Liquid Chlorine Feeder Options

[Seadweller]

Greetings,

I was about to pull the trigger on a salt system (Aqua-Rite) for my 14K gallon pool, but after some reading, I'm a little concerned about some of the side effects, such as the corrosion of the surrounding decking. I became even more concerned when I read that more and more pool companies require a "release from liability" when installing these systems. Also, the use of light colored coping is not recommended, and of course, the new coping around my pool is ivory. Finally, it seems that salt systems may need to be run 24/7 in order to produce sufficient concentrations of chlorine, which is not an option for me.

By chance, I came across some information about automated liquid chlorine feeders, and was intrigued. I've read about the "Liquidator," but it seems folks have to add chlorine to it every 2-3 days. The objective behind going with a salt system was to avoid this kind of "maintenance." Admittedly, I have a poor record when it comes to pool maintenance, so I’m looking for a system to “automate” things somewhat so that my lack of attention at times won’t be punished by algae blooms. I travel on business quite a bit which complicates things even further.

I was looking at a product by Stenner that uses a peristaltic pump mounted on a tank, which can hold up to 30 gallons depending on the model. I’m curious to know if anyone has used this system, or perhaps a similar system.

I realize that water temperature (I’m in Florida), bather load, leaves in the pool, and other criteria dictate chlorine levels/needs, but in general terms, how many gallons of chlorine might be used per week in one of these systems to maintain the chlorine at the typical recommended level?

Any input and/or advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

The average pool uses 2ppm per day. Some days more, some days less and there are many factors, but I'd say it's around 2-3ppm.

No system is maintenance free, the best way to prevent algae is to stay on top of the situation with a good test kit and monitoring your levels. With any system - if you don't do that, you'll get algae, regardless of the method of chlorine addition.

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

I would go with a salt system unless you have a lot of natural stone work. There is a small risk for some kinds of natural stone, and hardy any risk for anything else, especially on the east coast where you will get a reasonable amount of rain. A properly sized SWG system does not need to be run any longer than you usually run your system.

I have a Stenner system for feeding acid into the pool and it works very well. It doesn't need frequent attention but it does require some maintenance. The cost will be nearly as high as for a SWG and you will still need to fill the tank at least occasionally, which is work you can avoid with a SWG.

 

[Seadweller]

Thanks...I used a calculator on a site that based on flow rates (44 gallons per minute for 1.5" pipe) and a 3PPM desired chlorine level, a use of around 1.56 gallons per day was indicated. Does this sound about right?

I have an erosion feeder in the system, but my stabilizer levels got over 100, so I'm in the process of letting them drop with the rainfall we've had. Now, I've stopped using the tablets completely, and I'm putting around 2.5 gallons of pool chlorine in each weekend, but I'd like to get out of this high/low cycle effect. I figured with a liquid chlorine feeder, I would have a steady stream of chlorine entering the pool each day, based on the pump cycle (which I run around 12 hours/day), which would maintain the level at a more steady state.

I understand that I'll have to test the water to maintain PH, Alkalinity, Stabilizer, etc., but I like the idea of keeping the chlorine level more consistent, and having chlorine metered into the pool daily which I think would improve its sanitizing efficiency. What I like even more, is that with a 30 gallon tank, I'd only have to add chlorine to the tank every two weeks or so.

Am I going down the right path here?

 

[Seadweller]

Interesting about the SWG...Do you feel that the corrosion of concrete is overblown, or perhaps a mis-diagnosis of some sort? I really like the idea/simplicity of the salt system, but reading about corroded lights and fixtures, corroded decking and coping, and other horror stories scared me away from it...

 

[duraleigh]

Many people on the forum have the liquidator. It will accept 4-8 gallons of chlorine. Enough to last in that pool for several days (the calc you got of 1.56 gal is too high....1/2 that is closer)

The biggest negative with the liquidator is some folks (not all) experience calcium precipitation within the system which requires cleaning periodically (every 3-4 weeks for me). It's really not a big deal and many users have no calcium issues at all.

If you drop the SWG idea, I think a liquidator is your next best bet.

 

[JasonLion]

Interesting about the SWG...Do you feel that the corrosion of concrete is overblown, or perhaps a mis-diagnosis of some sort? I really like the idea/simplicity of the salt system, but reading about corroded lights and fixtures, corroded decking and coping, and other horror stories scared me away from it...

There have been a really large number of SWG units installed and very very few people have problems. There have been several dramatic failures, though very few of them were really the fault of the SWG. Occasionally you run into a screw or fixture that used a lower grade of stainless steel and rusted, but that is fairly rare. Concrete is not a problem at all. The largest risk is to the softer kinds of natural stone, which really shouldn't be used around a pool anyway. Another area where there can be problems is indoor pools that don't have any CYA and let their FC level get astronomically high through lack of attention, but that can't happen outdoors.