I've defected to the dark side! New peristaltic pump

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Got mine installed tonight!

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Just a note on Stenner pumps. I used to install chlorine injection/contact tank systems up north and installed auto chlorination on our old place. While we rarely used them up north for some reason they seem to be popular down here. Although not sure why, I guess folks in Florida like to buy parts.
My experience with Stenner's is their reliability is rather poor. Especially when exposed to sunlight for any great portion of the day. Even with "uv resistant" tubes, etc., I still saw the poly housing fail, rollers fail, and the tubes failed regularly - read: less than 90 days. Although I see Chikn's is located in a much cooler clime and indoors. Here the heat just kills em indoors or out.
The Stenner I installed at our old place down the road got to be such a pain that I threw it out, installed a Pulsafeeder and never had a lick of trouble in two years. Not to mention that a Pulsafeeder has auto degas so you know you're always pumping liquid for greater consistency. For the difference in price a good diaphram pump seems to be the better choice simply from a repair cost/reliability standpoint.
Anyone having similar issues?
btw I did find hypochlor tabs w/o CYA here http://www.intheswim.com/Commercial-Products/Chlorine-and-Bromine/3-Cal-Hypo-Tablets/
 
I've only been around metering pumps for about 30 years and have had exactly the opposite experience. Granted we used them on acid and water treatment chemicals (not chlorine) but the diaphragm pumps were a constant headache replacing parts while the peristaltic pumps just sat out and ran. I know where there are 4 Stenner pumps sitting out in the elements that are over 3 years old still running. 2 pump caustic and the other 2 HCL. Maybe it's the chlorine that kills them. I'll post how long mine lasts pumping 6% bleach.
 
Wow! I've only been around em 20 or so years but the usage wasn't industrial or utility, simply for rual homes/apartments on shallow wells w/ choloform/organic iron problems. Those pumps were generally used in conjunction with large contact tanks to obtain desired chlorine to contaminate contact times and almost exclusively used as a chlorine feed. Perhaps the dwell time associated with the application and feed media was to blame there.
On the larger units, apartment buildings and such, we used hydraulically actuated feeders.

Dave, presumably your feeder only runs in conjunction w/ main pump runtime correct?

Just my personal experience here where it's really hot for 6+ months a year left a bad taste in my mouth for the Stenner units. They simply couldn't stand the sun+heat+chemical it seems. After a year of putting parts in one I could have bought another one.
 
Well, time will tell how these last. Thanks for your insight in any case. The Stenner pumps sure seem like a quality unit (fit/finish/heft/etc) but I have zero experience with them. I just hope it won't turn into a PITA, which is exactly what I was trying to avoid by going this route.

Also, thanks for the link to the Calcium Hypochorite tabs, kinda wish I would have known about those sooner as no one seemed to think they existed, or possibly these aren't quite the same thing. I did notice that they are 65% chlorine, not sure what the other 35% is. Anyone using these in a feeder?
 

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Here's what geek told me in another post. Hope it clears it up.

chem geek said:
The main reason Trichlor pucks/tabs are so popular is that they are the only reliable slow-dissolving form of chlorine. There are also Cal-Hypo tabs, but they require more fillers to bind them together and tend to fall apart as they get smaller. Unfortunately, there is no slow-dissolving tablet form of chlorine that does not have the side effect of increasing CYA, as with Trichlor, or CH as with Cal-Hypo. There is also Dichlor, but that's only in powdered form and increases CYA even faster than Trichlor for the same chlorine amount. That's just the way the chemistry works.

There is a solid form of chlorine, lithium hypochlorite, that doesn't have these side effects, but it only comes in powdered form and it is very expensive.

quote]

In my case the added CH wouldn't hurt but I still think the clear winner is plain ol' chlorine injection. After awhile w/ hypochlor tabs I think you'd get a CH build up - much like the CYA build up from trichlor.

As an aside, I did notice today that there is a tap in the bottom side of my tab chlorinator that I think would be an ideal place for my injector/ck valve. Not sure if they all have that but it might be worth a look. Beats the c/rap outta doing extra plumbing.
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Thanks for the clarification Doug, that helps. On my tab feeder I also noticed a plug, but in my case I think it is intended to be a drain plug...at least that is what I've used it for in the past. I didn't actually look it over any further to see if it had another place to possibly install something. My application was extremely easy to do as it is just flex tube that cuts really easy, and I then just spliced in the new tee...way easy.
 
jdp39 said:
As an aside, I did notice today that there is a tap in the bottom side of my tab chlorinator that I think would be an ideal place for my injector/ck valve. Not sure if they all have that but it might be worth a look. Beats the c/rap outta doing extra plumbing.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, I will have to look into that. I do not plan to use them in conjunction, so might be an option. Any thoughts?
 
I'll bet it is a drain but as the chlorinator is above waterline once you crack the top it should drain anyhew. My thought was simply to keep plumbing to a minimum and in addition keep the tab unit in place for trichlor in case my CYA drops. I think a quick way to intro CYA thru trichlor tabs would be to simply use the broken pieces you get in bottom or break a few up to increase surface area of the tabs. I have almost half a bucket laying here and it ain't cheap. You could always shut down feed pump during the process.
Miscellaneus ramblings.
 
jdp39 said:
I'll bet it is a drain but as the chlorinator is above waterline once you crack the top it should drain anyhew. My thought was simply to keep plumbing to a minimum and in addition keep the tab unit in place for trichlor in case my CYA drops. I think a quick way to intro CYA thru trichlor tabs would be to simply use the broken pieces you get in bottom or break a few up to increase surface area of the tabs. I have almost half a bucket laying here and it ain't cheap. You could always shut down feed pump during the process.
Miscellaneus ramblings.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I was thinking. I have no idea what my CYA will look like at the beginning of next season, so I might want to start with the left over pucks I have.

It is also a pretty fool proof way to get chlorine into your system if you need to be away for an extended period. I think it would be a lot easier to shut down the pump and have someone check the feeder every week rather than ask them to pour 15 gallons of bleach into a barrel.
 
Due to the GOBS of rain we received over winter and spring, my CYA went down by almost 1/2 this year (because I had to drain so stinkin' much water off)! I too have about 1/2 a bucket of 3" pucks, plus a bucket of dichlor, which I'm sure I'll use as time goes by. I just checked my CYA the other day and it is right about 40, maybe 45 (a little subjective on the test you know), so no more CYA for me this year.
 
Bama Rambler said:
There shouldn't be any issue putting it close to either. There shouldn't be any large holes in the drum and the bleach won't be highly volatile and won't be fuming very much at all.
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How long can the feed tube be that goes to the pool plumbing? I am considering the feeder pump route but would like to put the 15 gal tank of bleach and feed pump in the basement to keep it cool and secure. The feed tube would need to be approx 25-30 feet to get to the pool plumbing outside.

Thanks,

Jay
 
25 to 30 feet on the discharge side isn't a concern. It can easily be that long or even much longer.

25' of suction lift is the limit on the suction side but I've never seen an installation that came even close to that.
 

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