Using Liquid Chlorine system on a SWP

[scott011422]

Hey guys.

We love the feel of our SWP. Our Cell is going bad and I'm going to need to replace it. When I look at the different sanitation systems as a cost per year deal, The cells are expensive. Going with liquid chlorine is much more cost effective, however we love the feeling of the salt water.

Any reason we couldn't install a liquid chlorine system in our salt water pool? This would be without the salt cell. Both pools still use chlorine either way. I can get a liquid system for 700 and 70ish bucks a year in chlorine vs 1200 for a new cell every 3 years @ 400 a year.

Would this give me the best of both worlds?

Thanks!

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum.
The cost per unit chlorine is far less using a SWCG. Your lifespan for your SWCG cells appears low. Might want to review your water chemistry management.
You can use liquid chlorine in a pool with elevated salinity. No issue.

 

[DavidArmenB]

Actually, with proper water chemistry, SWCGs cost much less than Liquid Chlorine in the long run.

If you purchase a unit that is at least 2x the size of your pool, you should see many more than three years per cell.

$70 per year in chlorine? How much to you pay for a gallon of chlorine? How much chlorine do you use?

If I used Liquid Chlorine for my 16,500 gallon pool in SoCal, I’d be using 2 gallons of chlorine every three-four days in this heat wave. That’s $12-15 every 3-4 days.

 

[BDY]

There is also the convenience factor - being able to leave on vacation, not shopping for chlorine, not having to remember to pour chlorine every day or store jugs around the house. These are all non monetary benefits that many people value more than $$ … YMMV

For liquid chlorine - 70$ doesn’t buy you much liquid these days at xx$$ a gallon. Are you sure about your estimated LC usage including daily loss?

Most cost benefit analysis on a LC vs SWG for a given amount of FC generated the SAG comes out way on top….

 

[DavidArmenB]

Also, make sure you are using the proper amount of chlorine for your pool’s level of CYA. The vague rule of 1-3ppm is useless.

Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship Explained

 

[Mdragger88]

I agree with @mknauss a 3 year cell life is short.
What swcg do you have?
What is your pool volume?
Can you post your latest test results?
Fc
Cc
Ph
Ta
Ch
Cya
Salt

 

[scott011422]

I have a real hodge podge right now. I have a 15 ft Intex prism frame pool that came with a sand filter with integrated salt system. No idea the specs, Intex didn't spec any of it. Just came with the pool. The next year the filter pump died. So purchased a Hayward W3S180T92S ProSeries 18 In sand filter with 1hp pump and a RayPak 156 150000BTU heater. We rewired the Intext control to fire a contactor that runs the new pump through a off delay timer to get the 20m pump running after heater shutdown. System runs 10h a day and has worked great. No problems. Chlorine has always been low at 1PPM, but have never had any water quality issues. Never. It just works. This year we have been filling with the city water because we were told by our local pool guy that full soft water was bad for the cell. So our hardness is up this year and we have been struggling a bit with the ph and alkalinity this year, which I've never had to deal with before. Been bringing that down with muriatic acid. My cell has been and is still making a good amount of chlorine gas, But keeps shutting down due to low salt. But I'm at 3400, So not low, At all. This same guy told us that salt pools should be closer to 80 on the CYA, so we did that and its been holding at 2-3ppm most of this year. So I'm looking at either going with the IntelliChlor IC20 SWGC with an new command and control system. Or, Still staying Salt water, and installing a AQL-CHEM4-CHLOR Hayward Liquid Chlorine Dispense Feed System running of the same new command and control system.

Currently

Chlorine 2
Ph 7.6
Ta 90
Ch 300
Cya 70
Salt 3400
Temp 87 Deg
Roughly 5400 Gallons

I'm only using tests trips right now, i know, I know................

 

[Bperry]

I have a real hodge podge right now. I have a 15 ft Intex prism frame pool that came with a sand filter with integrated salt system. No idea the specs, Intex didn't spec any of it. Just came with the pool. The next year the filter pump died. So purchased a Hayward W3S180T92S ProSeries 18 In sand filter with 1hp pump and a RayPak 156 150000BTU heater. We rewired the Intext control to fire a contactor that runs the new pump through a off delay timer to get the 20m pump running after heater shutdown. System runs 10h a day and has worked great. No problems. Chlorine has always been low at 1PPM, but have never had any water quality issues. Never. It just works. This year we have been filling with the city water because we were told by our local pool guy that full soft water was bad for the cell. So our hardness is up this year and we have been struggling a bit with the ph and alkalinity this year, which I've never had to deal with before. Been bringing that down with muriatic acid. My cell has been and is still making a good amount of chlorine gas, But keeps shutting down due to low salt. But I'm at 3400, So not low, At all. This same guy told us that salt pools should be closer to 80 on the CYA, so we did that and its been holding at 2-3ppm most of this year. So I'm looking at either going with the IntelliChlor IC20 SWGC with an new command and control system. Or, Still staying Salt water, and installing a AQL-CHEM4-CHLOR Hayward Liquid Chlorine Dispense Feed System running of the same new command and control system.

Currently

Chlorine 2
Ph 7.6
Ta 90
Ch 300
Cya 70
Salt 3400
Temp 87 Deg
Roughly 5400 Gallons

I'm only using tests trips right now, i know, I know................

The pool guy is a…not very well informed. Soft water is great for use with a salt cell. Your TA and pH is also fine.

You have discovered the trouble that relying on test strips give you. They have to make them cheap to offset all the expensive problems they cause. If your salt test results came from a strip, it’s likely not accurate especially given the salt cell is saying the salt is low.

If your CYA is really at 80ppm, your FC shouldn’t be allowed to get down to 2ppm, should always be above 4ppm.

 

[BDY]

See FC/CYa chart
FC/CYA Levels

Running that low with that high a CyA is playing roulette with algae.

Also, soft water is great for cell to help with scaling. Your pool has to have some calcium in it to protect the plaster but the CSI index needs to be in balance in order to not scale the cell. Softer water / fill water helps with that…

 

[scott011422]

The pool guy is a…not very well informed. Soft water is great for use with a salt cell. Your TA and pH is also fine.

You have discovered the trouble that relying on test strips give you. They have to make them cheap to offset all the expensive problems they cause. If your salt test results came from a strip, it’s likely not accurate especially given the salt cell is saying the salt is low.

If your CYA is really at 80ppm, your FC shouldn’t be allowed to get down to 2ppm, should always be above 4ppm.

For salt content I have a digital salt tester.

Agreed, But I cant pull it off with this equipment. Since I've never had any water quality problems, I've just never cared. If I had problems I would have dealt with it, But nope, always crystal clear!

 

[Mdragger88]

With your size pool a 15k gal rated intex swcg unit should be sufficient.
They are a lower cost (around $200) than more permanent swcg’s due to the fact they don’t last quite as long since they are designed for temporary/seasonal pools. The cells are indeed replaceable for around $100.
You can purchase stand alone ones (which I would suggest over integrated/combo units).

 

[Bperry]

For salt content I have a digital salt tester.

Agreed, But I cant pull it off with this equipment. Since I've never had any water quality problems, I've just never cared. If I had problems I would have dealt with it, But nope, always crystal clear!

You just need a Taylor drop test salt tester for the salt issue.

 

[scott011422]

Actually, with proper water chemistry, SWCGs cost much less than Liquid Chlorine in the long run.

If you purchase a unit that is at least 2x the size of your pool, you should see many more than three years per cell.

$70 per year in chlorine? How much to you pay for a gallon of chlorine? How much chlorine do you use?

If I used Liquid Chlorine for my 16,500 gallon pool in SoCal, I’d be using 2 gallons of chlorine every three-four days in this heat wave. That’s $12-15 every 3-4 days.

This year a gallon was 4.50. I use on average 2 cups a day when I’m having technical difficulties.

If I scale up my using to your size pool Im a gallon and a half for the same 3-4 day run. But 6-8 bucks instead.

The size of the pool makes a huge difference. On a larger pool I think it would be the cell hands down. With my sized pool, the 15 gallons the system holds might last me the whole season. We only get 4 months here if your using a heater.