For those of you that use chlorine feeders what are your opinions on the Pentair Rainbow 320 in-line feeder as compared to other models. Are there much difference between the different kinds of pucks if so which kind is the best.
Chlorine feeder
- Thread starter mike3554
- Start date
There is a difference in tablets. For what it's worth, the Arch/HTH/Pace tablets contain copper and are worth avoiding for this reason. If you must use tablets, I would pay attention to the ingredients on the label and make sure that the ones you choose don't have metals which can cause staining. I think the Leslie's tablets are metal free. Downside is that they cost more.
As far as the tablet feeder, I had a Rainbow 320 and took it off after it started leaking. I haven't missed it really.
As far as the tablet feeder, I had a Rainbow 320 and took it off after it started leaking. I haven't missed it really.
Have you looked at the liquidator? You just dump your liquid chlorine in the tank and let it do the rest.mike3554 said:
Pucks are good if you're out of town, but otherwise they'll end up overloading your pool with Calcium or CYA. Previous homeowner used nothing but pucks, leaving me with CYA over 200 and CH approaching 4 figures. And the easy solution - draining - isn't feasible under water restrictions.
Where i live water is not very expensive and i would rather have the ease of the chlorine feeder and if i have to drain part of my pool once in a while to lower CYA that is ok. Was just looking for on info on which ones are the best/reliable and which pucks are the best to use.
A Rainbow 320 came with my pool, but it's been somewhere in the basement for years. It never put sufficient FC in the pool unless I doubled my run time or ran 24/7. A tethered floater works perfectly for me. Just tie it to a brick and move it around to see where it puts out the right amount of FC. (I only use pucks a few weeks a year, either to raise CYA or when I travel.)
mike3554 said:
That can work, as long as you are monitoring the CYA build up and keeping chlorine levels high enough to actually work.
You can use the Pool Calculator, Effects of Adding Chemicals, at the bottom to calculate how long it will take your typical weekly usage of pucks to raise CYA enough to require testing to adjust the FC target you are using.
In my pool, 7 pucks a week, 49 oz for 2 weeks, raises CYA by 20ppm which is enough to change my safe FC range from 2-4 to 4 - 6 as CYA goes from 30 to 50. So what was my target is now my minimum, in only 2 weeks. That is a pretty quick change in chlorine levels, but then my pool probably has more heat and more sun and more leaves than yours. Or maybe not, I dunno.
[edit] I need to add, I use bleach mostly, cal-hypo sometimes. I did use pucks this year but for only a few weeks in the spring when I found, after not testing CYA for most of the winter, CYA was low. I also use them, plus bleach, while on vacation.
mike3554 said:
They are all pretty much the same, Mike. I have a unit on my pool (don't remember the manufacturer) that is turned off, and I will never use it again. You can have it for the price of shipping, if you want it. Just let me know and I'll take it off!
