My pool has an ionizer attached just before the return. Does any one know what it does?
This post contains a table comparing the kill times for chlorine (with roughly our recommended FC and CYA relative levels) vs. copper and silver. As you can see, there is no comparison, and copper doesn't kill fecal bacteria. If one were to use metal ions for even controlling bacteria growth, then one would use both copper and silver combined, copper mostly for algae and for some bacteria and silver for the fecal bacteria, BUT there's no reason to do this because chlorine kills both quickly as well as viruses, etc. You also need a chemical to oxidize your bather waste and chlorine does that, while metal ions (i.e. copper or silver) don't.
If you use an ionizer, you still need chlorine, but in a much lower concentration.
EPA and Health Canada approve 'copper ion releasing devices' with a chlorine concentration of 0.5 to 0.6 ppm vs. 3 - 5 ppm approved without one.
Copper is a very effective aglaecide which frees up the chlorine to kill bacteria. This allows you to safely reduce the concentration.
Some people prefer pools with less chlorine. It is a toxic chemical that some people are sensitive to. You could argue that copper is toxic too, but you would never reach toxic concentrations of copper with an ionizer.
If someone tries to sell you an ionizer as a 'stand-alone' sanitation system, they are full of it. It's not and no government body has approved it as such. However, it is a very effective solution for lowering overall chlorine requirements which many people like.
Potentially affected equipment include but are not limited to, washing machines containing electrodes that emit silver, copper, or zinc ions and ion generators used in swimming pools to kill algae and as an adjunct to the chlorination process.
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The articles covered by this notice are ion generators that incorporate a substance (e.g., silver or copper) in the form of an electrode, and pass a current through the electrode to release ions of that substance for the purpose of preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating a pest (e.g., bacteria or algae). Because these items incorporate a substance or substances that accomplish their pesticidal function, such items are considered pesticides for purposes of FIFRA, and must be registered prior to sale or distribution.
The EPA didn't used to require registration of ion generating equipment until this notice on March 21, 2008. Note that "Determinations as to whether a product is a ...while the minimum FC without such ionizers is NOT 3-5 ppm as Michael claims, but rather 1 ppm (that is consistent with both the EPA and with state codes though some state codes require a 2 ppm minimum when CYA is used). So the minimum required is cut in half. Also, as I noted, with CYA in the water the active chlorine level is far less than 1 or 0.4 and we operate our pools with an active chlorine level that is less than 0.1 ppm.
Michael,
If someone wants to run with a lower active chlorine level then there are other ways of doing that by controlling algae with Polyquat 60 algaecide or by using a phosphate remover (for situations where phosphates aren't constantly increasing such as from fill water high in phosphates). Neither of these have the risk of staining plaster surfaces nor turning blond hair greenish (see this paper) that can both happen when using copper ions. So why use copper and take such risks?
There are certainly bad apples in the ionizer bushel, but not all of them cause staining. That's like saying all cars explode when they're hit from behind because the 1971 Ford Pinto did that.
If you are worried about your plaster pool getting stained, don't use an ionizer. Or use one that's not built in someone's basement.
But if you have tile, vinyl, fiberglass or anything else, there is no worry of this, even if you build your own ionizer
As for staining of blonde hair, that probably happened once in 1983 and people are still worried about it. Relax - it's not going to happen if you buy an EPA or Health Canada approved ionizer. Again, just watch out for the cheapos!
If you believe that just try a search for green hair and you'll find plenty of examples of people asking how to fix green hair caused by metals in a pool way after 1983. Since you must have chlorine anyway it just doesn't make sense to have an ionizer. All it does is add extra cost.As for staining of blonde hair, that probably happened once in 1983 and people are still worried about it.
As for staining of blonde hair, that probably happened once in 1983 and people are still worried about it. Relax - it's not going to happen if you buy an EPA or Health Canada approved ionizer. Again, just watch out for the cheapos!
There are certainly bad apples in the ionizer bushel, but not all of them cause staining. That's like saying all cars explode when they're hit from behind because the 1971 Ford Pinto did that.