Cost comparison between the Liquidator and a Salt System

[Nightmare]

My main goal is less maintenance on the pool. I was on the fence with a Salt System when we built the pool (mainly due to some info from the PB and the hard water we have). My PB made it sound like he had to acid wash the plates in the Salt System very often. I went with the Liquidator based on several good reviews and I figured it was only $200 if I changed my mind

Anyway, here is a fairly close estimate of my operating cost for the LQ over a period of 1 year:

System Purchase - $210 with tax and delivery
System Install - Free, the PB guys did it for me
Chlorine and Acid for 1 year - Approx $425 (this does not include the free coupons with the LQ)
Free Chlorine with LQ Purchase - about $40

Annual Cost Chlorine and Acid = $465
Monthly Cost = $39.00

I checked the price on Chlorine and bleach at several places. The bleach was a little (very little) less expensive, but I'd need to move 2x the volume.

My local store sells the HASA disposable 4-Pack of Chlorine (12.5%, not like the low % Crud at Leslie Pool) for $20.42 (inc tax)

 

[jblizzle]

Interesting, although to truly be a comparison you would need to also have costs for a running a SWG included.

Here are some ROUGH estimates:

System Purchase - $1000 (call it $500 for controller and $500 for cell)
Install - Free, DIY + $100 salt
Chlorine and Acid for 1 year - no idea ... call it $150
Extra Electricity for 1 year - no idea ... call it $75
Extra Salt for 1 year - call it $25

Cell prorated cost over 3 year = 500/3 = $167/year; @ 5 years = $100/year

Annual prorated cost:
3 year cell life = ~$417
5 year cell life = ~$350

Prorating the initial purchase price (liquidator and SWG controller+salt) over 5 years with the annual costs gives:
Liquidator = $507/year
SWG = $537/year @ 3 year cell life; $470/year @ 5 year cell life

Ends up pretty similar actually ... using my wild assumptions

 

[arjaygee]

I couldn't help but notice that you are in Southern California, like me, and as you state our water is hard... very hard. I've had my Liquidator now for over a year, and have managed quite well with it but it is far from maintenance free for me. In fact, I would guess that it is just a little less effort than manually distributing chlorine regularly. I state this because, I am a member of the unfortunate group who deal with the dreaded "white stuff", and I attribute this primarily to our hard water -- others may disagree. For me, the white stuff is like cholesterol, and my system is eating nothing but cheese burgers. It builds up at the outlet port, and the control valve, and requires dis-assembly and acid cleaning every 2 weeks. If I don't do this maintenance, I can count on complete blockage at the outlet and the control valve freezing up within a month.

What is your CH level? Mine is around 750. I once measured CH at 600 coming out of the tap.

Anyway, something to consider. I would be interested to know if you end up having a similar experience with this system. Hope for your sake you don't.

Good luck.

 

[Nightmare]

I think my CH chemicals went bad.

I have a chart somewhere, but I can't find it.

The first 5 measurements were:

289
269
278
262
309

Some of those may be from the pool store.

I know I measured a 250 and a 240 with the TFP Test Kit.

Maybe my water isn't super hard. There is white buildup on the side of the spa at the waterfall.

 

[chiefwej]

I've had a SWG for over six years now, and I just broke down and replaced the T15 cell at a cost of $500. I doubt that I have any measurable additional cost for acid. Salt cost $5 for 40 pounds so that was about $60, and it stays in the water unless you have to drain for some reason unrelated to the SWG. Since I have no intention of throwing the system away after five or six years, I don't see why any system cost other than replacement of the cell should be figured into the operating cost. So excluding the initial system cost my chlorine cost has been $83 per year.

If I include the full initial cost of the system, plus the salt to get it operational and allowances for electricity and some extra acid I still get an annual cost of less than $200. Of course that allows for replacement of the entire system every six years, which I feel is very unlikely.