be increased dramatically. And since the salt is only contained within the unit itself, there will be none of the well-documented negative effects of corrosive salt water on the pool, its fixtures, or equipment, and therefore no chance of voiding the warranty of expensive, hard to replace equipment. My pool will also no longer be exposed to the caustic by-products of chlorine generation, as all of the excess lye and other undesirable chemicals are simply and effectively collected in a containment tank. And the best part will be that I can easily adjust the chlorine levels to match the specific needs of my pool with the touch of a button! I will never have to shock or try to handle dangerous, or even deadly poisons to treat algae, as this unit will provide all the chlorine needs of my typically-sized residential pool. Of course, my water sanitization provisions will no longer be linked to my pump and filter run times, and I will be free to establish my pump timing to satisfy the filtration needs of my pool, comfortable in the knowledge that I will always have crystal clear, sparkling water, safe from contaminition and algae-free. I can breathe easily never again having to worry about the safety of my family, especially any children or elderly family members, and that my pool will be properly and effectively for many, many years of faithful service.

But I decided that it sounded too ordinary. I'll stick with bleach.

 

[Ohm_Boy]

That probably came off as callous and judgmental. I apologize if I've offended anyone.

 

[Guest]

Long Time Pool Gal,

Just curious, what kind of electromechanical background do you have?

 

[Poolsean]

Ohm boy, I think you're safe. lol

 

[long time pool gal]

To answer about my electrical-mechanical engineering knowledge: father was an EE, and a physicist, designed guidance systems for Lockheed and taught my brother and I about electricity and reading schematics before we left grade school. I attended college, but found the challenge of mechanical enginnering more to my liking. Family members in the following union trained trades of plumbing, electrical and automotive complemented my own carpentry skills, so you can imagine we rarely hire contractors, preferring to do the work ourselves. Installed our pool, the plumbing, the electrical, the composite wood decking, (always to code) all myself. As a child, our pool was a "boomerang" shape, 25 ft wide, over 100 ft long on the big side, 10 1/2 ft deep. (Almost as big as the pool at my high school!) My own backyard pool is a med sized Doughboy, 16 x 32, down to 7ft deep, (15000 gallons or so) with 1000 sq ft of Trex around it. We have a Hayward Super pump, 1.5 hp, with a Perflex 75 DE filter. Located in sunny Calif, we use only a solar cover, but do have plans to pursue installing a solar mat in the filtration system in the future. We are fortunate to be able to throw a valve and drain off the "used" DE from the filter (for cleaning) to an area behind our yard where the plants abosolutely love the stuff.
Thanks for asking....

 

[Guest]

Wow,

Impressed with the credentials. Where are you located, I travel all over California, maybe I can stop by and check out your geni?

 

[Darkside of the Pool]

We have had the unit working for over a year, and do not have any of the problems or expense normally associated with a SW pool system. The stabilizers in dry chlorine that can cause the cyanuric levels to rise are no longer an issue. As for shocking anyone, the electrodes are inside, in housings that cannot be touched or even seen.

That part makes us suspicious. It is not something a satisfied customer would simply let out, this is a sale pitch.
A bad one at that because:

Problems and expenses of SWCG? With a life span of at least 5 years, you replace the cell 3 times for a 20 years lifespan, for about 500$ each time, for someone who do a bit of research, buying a system brand new, with the salt included, should come across 2500$ tops. still 500 below the Djinn.

The stabilizer in dry chlorine. 'Kay, because you'll find a lot of advocates to ''use dichloro-only in your pool'' here. Most use bleach, and even around here, Calcium-Hypo is FAR more common. I aknowledge this also bring other problems, but still...

Lastly... why keep fighting? If you can't fight them join them. A simple ''If you say so...'' would have made you a lot more plausible than credentials: With those you could have engineered your own system and saved you (at least) 1500$.

 

[vln]

Come on guys, I seriously doubt she is sales pitching. Yes, her first post was suspicious, but after her most recent, I really don't think so.

Sounds like a nice pool though, gal! Mind showing a couple of pics?

 

[long time pool gal]

Boy, you people are so skeptical! I AM NOT A SALESMAN OR IN MARKETING FOR THE CHLORINE GENI, for goodness sakes! I am only trying to give you the most technical first hand knowledge of a consumer. You all sound pretty knowledgeable about different SW systems, with no one having direct working experience with this one, so I thought perhaps I could offer some input to this forum. I am not trying to get anyone to buy one of these, only to explain how it works, because someone had posted a question. And yes, I could have probably come up with something of my own, but as I said, I DID NOT SPEND A LOT TO PURCHASE THIS, and will recoup my investment within months. I admit, someone purchasing one of these at full price, would have to be spending more than $175.00 a year on chlorine products to make it cost effective. (I would not have been able to buy one at full price)
Perhaps I can figure out how to post some photos of how mine is installed, so you can see for yourself.

 

[Ohm_Boy]

I apologize. I was reacting to the verbiage of your post, and I should not have jumped to judgment. I do tend to be a somewhat crude cr@sshole; it's something of a character flaw that my family has had to learn to live with.

 

[vln]

deleted

 

[Guest]

I'm not sorry, I am still waiting for the answer on how much brine waste from the RO section of this system. The "Bad" water from RO has to go somewhere, How much are you wasting?????

 

[Darkside of the Pool]

When you post through the ''Reply'' button, Under the area where you type your post, there's an area called ''upload attachment''.

Otherwise, this level of knowledge and references to problems other systems may or may not have, especially since you ''bought'' it yourself, not through a salesperson (which would have been either WAY above average, or just spewing out technical data to confuse you) makes sure I remain skeptical.

Especially if you consider there wasn't a third party to feed you the ''all chlorine is stabilized'' nonsense.

When customers who bought a SWCG comes to me to learn how to operate their whole system, most of them don't even know a SWCG makes chlorine out of salt. Sales arguments turn around how more simple it'll be, the difference in texture, not the technical data.

But if there was no one to sell its different perks, where did you get the infos?

a) Took a guess when buying it, then studied the machine?
- Even with a discount, it would have been too much of a risk. If you can't afford the machine new, you can't afford it used without some form of warranty, which I doubt you'd have gotten from Craiglist.

b) Took the infos from the internet?
- Either you fall on a forum like this one or you stumble on the pitfalls the internet offers. Or you stumble luckily on their internet address. This very subject of this very forum is the 2nd, after http://www.thechlorinegeni.net/, suggestion Google gives. If you had searched for an alternate option for SWCG, we'd probably speak about Ecosmarte's ionizer which is way more viral than Chlorine Geni.
((Third is http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=9738, and to sum up everything said in there by the time this post is made...
(Poolsean): ''Similar systems were used years ago, under the names of Unichlor or Porpoise.
This approach prevents any concerns with salt added to pools and the complaints of salt degradation. Actual reasons on this is debatable... However, this does not provide the same "feel and comfort" of adding the salt to the pool. This also does not have the "shocking" effect on combined chlorine as takes place with a SCG cell.''))

c) Took the infos from a salesman prior from checking Craiglist?
Well, the one page internet address shows Dan Tucker, inventor, CEO, and spokeperson for the Chlorine Geni. While his videos are quite detailed, there is no mention whatsoever of any retailer for the Chlorine Geni. Also, although it might or might not be Mr. Tucker's preferences, being both the spokeperson and CEO, without showing off an affiliation with a few stores lead to believe he has a very limited sales/marketing team, if any.

That said, if he did have such a satisfied customer, that said customer might feel compelled to share the wondrous benefits since it seems to be a company starting off.

Odds are as good that we're talking to Mr. Tucker himself... either way, if ''Long time pool gal'' is either him, an employee, a member of his family, or simply a customer satisfied by Mr. Tucker's product, it would do much more good for both this forum and his company if he could show up as ''Mr. Tucker - In the industry''. I'd consider using that phone number that gave you confidence so he can give us confidence in his product himself.

Few people are turned away from this forum as long as what they say is coherent and I do believe his system might have some nice perks and some drawbacks. Like almost any option on this Earth. Showing up honest would place him one step in front of those snake oil vendors. The system is not a new concept (which gives some credibility) BUT the differences with a regular SWCG could end up making it a better choice for some of us.

[Edited to correct translation mistakes]

 

[long time pool gal]

I am not Mr. Tucker, nor have I ever spoken directly to him. Nor am I a member of his family, or an employee. I have no agenda other than to pass along the information I thought this forum might be interested in hearing/learning about this product from someone actually using it. It is what it is, a "different" method of generating your own chlorine. (I still consider my pool NOT to be a true "salt water" pool, as the salt is not IN the pool, and that the pure chlorine is trickled into my pool now instead of me dumping it in, or having it dissolved from a chlorinator.) I purchased my unit from an "original" buyer. I had already read as much as I could before the pruchase, (from the website, to familarize myself with the technology and method of operation) and then had a load of questions to ask the owner. I had already heard experiences about how other SW systems work, with the good and not so good benefits from friends and family who have them. When his level of knowledge was not sufficient, and I had questions about the installation, I contacted the Chlorine Geni people and they forwarded me the unit's owners manual, (including all the installation information), and where an explanation details about how it works. They were very helpful to answer all my questions. When I had a line blockage in my unit, they dispatched a field service tech to my home (at a service call fee to me) who came and gave me insight on the maintenance and care for the unit for the future. I do not have a warranty on the unit, which is why it was so very important to learn as much as I could about how the unit functioned. IF you are still suspicious of my intentions to pass along information only, then that's your problem. If anyone else is still interested in the method of operation, or the technology behind this unit, then they can go to the website or videos as I did, or call them, as I did, with my questions. There is a retailer selling the unit located in the Central Valley, according to the website, but I have no firsthand knowledge about them. (And once again, I AM NOT affiliated with these people in any way, whatsoever.)
About the chlorine comment:
I was told, and have read that all non liquid forms of chlorine have a stabilizer in them to prevent degradation. I also read that these additives have a direct impact on the CYA readings. After a new liner was installed, and we had added brand new water, and a short time of using our inline chlorinator (3" tabs), our CYA levels were way too high. We could not get it to come down significantly even after draining the pool halfway, so that is when I started my search for a way to chlorinate the pool without the stabilizers. Not wanting to be restricted to purchasing liquid chlorine, (Ouch! $$$) or putting salt into my pool, the Chlorine generator unit seemed like a workable option for me.

As for my knowledge of pools and the chemicals, I have had pools myself for over 45 yrs, and, yes it is possible to learn about pool chemistry from the internet, and visit forums such as this one for advice and questions, but I did not.

 

[vln]

You can find bleach for $1 in Aldi's and discount stores...

Also Cal Hypo adds Calcium Hardness, not CYA so not all non-liquid forms of chlorine add CYA.

Also also, why bother stating "pure" chlorine? Please provide pictures.

 

[long time pool gal]

If I could figure out how to attach a file to this posting, I could attach the units manual so you could learn for yourselves. The only connections to the unit are 1) incoming water 2) outgoing drain, which is the by product of the chlorine generating process and finally 3) the chlorine line that goes directly to your pool. And, of course, the AC power for the unit.

The drain can either be left closed or open, your choice, but the option you choose can affect the ph reading. And yes, bleach is about a dollar a gallon, but I think I am making much more chlorine for a lot less money with this unit, or I wouldn't have given it such consideration.

 

[duraleigh]

This topic is pretty interesting and informative to many on the forum.

I hope each participant will be courteous in their replies so the thread can continue in a manner that Troublefreepool.com is well known for.

 

[vln]

Isn't it ugly to have that huge blank tank next to the pool? I would imagine you can put it someplace else and just run the line to the pool, it would be easier.

 

[chem geek]

Quite frankly, if I was able to purchase such a unit for a great price (much < $500) and assuming it worked reliably, I'd probably get one as well, just for the convenience. I wouldn't want the unit visible (same concern as vln had) so would instead have to figure out how to plumb it in more like The Liquidator. However, at $2000 or so, it's not worth it. I spend $15 per month on chlorine and some acid for my 16,000 gallon pool so the only reason I'd change is for the convenience of not buying 4 gallons of 12.5% chlorinating liquid every month from my local pool store.

 

[long time pool gal]

The location placement was one of my primary concerns as well. (I did not want to see a big ugly black tank staring at me next to my pool!) Since the unit uses gravity to trickle the chlorine into the pool, I did not want it any further away than necessary.) I was able to put the unit outside of my "pool" shed, next to my back fence corner, some 20 ft from my pool edge. I was able to put all the installation tubing (water supply, drain, chlorine line) and the ac cord through the shed side. Once inside I was able to make the ac connection, plumb the drain to an existing drain line for my pool system, then thread the chlorine and water supply under my decking directly to the pool. The incoming water was connected to my house through a faucet. I drilled a small hole right under the top of my skimmer (still under my deck) and pushed the chlorine line tubing through until I had a several feet sticking into my pool. I then took a small chlorine "floater" and drilled a small hole for the tubing. So.....the chlorine trickling into my pool is not able to be touched without opening up the top of the floater. We can do so at any time to validate that the unit is indeed putting chlorine into the water. I felt safer installing it in this manner than just laying a piece of tubing on my deck, hanging over the edge, dripping chlorine into the pool. And yes, if the unit had cost me $500 or more, I probably wouldn't have even considered it as well.