2023 pool season chlorine supply: should I buy now or wait until the summer?

[primuspaul]

Cheapest I've seen it is 200# of cal hypo tabs for $750. What are the predictions for the 2023 summer? Will it skyrocket during the summer months or will the prices ease a bit with BioLab's reopening?

Trying to decide if I should buy now or wait.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Your guess is as good as ours?
Can your pool use CalHypo without getting your calcium level too high? If so, fine. Liquid Chlorine contains no troublesome byproducts and is preferred.

Maddie

 

[Thehobe]

I just purchased liquid chlorine from Walmart for $5.46/Gallon and that was much cheaper than Home Depot's in-store price of >$15/2 gallon box in California. Three years ago, I was buying chloring for sale at $2.5/gallon (on sale) from my local Orchard Supply Hardware store. The inflation for chlorine is out of hand. Any ideas for a less expensive source?

 

[dfwnoob]

Any ideas for a less expensive source?

You're paying for it all at once, but moving to a SWCG is much cheaper than jug lugging given the current pricing.

 

[FloridaPoolGal]

We usually buy 10% chlorine from Home Depot or Lowes but we are up to about $9 per gallon in Central FL so we finally have to switch over to jug lugging (as someone said above). 2.5 gallon jugs (10%) at my neighborhood pool store (independently owned) are $6.40, including tax, so $2.56 per gallon. Soooo much cheaper that it's time to make the switch, as much as I hate to.

 

[FloridaPoolGal]

Does anyone know if there is a supply chain issue that is affecting the price of chlorine or just straight up price gouging?

 

[woodyp]

It's a conspiracy against pool owners. I just know it is.

 

[Newdude]

I'd bet the $5 a gallon diesel has at least something to do with it. Shipping 8.4 lb bottles isn't cheap.

 

[BDY]

IMHO the manufacturers never really reset the supply/demand for bleach post- COVID as well as many reformulated to the laundry additive bleach now found.. rather than pure bleach.

The second largest maker of chlorine had one of their major plants burn down in 2020 from Hurricane Laura and is still being rebuilt…

Would be interesting also to see if the drive to build home pools the last 3 years has also increased pool demand…

 

[Toxophilite]

If you indeed have a cal hypo tab feeder and are using those, you probably are overpaying for chlorine anyway. That market is more niche, mostly for sanitary tank use where stabilizer use would be redundant and undesireable, and not marketed to the larger pool market for chlorine tabs. Those tabs are way more expensive than dichlor or trichlor tabs. But, as for liquid, my local WalMart just lowered to $5.47 for 10%, and IIRC, that's lower than close of season last year.

 

[ss32000]

I've found that Menards is the best option for me with the liquid chlorine. Right now with 11% off it's $4.54 here in Illinois

Pro-Clor Liquid Pool Shock - 1 Gallon

 

[FloridaPoolGal]

It's a conspiracy against pool owners. I just know it is.

I'm starting to wonder! Being short one manufacturing plan could definitely explain some of the cost increase. The gallon jugs from Home Depot and Lowes have always been more expensive than the pool store but I hate dealing with those 2.5 gallon ones (which I get to wrestle when I'm doing my neighbor's pool when she's out of town). Just going to have to bite the bullet though. I went through some old posts to find a more manageable method to dispense the chlorine (especially out of a full jug) since I usually only need 24 oz. at a time. I found where someone suggested a hand transfer pump/siphon with the squeezy ball on it. Ordered one from Amazon so we'll see how that works.

 

[exarkun]

IMHO the manufacturers never really reset the supply/demand for bleach post- COVID as well as many reformulated to the laundry additive bleach now found.. rather than pure bleach.

The second largest maker of chlorine had one of their major plants burn down in 2020 from Hurricane Laura and is still being rebuilt…

Would be interesting also to see if the drive to build home pools the last 3 years has also increased pool demand…

That plant was for trichlor, not liquid chlorine. This plant supposedly reopened in November '22.

KIK Consumer Products Celebrates Grand Reopening of BioLab Lake Charles Facility

New state-of-the-art $250M trichlor facility reopens with significantly increased production flexibility and enhanced safety features, in readiness for 2023 pool season LAKE CHARLES, La., November 2, 2022 –KIK Consumer Products […]

www.poolmagazine.com

 

[jp4120]

i bought 20 gallons of the walmart liquid chlorine in April - not impressed with the quality but it is $5.30 a gallon for 10% chlorine while Leslies is $10 per gallon for 12%.....but as i said the walmart stuff doesn't last long at all and it could be old (who knows) so I will try Leslies next (I have had good results with Leslies liquid chlorine in the past but it used to be $20 for 4 gallons and is now $40 for 4 gallons).
Cal Hypo aka Leslies power powder plus is always on sale now so it seems like prices are coming down but they are still substantially higher than last year. In Aug 2022 i paid $143 for 25lbs of Cal Hypo on sale - now its on sale for $215 (from list of $270) for 25 lbs.
my question is will Cal Hypo and/or liquid chlorine be cheaper in the coming months or should i buy it now?

 

[Newdude]

my question is will Cal Hypo and/or liquid chlorine be cheaper in the coming months or should i buy it now?

If anyone knows that answer they should be playing lotto instead.

We can add automobile and home prices to the list as well.

 

[Oly]

Magic 8 ball says.....ask again in a few months.

 

[Shannon1966]

Buy now

 

[YippeeSkippy]

My intuition says "Buy a Salt System"

 

[jp4120]

haha - good answers - agree that prices coming down is a rare occurrence.
the conversion to salt is not a slam dunk decision - we are a 4 month season here in s/e PA (5/15 to 9/15)
- salt system installed costs about $2500 to $3000
- salt for 25000 gallons - 600 lbs for initial start up - $150 for 15 40 lb bags at home cheapo (about $8 to $10 each)
- not sure how much salt is needed yearly (i guess $100 but not sure)
- salt cell lasts 5 to 7 years - replacement $1000?

My chlorine costs are about $600 to $700 per year even with all the recent increases

so it seems pretty close over a 10 year period - 1 cell replacement. (hard to guesstimate with inflation but my initial thought is its not worth converting but wanted opinions)

 

[Newdude]

the conversion to salt is not a slam dunk decision -

It is on a large pool. Here's the maths for 25k gallons :

1 gallon 10% = 4ppm.

$5 jug = $1.25 per FC
$6 jug ($5.67 Walmart+ tax) = $1.50 per FC
$7 jug = $1.75
$8+ jug...... don't even.

An IC60 will make 9.6 FC per 24 hours or 4000 lifetime in 25k gallons.

At $3000 full PB install, that's $0.75 per FC, half that of cheaper than you'll likely find out the door $5 jugs.

Replacement cells at $1399 (today's price) would cost you *****$0.33**** per gallon. You'd make out on the first cell and clean UP on the future cells.

But.

BUT.

Not having to lug 1000 jugs of FC equivalent to what the IC60 will produce, is beyond priceless. Most would pay extra, forget about breaking even. 1000 gallons bought at Walmart today would cost $6710 after sales tax. (Used NY rate)

To recap:

Original cell, controller, install is a 2:1 savings. Replacement cells are darn near 5:1 savings. (Today)

*Pentair is spendy. While it's fairly accepted Circupool greatly overestimate their #s, if it's way low and only matches the IC60 output, it's a few hundred dollars cheaper and a better deal. If the #s do better than the IC60, it's all gravy in your pocket.