Any experience with Prizma?

[Bigren987]

Our PB finished yesterday and we took our first swim today. We're first time pool owners and wanted the lowest maintenance options possible. I came across TFP a few weeks or so ago, long after our check had cleared with the PB. We're very happy with how it turned out but I worry that we may have been oversold a bit. We got the ozone system in addition to the Prizma. I've read a lot of opinions on ozone so that damage is done but is there anybody with experience in the Prizma. Pool store guys had no intelligence on it and refused to sell me start up chemicals. Went to another store and didn't mention the Prizma. No issues, PB said that Prizma isn't capable of balancing start ups but is good at maintaining once it's balanced, hence the start up chemicals. Anyway, thoughts or opinions on Prizma would be appreciated!

Here's some pics of our process, definitely regret not doing a better job of taking progress photos!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tim5055]

Welcome to TFP!

Well, from a quick look at the owners manual in my opinion you were oversold. I'm not a big fan of automation adding chemicals as the sensors tend to quickly get out of calibration (if they were ever really able,to sense the correct FC/pH readings) and add incorrect amounts of chlorine.

Do they have yours set up to dispense liquid chlorine or control a SWCG?

 

[Isaac-1]

I just skimmed over the Prizma manual, and it looks like it uses automated test strip reading to check CL and pH then adjust pH up or down (most people need to lower pH with acid), and add chlorine. In our general experience we feel test strips are one step up from a ouji board in testing accuracy, and are highly suspect if not handled and stored correctly. Having said that pH is one of the things that test strips do somewhat better at comparatively, so it at least has that going for it. The downside is the chlorine testing range, even if it does work only has a range of up to 4.0 ppm Chlorine for its highest set point, this is FAR too low for a sunbelt state like AZ assuming you are using a sane amount of CYA. We generally suggest a CYA level of 50 ppm for prime sunbelt locations and a corresponding FC target level of 6 ppm FC per the CYA/FC chart in pool school for manually dosed pools, and a CYA level of 70 and FC of target of 5 ppm FC for SWG pools, both of which are above the maximum set point of the Prizma per the owners manual. If you have an SWG, you might get away with running a CYA level of 60 ppm and an FC target of 4.0 ppm which is the maximum setpoint, but this would require you have an oversized SWG, and would make it work harder than if you had a higher CYA level shortening the SWG cell life somewhat. So to sum all that up, if it works a promised, and that is a big if, it may or may not be a paperweight as far as the methods we teach here goes depending on the rest of your setup.

p.s. as to the ozone system, I know you have already paid for it, but the best thing you can do is pull it and try to sell it on ebay for pennies on the dollar. Ozone has no place in a typical outdoor residential pool, and in a place like AZ you have no lack of UV light to break down CC. To put it another way adding ozone for supplemental oxidation in an outdoor pool in AZ makes about as much sense as installing a florescent tube tanning bed outdoors next to your pool when you have all that UV light for free. This is not to say Ozone does not have a place, it does, but that is in high bather load therapy pools, high bather load indoor pools, etc.

 

[Bigren987]

Thanks for the replies. Prizma guy came out today to give me an overview of the system. It will be dispensing liquid chlorine and acid, testing 1-3 times per day. I'm going to do some reading on the forum to get educated on chemical levels etc. this is our first pool and I'm quickly realizing there is a ton I don't know.
On that note, I guess I'll dive right in <---horrible pun!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Isaac-1]

Well I guess you could get away with running it at a target FC of 4.0 ppm using liquid chlorine and a CYA level of 30-35 ppm, however the downside is you will use about twice as much chlorine as you would if you could run it at an FC level of 6.0 ppm FC and 50 ppm CYA (which is out of the setpoint range according ot the Prizma owners manual). This again assumes that the test strips are even halfway accurate. Running CYA any higher than 35 ppm with an FC of 4.0 risks algae problems unless you use a lot of expensive copper free algaecide like Polyquat-60. Either way it is a trade off, run more liquid chlorine at a lower CYA of 35, or raise the CYA up into the 40-50 ppm range and add Polyquat-60 one or two times per week, and hope for the best. I have not done the math, but I suspect the liquid chlorine would be cheaper.

Ike

p.s. whatever you do, please don't ruin the finish on your brand new pool by using cheap algaecide that contains copper, the same goes for "mineral" systems like the Frog system, Nature 2, etc.

 

[chem geek]

According to the PRIZMA® Manual the chlorine is from 0.5 to 5.0 and the pH is from 6.5 to 8.2 in terms of measurements during the calibration process that takes around 2 weeks, presumably the unit getting to know your pool and the effects of dosing. However, it says in the General Specifications section that it measures chlorine from 0.2 to 6.3 ppm and pH from 6 to 9.1. However, if I'm reading the "Set Points" table correctly, it looks like you can only set chlorine from 0.5 to 2.5 ppm for three of the five modes [EDIT] See this post below -- I was looking at the wrong manual. [END-EDIT] You'd have to keep your CYA rather low or you'd have to use supplements to prevent algae growth unless you were lucky with a pool poor in algae nutrients.

As for the system using test strips, part of the problem with reading manual test strips is the very inconsistent way they are wetted and exposed to pool water and in the visual comparison. If this system is done carefully it might be reasonable in accuracy. With your own proper test kit which you should get (the TFTestkits TF-100 or the Taylor K-2006) you can compare the system to your accurate FAS-DPD chlorine test and the pH test and see how it compares after it's done its calibration/training.

 

[Isaac-1]

chemgeek, I think you are looking at the manual for the european model, the US model shows a CL setpoint up to 4.0 ppm in 3 or the 5 modes

 

[chem geek]

You are right. This manual is the U.S. model and it indeed has set points for Chlorine from 0.5 to 4 ppm FC. Thanks for the correction.

 

[cmlewand]

Can i ask what pool finish you went with because it looks really good

 

[Bigren987]

Shasta was our PB, we went with their version of pebble tec called Shasta Rock. The color is cayman, were really happy with how it turned out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk