The evil Ozonator

[bwright42tx]

I have an UltraPure Ozone Generator installed on my pool, but it has recently quit functioning, and I am debating on what to do about that. We have just started swimming again, and I am already noticing an increased chlorine usage when compared to last year (of course I didn't track chlorine usage last year so I have no firm data on this). But it has made me curious. SO I thought I would pose a few questions here:

1. Is anyone using an ozonator combined with manual dosing of chlorine? If so, I'd love to hear about your experience and setup (FC Level Maintained, CYA level, etc).

2. I know every pool is different, but are there any statistics out there on average chlorine usage for manualy dosed pools at various CYA levels?

3. My unit was/is a UV unit and probably just needs new bulbs, but I was evaluating my options and it appears the CD units are better at generating ozone, but don't last as long as the UV units, does anybody have any data/experience with the differenc between the units.

4. I know the ozone genrator can work well in higher bather load pools, but I'm curious on ding a cost analysis and seeing if the reduced chlorine usage offsets the cost.

5. Is anyone using an Ozonator with a SWG?

Thanks,

Bryan

 

[dmanb2b]

drop it and just go with an adequately sized swg...it's all you need

 

[JasonLion]

Ozone isn't of much use on an outdoor residential pool. Either manual chlorine additions or a SWG does just fine. You would need to save a lot of chlorine before the ozone will pay for it's self. Various reports show ozone increasing chlorine use sometimes and saving chlorine other times, but even the times when it saves chlorine don't save enough to make it worth while in an outdoor residential pool.

With CYA at 50, a typical pool will lose about 50% of it's chlorine to sunlight each day. For most pools that translates into about 2 ppm of chlorine. However this varies quite a bit depending on the amount of sunlight that shines directly on the pool. I have seen anywhere from 0.25 to 6 ppm per day across a range of pools. Both of those extremes are rather rare, with most pools in the 1 to 3 ppm range.

 

[257WbyMag]

I agree with dmanb2b. Now, if this was an indoor pool, the case could be made for keeping the ozonator up and running since it really helps with the breakdown of combined chloramines that are problematic in indoor pool environments. But if your pool is outside, the good old sun provides all the UV light that you could possibly want and it does so for free.