No simple way to slowly directly dispense liquid chlorine?

[Fuldo]

I've been using almost strictly liquid chlorine now for a year or so. I'm happy with the results but would love to have a simple and inexpensive way to dispense it and try to keep the FC level as constant as possible without daily intervention. I know there are many dispensers that can be stitched-in to the circulation system and some of them even monitor levels and make adjustments as needed but those systems are fairly complicated and expensive. I'm surprised that nobody makes a gravity feed chlorine dispenser that could be located poolside that has a simple variable restriction to adjust dispensing rate. I'm assuming nobody does because I've searched and have found nothing.

What makes this so difficult? Does anybody know of such a system, homemade or otherwise? I experimented with irrigation "buttons" hoping they might serve the purpose but even when using the lowest flow ones and putting them in series the flow rate is just plain too high for typical liquid chlorine. Maybe that could work however if it dispensed "diluted" liquid chlorine.

Any comments, thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[HottubTim]

I have also given some thought to this for my spa. If you look at automatic plant watering/feeding systems, there are various ways to drip feed plants using gravity, one I have used is autopot and their reservoir can be fitted with a simple inline screw controlled restricter available from aquarist shops to adjust the flow. I did try and set this up to feed my spa with bleach, but it was too cumbersome for my setup and too ugly (my wife complained), so I didn't engineer it further and reverted to daily dosing. Link below:

12.4 Gallon Solid Reservoir Inc. Lid Top Hat Grommet | AutoPot Watering Systems USA

 

[borjis]

I was not even aware these existed but another poster mentioned this to me this morning:

https://www.poolpartsonline.com/p-35927-pool-pal-liquid-chlorinator.aspx

Sounds to be as close as one could get to what you are looking for.

If you search the forum for Pool Pal there are some threads on it.
It may not work for every kind of pump if suction is lower.

And there are questions to it's long term viability withstanding
the chlorine concentration.

 

[jseyfert3]

This thread makes me intrigued. Gravity fed drip system. I like it. We have an indoor (garage) Intex spa at the moment, and if we don't use it I'll sometimes forget to add chlorine. Run it down to 0 ppm twice so far and it's been two months.

Having a simple system to add in chlorine to maintain the chlorine level between uses would be nice.

Edit: I should have my wife sneak home a IV bag line from work (hospital). The adjustable valve and drip indicator may work alright if it put up with chlorine. Would need a bigger tank than a bag and most likely dilute the chlorine down a bit so you can get a low enough chlorine rate.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

To the OP,

Are you asking about a pool or a hot tub chlorine dispenser??

 

[Teald024]

Edit: I should have my wife sneak home a IV bag line from work (hospital). The adjustable valve and drip indicator may work alright if it put up with chlorine. Would need a bigger tank than a bag and most likely dilute the chlorine down a bit so you can get a low enough chlorine rate.

That cube hanging on the IV pole is a peristaltic pump. This is exactly how the Stenner pump works.

I found a used Stenner pump and was able to install it myself for a couple hundred bucks. I set the run time off of a cheap timer. It works great and I love it.

The downside I see to a gravity system is that it would run all the time (24/7) and you would be forced to run your pump all the time to mix the water. The feed rate would change depending on how much chlorine was in your holding tank.

Give it a try and see how it works for you. Keep us posted.

 

[Fuldo]

I’m looking to use the simple chlorine dispenser for my 12,000 gallon pool. I have some incentive, this is a seasonal house and my relative who looks after the pool is planning to travel this summer when I’ll be mostly away as well.

I’ve looked at the options mentioned in this thread and also the Hasa Liquidator that’s held in high regard by many on this site. All need to be stitched-in to the plumbing, are active just when the pump runs and a number of reliability issues were mentioned on some other sites. The stenner pump option may be the best for the money but it’s still fairly costly and the tubing must be replaced periodically. I even investigated going to a salt water system but I’m still not convinced that would be a major cost-effective benefit either.

The challenges of a simple direct dispensing system is the low flow required and the wide range of flow rates required during a year. My pool uses 11% liquid chlorine at a rate of about 5 ounces per day in January and about 50 ounces per day in August. This equates to a very low flow rate, literally many seconds between individual drops. I’d think it could be dispensed directly into the pool at that rate. Maybe a downpipe would be helpful to ensure some mixing and maybe dispensing directly over a skimmer would avoid direct contact with swimmers. A gravity feed system would likely also need to be two stages with a float valve feeding liquid from a large tank to a supply tank that’s held at a constant level. It would be interesting to see what flow rates could be achieved with an IV drip valve.

The chlorine mixture being fed could be diluted to maybe avoid the need to control feed rate. For instance, I could maybe use straight 11% liquid chlorine in the summer, 1.1% premix (1 gallon 11% with 9 gallons plain water) in the winter and other concentrations in the months in-between.

I’m just trying to think outside the box.

 

[Demegrad9]

It sounds like you don't like a Stenner for two reasons: 1) cost and 2) you have to install this into the existing plumbing. Is that right?

A peristaltic pump like a Stenner or Rola-Chem, can definitely handle your wide range of flow rates but the cost is pretty much the cost, about $400 bucks last time I looked around. At the end of the day, I usually find that I spend more money cobbling something together than just buying the comparable product. This might be the situation here.

Technically you don't have to plumb the Stenner into the existing plumbing. You could make this totally independent from your plumbing and just have that end of the tube held out there in the middle of the pool somehow, maybe attach it to a stick or something. I don't actually recommend this, I'd worry about proper mixing, but like you said, you're trying to think outside the box.

 

[mknauss]

I would suggest a SWCG. Getting a Circupool standalone unit sized for a 30K pool (RJ-30) is the best way for an absentee owner. We leave our pool for weeks to a couple months at a time. We have a pool service that visits once a week to add acid, and, if necessary, adjust the SWCG setting. As your pool is within a screen enclosure, you have minimal organic load and UV.

Take care.