JUST chlorine tabs?

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woodyp

woodyp

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Apr 17, 2010
12,463
East Texas
Do the pool stores sell chlorine in tab or briquet form that is JUST chlorine only----absolutely no other CYA, calcium or anything or chemical added that can throw your pool chemistry off?
If so, is there a name or product brand I should ask for. I'm gonna hate dealing with the carrying and storing of common houselhold bleach in liquid form. If they don't sell just pure chlorine in these forms, why not?

Thanks in advance,
Woodyp
 
No they don't. Chlorine is much too unstable to be handled in pure form. That instability is why it does such a good job of sanitation.

The most convenient way to chlorinate is with a salt water chlorine generator.
 
There is a solid form of chlorine that is about 6 times as concentrated (by weight) as bleach and about 3 times as concentrated as 12.5% chlorinating liquid. It's called lithium hypochlorite, but unfortunately it's at least 5 times as expensive as bleach or chlorinating liquid. It also appears to be only available in powder/granular and not in slow-dissolving tablets.

The chemistry of chlorine is such that there is no inexpensive slow-dissolving form that does not have some sort of by-product -- increasing CYA with Trichlor or increasing CH with Cal-Hypo.
 
Of the two forms of chlorine tabs you listed, the trichlor which increases CYA or Cal-Hypo which increases CH, which is the lesser of the two evils and the easiest to correct in maintaining your water balance?

Woodyp
 
That depends on where you live. In most places cal-hypo is better because the amount of CH added is a much lower percentage of the acceptable CH level. However, cal-hypo dissolves relatively quickly and is more expensive than trichlor. In arid areas with high CH fill water, trichlor would probably be better.

Overall, bleach or liquid chlorine are both going to be easier to use than either trichlor or cal-hypo in almost all cases, and a SWG is easier than anything else.
 
Yes, you could use a combination of trichlor and liquid chlorine/bleach, but I don't recommend it. Trichlor is constantly raising the CYA level. While the CYA level will drift down very slowly over the course of a season, and thus trichlor could be used to maintain a constant CYA level, that would be so little trichlor as to be almost irrelevant.
 

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