inline chlorinator

[nlindelldc]

I am currently using an inline chlorinator (using Trichlor pucks) until my CYA reaches 50 (it's currently at 30).

I have been playing around with the settings (dial goes from 0 flow to 5 flow) to find a good setting that will maintain my FC where I want it to be (4-6, closer to 7 to be safe).

My question is this (seems very obvious but I couldn't find an answer in search):

May I assume that more chlorine will be added with my pump on high? I am trying to run my pump on low speed 6 hours a day with the inline set to 5 (max). Seemed to hold for a day or so but this morning my FC was low (2.5)

Should I just increase my pump run time (8 hours?) or should I try running it on high for like 4 hours or so? I've got the inline maxed so that I can run the pump as little as possible.

Thoughts?

 

[pabeader]

There is no easy answer here. What you need to do is look at watt usage at low speed and again at high speed. Then do a little math to figure out which is better dollarwise. If your main concern is FC level then low speed, for longer would be my choice because it sorta simulates what a SWG does. But that's more my thoughts vs what I may have picked up in my reading here. Can't say there is too much to read, as far as general use of puckinators, to go by.

 

[nlindelldc]

You're right about that Pa! I know that pucks are a 4 letter word here

Electricity-wise, it's much cheaper to run my pump on low for 6 hours than on high for 3 hours. I'll just have to play with it I guess. Perhaps I'll try running on low for 8 hours. If that doesn't work then maybe try high for 4 hours next. I will update this thread later for future reference also.

 

[pabeader]

Good deal! Is your electric tiered based on time of day?

 

[nlindelldc]

no, PA, it's not. I'm currently running on low from 4pm-10pm

I just had another thought. I suppose I could run the pump on high for an hour (or maybe 2 to be more accurate) at night with no bather load and then test FC before and after. Do the same thing on low and see the difference

 

[pabeader]

Bravo for the idea! No better way to know. Experimentation, within reason, is the best way.

 

[chem geek]

Though you can certainly experiment, the dissolving of Trichlor pucks is not a linear function of flow rate. There's a difference between no circulation and a modest amount of water flow, but above that the dissolve rate only slowly increases with faster flow rates. Since pump energy costs rise non-linearly roughly as the cube of the pump speed, it makes a lot more sense to use a lower pump speed and open up the chlorinator valve more which will effectively direct more of the water flow to the pucks.

Very roughly speaking, I've seen Trichlor pucks with a floating chlorinator "closed" (which isn't really tightly closed) dissolve only about 60-70% as fast as fully open while even with no circulation (but still floating -- i.e. not a shut-tight environment) pucks dissolved at perhaps 40-50% of their rate with circulation. The buildup of concentrated chlorine will be denser than water so if there are any openings there will be gravity effects much greater than diffusion that is extremely slow. Pucks put into a skimmer dissolved not quite twice as fast as in a floating feeder. Your inline chlorinator is closer to having pucks in a skimmer, if you have your flow setting turned up (I assume not all flow goes through the inline chlorinator even when the flow valve is fully open since only some water is bypassed to enter the chlorinator).

 

[nlindelldc]

That is good info Chem Geek!

I tried both over the weekend and to be honest, there wasn't much of a difference between the pump on high and low, which is basically just what you said. So I'll be leaving the pump on low for now.

 

[nlindelldc]

Well, I am a little disappointed. I can't seem to get the pucks to bring my FC up enough. So last night I ran the pump on low from 10 pm to 6 am (8 hours straight) with no bather load and no sunshine. My FC went from 4 to 5 only!

I'm starting to wonder if there is something wrong with my inline chlorinator. Thoughts? The other thing I could do is add a floater in addition to the inline. I'd hate to think I was going on vacation anytime soon and had to rely on either. I might come home to a swamp!

 

[Agent99]

With CYA of 30, FC should be around 4; 40 is 5; and 50 is 6 so a FC of 5 doesn't sound bad. Run this over the course of a couple of days and monitor regularly and see how it does.

Keep an eye on your CYA using the pucks and remember it could take a few days for the proper CYA level to register with the test.

 

[nlindelldc]

With CYA of 30, FC should be around 4; 40 is 5; and 50 is 6 so a FC of 5 doesn't sound bad. Run this over the course of a couple of days and monitor regularly and see how it does.

Keep an eye on your CYA using the pucks and remember it could take a few days for the proper CYA level to register with the test.

I hear what you are saying, but at this point I am having to manually dose with Chlorine even while my inline Chlorinator is working. I'm starting to think there's something wrong, it just can't seem to keep up with my Chlorine demand. Once my CYA gets up to 50 I'll be done with the pucks anyway, but I just wanted to see how it would perform while on vacation, etc.