Stenner pump setup... Will a Lowes bucket work to hold the chlorine.

[Cajun]

Finally decided to go the Stenner pump route, the pump has arrived. When I was looking for a bucket I figured 5 gallons would be plenty and I wanted to know if anyone is using a lowes or Home Depot 5 gallon bucket with lid to hold the chlorine. It seems like most are using larger size blue barrels, I'm not sure if it's because the plastic those buckets are made of is more suitable for chlorine or not. I'm looking for ideas for an inexpensive bucket.

Thanks.

 

[Abigail K]

Using a 5 gallon bucket practically defeats the advantages of using a Stenner pump because you'd have to refill the bucket very often.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Other than the reason Abby mentioned, the only thing I'd be concerned about with the bucket would be the lid seal. I'm not sure what it's made of, but it may not hold up to the chlorine vapors.

 

[Cajun]

5 gallons not big enough? How much chlorine are you guys using?

 

[zea3]

The pumps are rated by how many gallons a day they pump, and you are not pumping pure bleach into the pool, but a mixture of bleach and water. If you had a 3 gallon per day pump, using a 5 gallon bucket you would have to refill it every day, which kind of defeats the purpose of using a peristaltic pump. Which pump did you get?

 

[mikespoolfl]

I use about 32 ozs a day. That's what it takes to keep my FC around 4 with a cya of 40. For me about 4 days a gallon

 

[Cajun]

The pumps are rated by how many gallons a day they pump, and you are not pumping pure bleach into the pool, but a mixture of bleach and water. If you had a 3 gallon per day pump, using a 5 gallon bucket you would have to refill it every day, which kind of defeats the purpose of using a peristaltic pump. Which pump did you get?

I got the 3 gallon per day pump. 45MPHP2. Why would I not pump pure bleach? Will it mess up the pump tubing? My plan was to just run the pump like 90 minutes or so per day as needed using just bleach (not adding water).

 

[DonW]

Cajun, either way you are going to enjoy your Stenner. Folks typically go with the larger tank (15gal) because it is rugged, holds 3x more than the 5 gallon bucket which means less frequency of hauling bleach, and is basically a pretty tight environment for the chlorine. You'll be fine with your set-up. After you are up and running and enjoying the freedom that the Stenner brings, there might be time for some tweaking on it if you choose to do so.
This is the first year that I've been using 12.5% chlorine and oh boy is it much easier and simpler than the 6% bleach at the stores, (whole lotta less trips to the store). I have a Woods 20 event timer that I have programmed to run 16 times, at the top and bottom of each hour that the pump is on. For me that equals a daily 64 minutes of run time @ .89 oz per min = 57 ozs a day. That equates to 4 gallons every 9 days. Keeps me at around 7.5-ish of FC. I like the idea personally of keeping the FC constant throughout the day rather than one large dosing per day.

 

[Bama Rambler]

I use about 48oz per day. I pump 8.25% straight bleach.

You'll use about half a gallon per day. So a 5 gallon bucket will last you about 10 days or less. If you're fine with refilling it that often, there's nothing wrong with that.

 

[tim5055]

I got the 3 gallon per day pump. 45MPHP2. Why would I not pump pure bleach? Will it mess up the pump tubing? My plan was to just run the pump like 90 minutes or so per day as needed using just bleach (not adding water).

No need to add water, so the bucket will contain whatever comes out of the bottle - be it 6 - 8.25% bleach or 10 - 12.5% chlorinating liquid. To keep it simple I have mine set up to run anytime the pool pump runs. I just have the adjustment dialed down on the pump to reduce the amount being pumped.

As to the bucket size, I agree that size matters... The bottom few inches are really not useable as i don't think it will pull those last few out, so there is a reduction on the volume of any tank. With my 15 gallon tank I'm figuring over 3 weeks of not having to add. But to be honest, I have added every 3 or 4 days because it's a new toy

 

[Cajun]

So I did a temporary install till I can get a 15 gallon drum and the time to integrate the pump to a spare relay on my Hayward controller. Laugh all you want but it works.

The timer is an z-wave controller with scheduler controlling the outlet the sterner pump is plug into. I rainproofed it after the pic (wrapped it in a ziplock bag around the plug module.) This was left over from when I had an outdoor fish pond with a waterfall pump.

This "bucket" probably last 2-3 days. I figured it would be a safe container to store bleach in. LOL

 

[DonW]

LMAO! Ingenious!

 

[march2012]

in texas you are definitely going to use about half a gallon/day for your 16K gallon pool. 15 gallons (which is hard to get completely full) will generally last me about 3 weeks in the summer.