inline chlorinator vs floater

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R

rebridge

0
Jun 12, 2009
5
help...so many different opinions out there....
bought house with pool and just started taking care of it ourselves in april (had maintenance co before this with no probs but were putting 3 in tabs in skimmer too).
all going well until last week green algae on sides of pool.
chlor 4
ph 7.6
tA 100
have been told by some that more suseptible to algae with inline chlorinator even though our readings have been good and set at 3.5.
recommended floater instead of using inline for better water quality and more consistent chlorine levels. any advice here???? floater better than inline and easier on equip or should we be fine with inline.
thanks!
 
I think inlines are better because you don't have to worry about floaters getting stuck in one area of the pool.

If you could include your pool info in your signature that would be helpful, go to User Control Panel, then Profile, then Edit Signature.

Also, we need a full set of test results:

FC
CC
PH
TA
CH
CYA

The downside of using tablets is they raise CYA and they lower PH. Constant testing and monitoring of these levels is essential when using tablets. Without a full set of test results, it will be difficult to assess what is going on with your pool, but I suspect your CYA may be too high and because of that your FC levels perhaps aren't high enough.

Besides the tablets, do you use any other products for shocking, etc.?

Have you read Pool School? :wink:

Welcome to the forum! :wave:
 
thanks for the welcome, patience and help!
not sure what other info you need on the pool with my signature???
FC 4
TAC 4
ph 7.6
TA 100
Ch 360
CYA 60

these were the readings last sun when algae on sides present.
we have since brushed constantly, added acid to lower ph some (now at 7.2, TA now 80, Chlorine WAY above 3 _ home test kit only goes to 3)) and shocked with 2 lbs of granular chlorine. pool looks good now, but worried about short and long term care and algae returning and if inline has anything to do with that if we are monitoring it???
thanks so much again!
 
Sorry, if you siggy was there before I missed it with my post - floaters getting stuck are more of an issue with vinyl liners....

Your CYA of 60 is on the high end of acceptable - refer to the CYA chlorine chart and keep your FC at the recommended levels and algae shouldn't be a problem provided you keep your FC ABOVE the "Min" at ALL TIMES....using liquid chlorine or bleach. Using tabs won't keep you above the minimum and it will continue to drive your CYA higher, which in turn drives the recommended FC levels higher....

Edit: PH, TA and CH all looked good before - when using pucks they lower ph so it's better to keep the TA above 100. 7.2 is a little low and using pucks will drive it too low. End Edit.

If you don't have your own test kit, I highly recommend you get either the TF100 or the Taylor K-2006.
 
I use a floater in the winter when the water temp is not good for my SWG.
One floater for me keeps it about 1.5, but below 65 degrees F it works.
During the summer I could not get away with that, I would have to run 3 or 4 of those things for my 30K pool.
My Son-In-Law on his 11-14K pool runs a single floater with no issues.
An in-line worked good for me, but was a pain (I had a hayward) and O-Rings kept my pool store in business alone. That was when I switch to the SWG.
I've since gone from fighting high CYA to adding stabilizer now.
So running a floater I think depends on many factors.
Also you need to be careful of kids messing with it and getting a high level of the dissolved water out and on them. Don't know how big a problem that would be, but I am always leary of it when adding tablets to mine during the winter.
 
rebridge,

any advice here???? floater better than inline and easier on equip or should we be fine with inline.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum. This is not the answer you were looking for but it is the best answer.....Neither.

Pucks and floaters both add CYA to your pool (which cannot be removed) and you have more than enough in there already. Continued use of either the pucks or a floater will eventually result in the chlorine becoming less effective and algae starting to appear in your pool.

Pool School has some info that you may find helpful or feel free to ask questions about what's been posted to this point. :-D
 
thanks to the advice and reading this forum...we are slowly learning that. pool is 4 years old, it came with the house and had someone taking care of it until april when we decided to do it ourselves b/c they were spending about 15 min/week here among other reasons....
anyway..more of learning curve than we thought, but starting to get a hold on the theory anyway....
pool did have algae last week with posted chem readings, so starting to figure out we may be needed more chlorine than expected/needed/typical based on our CYA level?????and that's when all our trouble and research began. shocked the heck out of it brushed like crazy for days and backwashed. all is good now ( i think/hope) but Chlorine stll sky high and not swimming yet.
short of draining atleast 1/3 of our pool water at this point, any other suggestions. of course we bought both 3 in trichlor tabs and dichlor gran shock (now realize adding to our prob) in HUGE quantities not knowing all this to get us through the summer.
thanks for the help!
 
Hi, Jamie,

Drain and refill is the only practical option to reduce CYA but you are not there yet. A CYA of 60 is manageable but, unfortunately, using your pucks and di-chlor is the wrong way to manage it. Wish I had better news.

Meanwhile, are you not swimming because of the chlorine? I would go swimming and enjoy your pool. The worst case is you may fade a swim suit (although I have yet to see that reported on the forum) but it is perfectly harmless within some reasonableness.

Becasue of your CYA, I would swim in that pool up to 50ppm and never give it a second thought. Others here on the forum take a more conservative approach and wouldn't swim until the pool was below 24ppm (it may be now).

Regardless, you will have to address your CYA issue sooner rather than later. You can manage where you are just fine, but if you continue to use dichlor and pucks, I think you may experience some problems before the summer is out. Even if you sold the dichlor and pucks on ebay at half price, it would probably be well worth it to get your pool is really good shape. :-D
 
thx, kids will be so happy. no one told us, i just assumed chlorine was too high. unfortunately i realize we don't have the right test kit either - just basic one for $20 bucks or so at pool store they recommended and said it was all we needed, but our chlorine scale only goes to 3 with a bright yellow and chlorine level almost red/burnt orange in that kit. have no idea what reading would be. so guess need to order one of the kits recommended here too.
so based on our current circumstances, what other options do i have inour pool for chlorination. ( i obviously need to read more int eh pool school still i know) but any direction would be great!
i guess we'll have it all down by next year??? luckily we are in tx and can easily swim april to oct usually.
 
so guess need to order one of the kits recommended here too.
Click to expand...
That is certainly my first choice :lol: :lol: but you can simply take a sample to the pool store and let them test for the higher levels. (Call and check with them first to make sure they can test the higher level for you)

That way, you can perhaps go swimming right away........that's what pools are for. (My bet is you will test less than 20ppm)

Clorox Bleach or liquid chlorine (same stuff) is your only viable alternative for this summer. Read more up in pool school and ask any questions you may have.
 

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here's the latest...
correction: we are using granular calcium hypochloride for shock. does that make any difference???

new numbers from pool store:
FAC - 10
TAC 10
ph 7.4
TA 90
CH 300
CYA 60
phosphates 300

of course they are telling me no correlation btw high CYA and FC at 4 and algae and want to sell me phos free etc...

am i doing pool calc right that with our CYA levels i need to maintain FC 5-9????

definitely need different kit. seems 2 are recommended here - one better than other or anything i should be aware of before ordering???
 
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