What is this valve doing?

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dailygenesis said:
If so, what would be preferred methods? I heard someone mention liquid chlorine. I have thought about but haven't looked into it.
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Exactly. One can use liquid chlorine. For most, that means adding the liquid chlorine daily during swim season, and then less during the shoulder seasons and winter if the pool is kept open. Sourcing the liquid chlorine is becoming more problematic, so determining how you will get it prior to next summer would be wise. Many Walmarts will carry Pool Essentials Chlorinating Liquid. A great choice, but be ware they tend to drop inventory well before the end of the swim season. The plus is they keep it indoors. Home Depot and Lowes also carry Liquid Chlorine, but tend to store it outdoors, were it degrades much faster in elevated temperatures. The best source is Menards normally, if you have one in your area.

Liquid Chlorine - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
dailygenesis said:
But one question -- if I wanted to minimize the downsides of having the chlorine feeder without changing equipment, could I use other methods to keep the pool chlorinated and just stop using tablets in it? At least until I decide to take your advice and install the SWG?
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1p1 gave you the best advice about how to move forward. And Marty has you covered with the rest of the deets. But really your first step, in order for us to best advise you, is for you to post a full set of test results. Have you been studying our Pool School? You need a proper test kit (not the one your PB probably left you, and not the $20 version from Walmart). We recommended either of only two. Read up on that, purchase one of them, test your water and post the results.

Then we can better advise you how to phase out the tab feeder (it may or may not be of some temporary benefit just now). We need to know how much CYA you currently have in your water. Please don't bother posting test result you might try to get "for free" from a local pool store. We don't advise based on those, as they are more often than not unreliable. You want to test yourself, and we need to be able to trust the posted results (which is why we only recommend two kits).

If you're overly concerned about the chlorinator "leeching," you can just stop using it and dose with liquid chlorine, and we can sort out the CYA level after you get your kit. Either way is fine.

Pool School

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

www.troublefreepool.com

Swimming Pool Test Kits Compared

What pool test kit should I buy? Why not use test strips? Our recommended test kits will pay for themselves in no time!
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
Just FYI - I do use tabs in the winter for the short time my SWCG doesn't work due to (cold) water temperature. I only use a handful or two - but they do a nice job of keeping pH in check, adding what little FC I need in winter, and to start the build back up of CYA for Spring.

Tabs are not inherently evil, they do have a purpose. It's just that there's no way to use them year-round as the chlorine part of the tab is quickly used up, but the CYA sticks around. Pretty quickly you end up with CYA levels that make managing FC borderline impossible.
 
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Dirk said:
They're both quick fixes, so the builder shouldn't give you any grief about redoing them.
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Just to close the loop on this -- I did finally bring this up to the pool builder (the booster pump plumbing, not the oddly-positioned valve). The pool builder contends they plumb all their systems this way with the booster pump and just use programming to ensure the booster never runs while the system is in spa mode. There is a setting in my controller that was "disabled" that could be "enabled" to prevent just that. They had failed to enable that when they set up the pool, but I was able to enable it so it is set now.

Given that response and other dealings with them, I've decided not to bring up the oddly-positioned valve. I've got that valve open at this point and can remove the handle for safety. If I ever have any plumbing work done in that section I might ask someone about removing it, but not worth the trouble right now, I don't think.

I appreciate the discussion from everyone on this thread. Not only did it answer my question but it really kicked off a lot of exploring that has led to a better understanding of my system overall.
 
dailygenesis said:
The pool builder contends they plumb all their systems this way with the booster pump and just use programming to ensure the booster never runs while the system is in spa mode. There is a setting in my controller that was "disabled" that could be "enabled" to prevent just that. They had failed to enable that when they set up the pool, but I was able to enable it so it is set now.
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Which is precisely why I brought that up. You don't correct a plumbing defect using automation, especially one that could cost you a pump, because that programming could get out-of-whack. You correct the plumbing! But at least now you're aware of the issue.

You'll be back soon enough to ask about installing an SWG. At that point, you can rid yourself of that valve, the tab feeder, the not-so SmartGuard and fix the booster plumbing all at the same time.

Until then, glad we could help. Do keep studying Pool School, at least enough to fully understand the ramifications of using a tab feeder. Using one as the only source of chlorine is not part of a long-range plan for a healthy pool.
 
dailygenesis said:
I appreciate the discussion from everyone on this thread. Not only did it answer my question but it really kicked off a lot of exploring that has led to a better understanding of my system overall.
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We are happy to help...lots of experience here.

I was in *somewhat* your position...new pool to me. I got Pool Stored. Found TFP. I got smart here. I spend less that ~15min a week and less than $50 in chemicals (Liquid Chlorine, Muriatic) a year. Now I help others as a TFP guide.

I too went the liquid chlorine route for a year with an auto dosing pump. Worked great, but chasing bleach was a pain. Last fall I put in the SWCG. If you took my SWCG away from me, I would fill in the pool. I never want to go back to chlorine. That's me and many here.

That being said, before the supply chain issues, the breakeven size on a pool where SWCG was cheaper was about 15K-20K. Any bigger, was cheaper to go SWCG. With the prices of chlorine today (some up 3x), SWCG is a no brainer.

If you were my family member, I would tell you to get an SWCG and don't look back. I didn't get SWCG at first, I was a skeptic. No longer.
 
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reggiehammond said:
And - I'm not kidding - we need to cut that magic device in half once it's reviewed!
I am more than willing to put it on the water jet and video it for all to see.
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Will do! But I'm thinking it will likely be next spring at least before I'm messing with any plumbing -- unless something gets damaged in the winter then it will be sooner!
 
PoolStored said:
We are happy to help...lots of experience here.

I was in *somewhat* your position...new pool to me. I got Pool Stored. Found TFP. I got smart here. I spend less that ~15min a week and less than $50 in chemicals (Liquid Chlorine, Muriatic) a year. Now I help others as a TFP guide.

I too went the liquid chlorine route for a year with an auto dosing pump. Worked great, but chasing bleach was a pain. Last fall I put in the SWCG. If you took my SWCG away from me, I would fill in the pool. I never want to go back to chlorine. That's me and many here.

That being said, before the supply chain issues, the breakeven size on a pool where SWCG was cheaper was about 15K-20K. Any bigger, was cheaper to go SWCG. With the prices of chlorine today (some up 3x), SWCG is a no brainer.

If you were my family member, I would tell you to get an SWCG and don't look back. I didn't get SWCG at first, I was a skeptic. No longer.
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Good stuff, thanks! Question for you and @Dirk and any others. If I want to start at least looking into and making plans for SWCG, are there any primary threads on here you would point me to for background or should I start a new thread to discuss?
 

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dailygenesis said:
Good stuff, thanks! Question for you and @Dirk and any others. If I want to start at least looking into and making plans for SWCG, are there any primary threads on here you would point me to for background or should I start a new thread to discuss?
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There are several considerations: size, cost, reliability and compatibility. For the latter, you want an SWG that can communicate with your automation system. If you don't have automation, and are sure you never will, then you don't need to consider this. But if you have automation, or would want to leave that option open, then you'll want the brand of the SWG to match the brand of your automation controller. Manufacturers won't publish their protocols, so only like-brands work best together. You can get just about any SWG to work well enough with any timer or controller, but it you want to be able to, say, adjust the chlorine output while you're on business overseas, you'll want to make sure the SWG can support that kind of communication with the controller.

The other considerations are simple: it should be rated for twice the pool you have, so for example, a 20K pool should have a "40K" SWG. And as long as you've covered those two consideration, then it's about cost. Others here can chime in about their reliability experiences. I'm locked in to Pentair, but I don't consider a Pentair SWG to be the most reliable.
 
You have a spa and an e-command, without a spa, would be easy, just connect whatever SWG you choose to the same relay as the pump (so the SWCG can't go on if pump is not running).

With a Spa, I know there are other considerations, just don't know what they are... @ajw22 does, let's see what he says.
 
dailygenesis said:
If I want to start at least looking into and making plans for SWCG, are there any primary threads on here you would point me to for background or should I start a new thread to discuss?
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Your ECommand can control a Hayward Aquarite SWG. That is what you should get with a 40K cell.

AquaRite® Salt Chlorinators | Sanitizers | In Ground Pool Sanitizers - Hayward Pool Products

AquaRite Salt Chlorinator, delivers soft, silky water. AquaRite turns salt into chlorine, eliminating red eyes, itchy skin & harsh odors. Solutions for pools up to 40,000 gallons.
www.hayward-pool.com www.hayward-pool.com

See page 13 in https://www.hayward-pool.com/assets...s/E-Command4HPC-4SeriesInstallationManual.pdf

1671420342580.png


Page 22 in https://www.hayward-pool.com/assets...uals/E-Command4HPC-4SeriesOperationManual.pdf shows you will have separate chlorinator output % for your pool and spa.

1671420469447.png
 
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