Chlorine Dosing

[LI poolguy]

I'm a newbie and so glad that I stumbled upon this site. I've been lurking for a few weeks now have learned a lot. I can guarantee that if I did not find this place, I would have every WRONG chemical and gadget that the local pool store sells!! My only regret is that I did not find this place before I bough my pool. Thank you TFP!

MY pool is brand new, it was installed this past fall. It was filled with water, a few bags of shock were thrown in and a few pucks were in the floater. At closing, 2 weeks later, an algaecide (poly 30 if remember) and a stabilizer were dumped in, allowed to circulate for a day then covered. BEFORE I open it and dump Pool Store "stuff" in, I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing. IMHO, it's easier to "make" water, than it is to "fix" water. My main concerns pertain to CYA. As the use of a SWG voiding my warranty, the salesman sold me an inline chlorinator. Thinking this was the easiest kind of dosing maintenance, I bought it. Since then, I have been reading of the use of Trichlor pucks and the respective CYA increases. This is really leading me to shy away from the Trichlor pucks. However, I would still like to use to the inline chlorinator. Other than calcification inside the chlorinator (which can be cleaned/dissolved by soaking it in white vinegar for an hour or two) would there be any problems/issues with using the 3" Cal-Hypo pucks in the unit or in a floater? From reading, it seems the Calcium build up is a lesser evil than the CYA build up. I would love to go the BBB method, but unfortunately this upcoming summer has me all over the map and I will not have the daily time to devote to it. Thanks in advance for any help.

Chris

 

[Richard320]

Vinyl pools can get scale from excess Calcium, and you won't be able to scrub it off using a wire brush. While vinyl pools don't care about low CH, high CH can still be a problem.

I'll ignore the SWG / Warranty thing and just say it sounds like BS.

Your best bet is liquid bleach. It's not that big a deal. Within a couple weeks of daily care, you'll have your pool's personality figured out to where you can get by on lazy days by just pouring in the usual dose. Even if you test FC and use the Pool Calculator every day, it's only a couple minutes.

 

[LI poolguy]

From the website... "Doughboy highly discourages the use of saltwater chlorine generators on steel framed pools and the use of these products voids the Doughboy pool warranty". However, if you were to look up my pool on DB's website, it is listed as a resin frame pool, but the walls are still steel. So I'm still not sure about it. I've spent (to me) a lot of money on this thing and don't want it to rust out prematurely. Never have owned a pool before, so you can see why I would be a little hesitant to go against the manufacturer. If someone can prove there is no acceleration of corrosion from a SWG then I may consider it. I live near the ocean, I see the effects of salt on metal all the time.

As for adding the bleach, I'm going to be away for days/weeks at a time. This is why I was asking about Cal-Hypo. What is the high range of CH that can be in a vinyl pool?

 

[JasonLion]

Cal-hypo won't help you in any way I can think of, unless you get one of the very rare cal-hypo tablet dispensers (which are completely different from the usual tablet dispensers). Cal-hypo will not work in any normal tablet dispenser, and dissolves way to quickly to help that situation in any other way.

You will probably lose the warranty, which is something worth thinking about, but a SWG is extremely unlikely to damage the pool in any way. Many many people have Doughboy pools with SWGs and problems are exceedingly rare.

With a SWG it is practical to be away for days at a time, but it is not practical to be away for weeks at a time. A week is about the limit for how long a pool can be ignored, regardless of what level of automation you purchase, and even a week gets a little iffy if you do it over and over again. About the only thing that is at all likely to work for multiple more than a week periods away in one season is to leave the pool covered with a solid cover while you are away.

Another option for chlorine would be a peristaltic pump feeding bleach.

 

[LI poolguy]

Ok, so my idea of cal-hypo is not a good one. IF having a SWG is ok, then what inexpensive model (with a timer) would be acceptable for me? Unfortunately, keeping the pool covered for the summer is not an option. Wifey says "no way"! Problem is, I can't count on her to keep track of water chem. Besides, it would be nice to come home and have a drink, swim and cigar next to pool. Would the AquaTrol or CompuPool be ok, or is there something less expensive I could use?

Yes, I know, this is something that should have been thought about before I purchased a pool, but I did not know any better and did not know about the resources here at TFP.

 

[LI poolguy]

Went back to the place where I bought the pool, and after speaking, it was decided, being that the pool is brand new, that a SWG would jeopordize the warranty. With that said, my new option is using a stenner pump/tank for for dosing. Being the pool is approx 6500 gallons, would the 7.5 gallon tank be a good choice or do I need the 15 tank? The Pool Calc, at 3 ppm per day loss, has me at less than a quart a day a day of bleach. The Fixed Rate pump would be controlled via a separate timer. Should I get the 3 gpd or opt for 10 gpd unit? Obviously less electric use is great for the wallet, but I'm thinking the slower pump would be able to inject at multiple times per day, spreading the dosage. Opinions?

 

[JasonLion]

Your pool is fairly small, so the smaller feed pump should be fine. However, if you get a timer that can be set by the minute, many of the newer digital timers can, the faster feed pump gives you more flexibility to feed extra chlorine while keeping the main pump runtime short.

In a similar way, the smaller tank will be fine, but I like the larger tank because of the extra flexibility it gives you.

 

[LI poolguy]

One more question ( I doubt this will be my last question ).... It pertains to the tank. The tank will be in partial sun. While an opaque/translucent tank is nice for visual on bleach level, would the darker tank be better? While the combo set up is real nice and convenient ($202 for the pump & $97 for the tank), why couldn't I just use a 5 gallon gas can for $20?

 

[JasonLion]

The chlorine will last longer in the UV Gray tanks. There are various options for less expensive tanks. You can buy chlorine in 15 gallon mini-drums at a commercial cleaning supply store that usually work well as tanks and chances are the chlorine plus drum will cost less than what you are paying now for chlorine alone. The Stenner tanks have some minor advantages, but they aren't inexpensive.