Bleach vs SWG which is better?

[USBB]

Just got a house with an inground pool. The water is begging to clear now thanks to what I have learned here. Using bleach for now.

Is it it worth it to covert to a SWG? Or is bleach a better option? Which is easier to maintain the right water chemistry?

 

[BasicTek]

I can't imagine anything is easier than my SWG, but the up front costs are much higher. Most on this forum say the costs balance out over time (not having to buy bleach). Even if it costs more it's worth it to me to have the convenience that a SWG offers...

 

[mknauss]

It is true the costs come close to balancing over the life of the SWCG.

Another big issue is adding liquid chlorine DAILY, can't miss a day in the summer. SWCG does it for you. May have to add some acid every week or so. We leave for months at a time and the chlorine is added by our SWCG daily.

Take care.

 

[domct203]

I manually dosed my TFP pool for two seasons, this season I installed the SWG.

I will never be without a SWG for my pool. The convenience and piece of mind is priceless. I am very lucky that my pH is rock-solid stable at 7.4, so no routine acid additions for me. I think I used a gallon & a half of 12.5% in the peak of summer to supplement a few parties we had, otherwise it was all SWG for the season.

 

[Swampwoman]

USB - each provide an excellent method of sanitation when following TFP protocol and maintaining the [fc/cya][fc/cya] ratio.

With that said, having done both, folks would have to pry my swg from my dead cold hands To me, the convenience trumps anything else. The stability of the swg in terms of adding precisely what you need, instead of dosing higher to account for burn off, also appeals to me. And the water is awesome

So, for me the choice is clear, but sometimes mfgs promote SWGs as an easy button, and I do think that's a bit disingenuous. Its not exactly "set it and forget it." Successful swg transition still requires good testing, observance, and dialing in or tweaking production. You may have to control oh more until your TA is at the happy place. Folks who retrofit to swg should also review their equipment for corrosion potential (eg are those bolts really 316 stainless...should that light ring be swapped out) and ensure that the swg, and everything else in the pool, is correctly bonded. Galvanic corrosion is a possibility given the method of production. And while all pools have salt build-up, obviously there's more with swg, but about a tenth of seawater...so not in itself a dramatic amount of salinity.

Lastly, swg is best at producing a small, steady level of FC. If one needs to slam or the water is cold end-of-season, you still need a bit of liquid chlorine in those instances to boost as most cells don't produce in cold water.

Another tip is to buy a cell rated double or more if possible for your pool size. In that case many folks can "beat" liquid chlorine cost handily because their cell lasts longer...some members report 7 and 10 years, for example, on a cell warrantied for 3 years. I'm using an aquarite T15 rated for 40,000 gallons on my 24,000 gal pool.

As such, it is capable of producing in my pool 7.9 ppm FC if run at 100% for 24 hours. If you're shopping for cells in the future, look for the daily production rating, then use the bottom part of pool math to calculate chlorine gas for your gallonage. That will help you get production dialed in

 

[ping]

I'm a SWG all the way but one option for auto dosing liquid chlorine that hasn't been discussed is adding a Stenner pump to dose the chlorine every day. If you have a cheap local source for liquid chlorine then this would be an option for you to think about. Search the forum on links to Stenner pumps and see if that perks your interest.

 

[Bing125]

I have a builder who would void our warranty if we went with SWG (we have a lot of rock and he says it will pit the rock over time). I installed a Stenner in the summer and love it. It is as close to an SWG as you can get without having one. In my last pool we did have an SWG and we loved it. My advice is to get something that doses on its own so you can miss a day here or there and not worry about green water.

 

[slickraft]

A Stenner pump or similar is what I went with so I do not have to dose daily here in Phoenix. My setup can chlorinate multiple times a day if I want to as long as the pump is running. I do have to add liquid chlorine to my 5-gallon jug a couple of times a month but I'm not convinced I want to pay for a SWG system. I like to keep my life simple and I see a whole lot of questions here about SWG problems and don't want to be in that group. I have no issues with going on vacations now that I have chlorine injection.

 

[domct203]

I have a builder who would void our warranty if we went with SWG (we have a lot of rock and he says it will pit the rock over time). I installed a Stenner in the summer and love it. It is as close to an SWG as you can get without having one. In my last pool we did have an SWG and we loved it. My advice is to get something that doses on its own so you can miss a day here or there and not worry about green water.

You should test your salt level, I’ll bet you’ll be about halfway to a SWG pool’s level by now.

 

[Divin Dave]

The pool doesnt care how sodium hypochlorite is introduced to it.

But by a measure of x10000s, a SWG is the EASIEST way to keep the Dihydrogen Monoxide in good shape

 

[Bing125]

You should test your salt level, I’ll bet you’ll be about halfway to a SWG pool’s level by now.

Interesting thought. Out of curiosity I might get it checked. Where do you think the salt would come from? My old SWG pool was about 25K gallons and would take about 2800 PPM salt. That would mean that this pool, that has never had salt added to it, would have about 1200 PPM salt (proportionately).

Also, if that is the case, then the builder should have told me that I should drain (or at least partially drain) the pool every couple of years to control the salt level. Now I am really curious. Since I do not have a salt tester I will have to go to Leslies (not my favorite place in the world as we all know how "honest" pool stores are).

 

[mknauss]

If you add liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite), muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) you are adding salt. Also your fill water, has 100 or so ppm of salt and with evaporation the salt stays in the pool and builds up.

Why drain for salt? It harms nothing at the very low concentrations in our pools. Salt in a pool is one of the big reasons the TDS scare from pool stores is meaningless.

Take care.

- - - Updated - - -

I see you have a Nature 2. If you are using that your are building copper in your water. Soon anyone with blonde hair will have it turn green. You can even stain your plaster. And the trichlor you use in it builds CYA in the water, which requires ever increasing FC.

Good luck.

 

[domct203]

As mentioned, don't worry about the salt. The point to my previous post was that all chlorine pools contain salt.

Before I switched my pool to a SWG, I was using exclusively bleach (12% sodium hypochlorite) for sanitation for two and a half seasons, and I only added muriatic acid once. Before I bought any salt for the pool I tested the current salt level at 1200ppm, almost half the required salt content for my SWG.

Sure, I can't argue that sea water will accelerate corrosion over fresh water, but the ocean is more than 10X as salty as a SWG pool (approx. 35,000ppm vs 3,000ppm).

You can also make wise choices during the building phase to pick materials that are corrosion/erosion/etching resistant.

 

[Philo]

Get a SWG and thank everyone later.