Chlorinator and copper piping

[yaryar]

Hey all,
First time pool owner here. Just finished having a filled-in pool renovated last week, and am in the start-up phase. Basically the pool had copper piping (1 1/2 inch) throughout. I replaced as much as possible with PVC, except for two 4-foot sections that go to the returns(I couldn't tunnel far enough down to replace those sections). So yesterday the pool company came out and installed a Rainbow 320 chlorinator for the pool, and this morning I'm reading that it shouldn't be used with copper piping. So am I OK with just having those small sections of copper along with the chlorinator???, or do I have to call the pool guy back out and tell him to remove it altogether. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Bama Rambler]

I'm afraid that the concensus you're going to get on this forum is that you should remove it but not because of the copper pipes.

The real issue of the chlorinator with copper piping is that the trichlor tablets are low pH and if you have a lot of flow through the chlorinator and low flow through the system you could leach copper from the piping.

 

[yaryar]

Spoke to the pool guy this morning and he said as long as we don't keep the chlorine level too high it should be OK, in addition to using the Sequacal(sp??) regularly. He didn't mention anything about the pH, so I wonder how much he's telling the truth, or maybe just doesn't know. He did mention that the old copper pipes that I replaced were 40+ years old and the insides of the pipes were almost like new, so that it shouldn't hurt, in addition to us only needing to run the pump for 10 hours a day(for a complete water turnaround). Oh well, I'll wait and see what other opinions I get, and then make a decision as to what to do.

 

[JasonLion]

It is critical to not let the PH get too low with copper. Keeping the PH up is important for other reasons as well, so it often goes without saying that PH will be maintained.