My pool boy/yard guy/son wants to do a science fair project involving swimming pool sanitation. Any of you been down this path before, or have any thoughts/ideas to get him started?
Science project
- Thread starter no-mas
- Start date
There has been anecdotal evidence on the forum that different colors of solar cover make a difference in FC consumption. Basically with a darker cover you lose less. This is probably because of different amounts of UV getting through. The experiment could be tuned for different degrees of sophistication in the scientist as well as available measuring equipment. The hard part would be getting a reasonable range of cover samples to try.
In middle grades, you could chart FC and temp versus cover type/color, in a set of buckets.
In high school, you might want to measure UV absorbtion of the different types of cover, as UV is the main source of FC loss (in a clean pool). This could be correlated against temp and FC loss as well.
--paulr
In middle grades, you could chart FC and temp versus cover type/color, in a set of buckets.
In high school, you might want to measure UV absorbtion of the different types of cover, as UV is the main source of FC loss (in a clean pool). This could be correlated against temp and FC loss as well.
--paulr
Anything involving your SWG cell would probably get some attention. He could figure out your chlorine consumption and then use that to see how long your cell would have to last for you to break even. Or he could take a look at the difference between manufacturing chlorine in the pool via salt + electrolysis vs. what it takes to manufacture mass quantities of tabs/cal-hypo/liquid off-site. Or both!
There's also plenty of info on here about "alternative sanitizers" if he wanted to go that route.
There's also plenty of info on here about "alternative sanitizers" if he wanted to go that route.
duraleigh said:
He's a sophomore in hs.
He'd like to do something with alternative sanitizers as Spishex suggested, but I certainly don't want him trying anything in OUR pool - we'd need to find people using biguanides, mineral systems etc... I wonder if it would be feasible to set up a few sample "kiddie" pools that he would attempt to maintain using several different methods - though I don't know how we would set up separate filtration for each one...
Thanks for the ideas, guys. Anyone have thoughts on the feasibility of maintaing a bunch of small pools using different methods for sanitation?
no-mas said:
I'll suggest that you'd need both circulation and filtration to be more pool-like. Fish ponds are sometimes filtered by homemade box filters made from a plastic storage box filled with plastic kitchen scrubbies from the dollar store. You need a pump to take water from the kiddie pool, into the box at one end, out the other where it spills over back into the pool. Intake from the pool would be well away from the spillover back into the pool.
Or find a used HOT (Hang On Tank) Magnum fish tank filter. Local fish forums might turn up a used one for sale. I last bought one used for $20, about $40 or $50 new online. That would require the sidewall of the pool be strong enough to support it, narrow enough to hang it, and be sheltered from rain which might defeat the purpose of the experiment but maybe that could be worked around. HOT Magnums can use a micron filter, about $8 extra, which would approximate a cartridge filter or DE filter I guess.
Not sure any of that helps, and it may be that these would just complicate the experiment too much.
launboy
0
If you're going to buy, I'd do it now! They're on sale for $13.99!!!!! 
Can't beat that.
Good luck with the project,
Adam
Can't beat that.
Good luck with the project,
Adam
