Why are pucks not cheaper?

[ericjdaniels]

Sounds great everyone. I guess the water loss has been the problem. My husband is going to repair our pump over the winter and hopefully next Summer our pool won't pop and we'll have a pump that doesn't leak!

Thank you all so much for the responses. This forum is great. I guess I needed a little help with my pool owner patience.

Take care

 

[BobbyR]

I pay $30 for 6Kg of pucks. They are 200g each and the pail contains 30 pucks. $1.00 each. Liquid chlorine (12%) is $6.50 for the large jug which, I think, hold 20 litres (4 gallons). I think the pucks are cheaper based on about 1/2 puck per day but it's a close thing (until you factor in the cost of ruined clothing). Then the pucks win hands down. CYA buildup is potentially an issue but weekly back washing seems to be keeping it under control for now at least. I pumped off an inch or so of water a few days ago and it was more than replaced right away by a day of rain. Water cost - $0.

 

[linen]

I pay $30 for 6Kg of pucks. They are 200g each and the pail contains 30 pucks. $1.00 each. Liquid chlorine (12%) is $6.50 for the large jug which, I think, hold 20 litres (4 gallons). I think the pucks are cheaper

They are not. 30 pucks (200g) will add 62 ppm of FC to your pool. It would take 46 liters of 12% liquid chlorine (LC) to raise the FC the same amount. So the LC cost would be 6.50*46/4= $27 So LC cost is is less. In addition, the pucks will require additions of borax and baking soda to raise the ph and TA respectively on a regular basis since the pucks are very acidic. You can keep the cya in check with drain/refills, but it can take A LOT of water to do this (about 7% drain/refill a week at your 1/2 puck per day usage to keep your cya static week to week)...how does water cost you nothing? Are you on a well?

Bottom line, you can make the pucks work, but I highly doubt they are cheaper for you...unless you can't figure out how not to splash on your good clothes :-D

 

[chem geek]

Usually people add pH Up (sodium carbonate) when using Trichlor, but that tends to get the TA high to the point where carbon dioxide outgassing compensates for the pH. The least expensive choice for that chemical is Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda. Even so, it's extra cost.

With chlorinating liquid or bleach one often has to add some acid every so often, but it's usually not very much. We've done this comparison a lot and the answer depends somewhat on local pricing. In some areas, Cal-Hypo is the least expensive option. For Trichlor to be the least expensive, the chlorinating liquid and bleach prices have to be pretty high.

 

[BobbyR]

No, we're not on a well although water here is not terribly expensive. In my example above, the water was free because it rained hard all day and night, more than replacing the water I had pumped out. Just lucky. Thanks for the chlorine cost analysis. I am going to try to use the liquid as much as possible despite some inconvenience.