Sinking chlorinator, input wanted

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Shane1

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Apr 29, 2010
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Buckeye, AZ 85326
My wife heard a commercial for this thing today on a talk radio show. Does anyone have any input on it? I'm sticking with pucks for now so it is of interest to me. The part that interests me the most is the statement in bullet 2.4 which states "$ave you money: In a floater, up to 75% of chlorine dissipates into the atmosphere. That seems like a pretty high percentage but it really kind of makes sense. On a side not I'm glad my wife is taking interest in the care of our pool.
Here is a link to the Sunken Treasures website.
http://safensavepoolchemist.com/SunkenTreasure.html
 
Well, since I am not a puck fan in the first place, this does not appeal to me. That aside, being involved in the plaster industry, and seeing what the "floaters" do when they sit over the pool steps and release their "goods" and destroy plaster, I would certainly not want that sitting on the floor of my pool either!

Even with your PebbleSheen finish, I would not suggest you spend (waste?) your money on this. I might even be so bold as to suggest you rethink the whole puck thing also :oops: You are playing with fire as it regards your pool water, and those pucks are not your friend!
 
It erodes the plaster in that particular area. I'll see if I can find any pics (I see it so many times a month that it is almost common; and sad) and post them up. The floaters seem to find a favorite spot in almost every pool, and oftentimes it is on a shallow step, where it does its dirty work!
 
Shane,
I have no experience with the sinking "floater", but it makes no sense to my chemistry. That don't mean it won't work a little better, but I would be very concerned about the plaster. The rate of dissolving the pucks is a function of the puck surface area, water temp and water velocity, so I'm a little surprised with your size pool you can keep adequate chlorine with floaters. I put mine in the skimmer and run 8 -12 hrs per day pump when the pool is clean. For my larger pool in TX I had to use a chlorinator. If you use the skimmer, check to see if you have a brass impeller in the pump. It will corrode faster.
 
I wrote the Sunken Treasure website and received an immediate reply, from Kim, the inventor. (There is also a US patent on the Sunken Treasure, which I looked up.) Then, I wrote again and asked about plaster damage of chlorine tabs directly on the plaster surface, and any damage from the Sunken Treasure.

Here is my reply from Kim:
Hi Jeff,

Yes, if you put the 3-inch tab(s) directly on the plaster, chlorine will burn (so-called chlorine burn) the plaster which cannot be removed (like when wood is burned, you won't be able to reverse it back to wood). On the other hand, the Sunken Treasure is well-designed - it rarely stands still in one position and the plaster is protected by Sunken Treasure wall materials. The chlorine tab never comes in contact with the plaster, nor is it possible for the tab to get close enough to the plaster to cause damage. With over 15 years of the Sunken Treasure on the market, no one has ever complained about stains on the plaster due to the Sunken Treasure itself.

Kim
Click to expand...
 
Melt In The Sun said:
I have a hard time believing that 75% of your chlorine goes into the air when using a floater. A very hard time.
Click to expand...
I have a hard time believing that as well. So, I emailed that, and Kim, and in her first reply, confirmed the chlorine savings. Kim also mentioned one could expect to cut pumping time by 1-2 hours.

I also asked about how may 3" tabs the Sunken Treasure can hold. Kim said each one holds up to 4 tabs.

Finally, Kim confirmed my question about solar cover life, that many Sunken Treasure owners had reported longer cover life.

Jeff
 
Its not uncommon for the tablet to erode while in a floating feeder, into small enough chunks that can fall through the slits around the sides...that's the situation in which the tablet would come in contact with the plaster, not that the 3" tab itself will sit on the plaster. This design does not prevent that from happening.

I can't imagine a 75% chlorine loss by a floater. They are, afterall, covered with a lid. So then, a floating swan/sailboat erosion feeder, where the tablet is immersed more and better sealed than the blue/white floater, THEORETICALLY, should be more efficient?!? I don't buy that sales pitch.

I can attest to the damage that Bruce mentioned with the floater finding its way to the steps. I can imaging that this device can also get caught up on ladders, corners, and steps of the pool.

There's a claim of 15 years of being used in the industry. Well, I've got almost 25 years an I have never heard of such a product like this.
 

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Sean,

I've had a pool for 33 years, and never heard of anything like this until this month. But I've no reason to doubt the claim from the inventor, that they have been sold for 15 years. Perhaps, it was sold locally in Arizona for some time.

That 15 year time frame is certainly consistent with the US patent that was awarded on this, 15 years ago, in July 1995. (Patent Application 18 months before, in January 1994.) I just did a Google search on the US patent number, and the first link shows all this info, plus applicant, and a link to the actual PDF file for the Patent.

Jeff
 
Thanks for all the feedback and thoughts! And a special thanks to Jeff for doing what I should have done in the first place and contacted the inventor.
I'm a hard sale and dont buy into anything without some research and thought. So far the only drawback to this product seems to be the possibilty of plaster damage.
 
I have another thought that I also posted in the Pumping thread which talks about the Sunken Treasure.

ride525 said:
If it really does save you from using less chlorine tabs, then pool stores might be reluctant to carry it.

The pool stores might make a very few bucks on the Sunken Treasure, but would then sell less chlorine tabs!

Jeff
Click to expand...
 
This is what I posted in the other thread:

It is true. Our products (when our company was named Aquasave, Inc) were in Home Depot stores in Arizona, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Las Vegas, as well as in local (AZ) Fry's Food, Safeway, and Ace Hardware stores in the early 90's. Purchasing agents come and go, and they soon realized that our products were saving pool owners too much money. Aquasave users (the Sunken Treasure hadn't come along yet) were no longer buying liquid chlorine, shock, algaecide, pH balancers, etc. Bigwigs like HTH and Pace weren't happy. I'll let you figure out the rest.

Anyway, big box stores like Walmart and pool supply stores don't want to carry our products. When a small bucket of tabs cost $57 at Walmart, they don't want pool owners buying FEWER tablets. And because the Sunken Treasure chlorinates your pool from the bottom-up, shock is no longer needed. Your floater-chlorinated pool has little to no chlorine at the bottom. That's why you have to regularly use shock. Don't believe me? Dive down to the bottom of your pool with your test kit (your thumbs plugging it until you fill it up with water from the bottom) and see what kind of chlorine readings you get.

It really is a no-brainer product. An elegant solution on so many levels. It only costs $20 plus shipping (which isn't much more than a cheap floater), but you will realize immediate savings in tablets and shock, you will enjoy a healthier swim, and the Sunken Treasure will last 5 to 10 times longer than a floater because it is made with a superior polymer and isn't getting damaged by the sun.

We really only started advertising for the Sunken Treasure in 2010 on local radio. That's probably why few people have heard of it.

Thanks.
 
salp said:
Does "Sunken Treasure" limit how much CYA it dumps in the water?
Click to expand...

I would think that if the Sunken Treasure used 75% less chlorine, then it would put 75% less chlorine in the water.

I think I'm about ready to buy a couple. Even if the claims are only half of what they say, they will still be well worth it.

Jeff
 
Safe&SavePoolChemist said:
And because the Sunken Treasure chlorinates your pool from the bottom-up, shock is no longer needed. Your floater-chlorinated pool has little to no chlorine at the bottom. That's why you have to regularly use shock. Don't believe me? Dive down to the bottom of your pool with your test kit (your thumbs plugging it until you fill it up with water from the bottom) and see what kind of chlorine readings you get.
Click to expand...
???? This comment is certainly confusing and not accurate.
The need to shock treat a pool because you have a floater and that the chlorine doesn't get to the bottom of the pool is not due to a floater vs bottom-up.
If you have a different chlorine level at the bottom of your pool, you've got terrible water flow and a poor circulation pattern, not because of a floater. Poor flow and circulation will allow dead spots around the pool, which will allow algae to grow, floater or bottom-up does not matter. Algae is one reason for shocking the pool, called Superchlorination.
Bottom-up chlorination does not prevent chloramines from building up, another reason for shocking the pool, called Breakpoint chlorination.

Question: What prevents the eroding tablets from falling out between the slits in the housing, and landing on the plaster surface?
 
ride525 said:
salp said:
Does "Sunken Treasure" limit how much CYA it dumps in the water?
Click to expand...

I would think that if the Sunken Treasure used 75% less chlorine, then it would put 75% less chlorine in the water.

I think I'm about ready to buy a couple. Even if the claims are only half of what they say, they will still be well worth it.

Jeff
Click to expand...

Jeff,

I have about a six inline tab feeders that customers gave me after learning their CYA level was over 200 ppm. I'm sure if you put a thread out, someone out here will give you one for free if tabs are the way you want to go! Lets see... what is your FC min level with a CYA of 200 ppm???
 
ride525 said:
I would think that if the Sunken Treasure used 75% less chlorine, then it would put 75% less chlorine in the water.
Click to expand...
Oops, I misspoke. I should have said I would think if you used 75% less chlorine tabs,
then it would put 75% less CYA put in the water.

Sorry for the confusion. (I'm not a big fan of in-line chlorinators either. Or putting tabs directly in the skimmer. Although, I've done both in past years.)

It just makes sense to me that the concentration of chlorine in a floating chlorinator would be higher nearest the chlorinator, at the surface, especially if there pump set up is mostly skimming. What happens to the chlorine that gets released in the water near the surface? And an internet search did not lead to much on this. Does the chlorine on the surface burn up quickly like safensavepoolchemist.com says? Does much of it get released to the atmosphere? I just don't have a degree in chemistry, nor know much about the chemical reactions.

I may try and test the chlorine levels in my pool at the water surface, and at the bottom, to see if they are much different at the top water surface and the pool bottom.

Jeff
 

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