Chlorinator questions...

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Martha_D

Martha_D

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LifeTime Supporter
May 15, 2012
67
Putnam, NY
Ok, this may be the mother of all stupid questions...and its 2-parts. :)

I was looking through the bills from my pool guy from last year to see the frequency/quantities of chemicals he used. I noticed that he charged me for a "chlorinator O ring" at some point. In familiarizing myself with the pool equipment, I have not seen a chlorinator anywhere. Now, Im pretty sure that he was majorly ripping me off, so its not out of the realm of possibility that no such devise exists. BUT... if I was to have one, where would it be hooked up?

This brings me to part 2 of the motherload of dumb questions: If I do not have a chlorinator, how do I add my chlorine? Should I purchase one? I have decided to use the trichlor tablets simply because I have close to 3 buckets of them, and someone mentioned that if I have a short swim season I could get away with it. I live in the Northeast, so Im guessing my swim season is shorter relatively speaking.

any help is greatly appreciated...
 
Martha_D said:
Ok, this may be the mother of all stupid questions...and its 2-parts. :)

I was looking through the bills from my pool guy from last year to see the frequency/quantities of chemicals he used. I noticed that he charged me for a "chlorinator O ring" at some point. In familiarizing myself with the pool equipment, I have not seen a chlorinator anywhere. Now, Im pretty sure that he was majorly ripping me off, so its not out of the realm of possibility that no such devise exists. BUT... if I was to have one, where would it be hooked up?

This brings me to part 2 of the motherload of dumb questions: If I do not have a chlorinator, how do I add my chlorine? Should I purchase one? I have decided to use the trichlor tablets simply because I have close to 3 buckets of them, and someone mentioned that if I have a short swim season I could get away with it. I live in the Northeast, so Im guessing my swim season is shorter relatively speaking.

any help is greatly appreciated...
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It would be helpful to get a test kit so you can know for sure if using the tablets are ok. When they say it is ok to use tablets with a short swim season, it is probably because the CYA that builds up gets diluted during rains and over the winter. Without measuring the CYA you cant really be sure. The TF100 kit is what most people recommend here, but the taylor k2006 is available on amazon and is also recommended.

A chlorinator would be on the return line. Did you buy the tablets from him or you just got them yourself? It is possible that you have a puck feeder and that could have the O ring he is talking about. Maybe take a picture
 
The TF100 kit is what most people recommend here
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I have this test kit on order :-D

I purchased some through the pool guy last year, and before I read here I bought another bucket. This was the method he was using last year, and the water always seemed (to my untrained eye) to be very nice. I do add quite a bit of water throughout the season with the hose.

edit: Im willing (if neccessary), to abandon the idea of using the tablets and just eat the cost. I think my pool guy might have been dropping the tablets into the skimmer.
 
march2012 said:
It would be helpful to get a test kit so you can know for sure if using the tablets are ok. When they say it is ok to use tablets with a short swim season, it is probably because the CYA that builds up gets diluted during rains and over the winter. Without measuring the CYA you cant really be sure. The TF100 kit is what most people recommend here, but the taylor k2006 is available on amazon and is also recommended.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is correct. I did a ton of research on the tablet/CYA issues. It seems that in areas where a pool is open all year have the worst of the CYA problems. However, in areas of short swim seasons, we simply don't see this issue*. 5 of my close neighbors have pools and 4 of them (5 if you included myself) all have chlorinators. The other neighbor uses granulars.

*Yes, over the course of many, many years CYA will rise. However, the partial draining as well as rain/snow diluting the water keeps the levels in check. For reference (proof?), my neighbor has had his pool for 32 years. He has used tablets or some form of Tri-chlor since day one. He said that in that time, he had 1 bad algae problem and he blamed this on user error (left the heater on for a week, while he was on vacation). He does have a full test kit and tests CYA bi-weekly. His pool has been open for a week and just tested CYA at 48 ppm.

Lastly, someone had mentioned that filtering and circulation helps as well. Since we have a short swim season, we all run our filters 24/7. Not sure if that makes a difference but I thought it should be noted.
 
The chlorinator will be a cylinder about a foot tall and a little larger in diameter than the 3" trichlor tabs, plumbed in on the outlet side of the filter.
 
You can get a floater. Or if you leave your pump on 24/7 you could put them in the skimmer (although this has risks of damage if your pump ever turned off). Although I think the chlorinators are pretty cheap.
 

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There are several different designs of chlorinators, some are inline and some are offline. If you can post a pic of your equipment we can look at it and tell if you have one or not.

If you're going to use the pucks, a floater is your best bet if you don't have a feeder.
 
downsized_0517120830.jpg

I am just getting around to finally posting this image... I don't believe there is a chlorinator here unless it is in one of these peices of equipment?
 
No chlorinator appears in your photo. However, the photo doesn't show everything so it could in theory be outside of the picture.

The photo giantsnation posted is fairly representative. If you had one you would probably notice it.
 
giantsnation said:
He does have a full test kit and tests CYA bi-weekly. His pool has been open for a week and just tested CYA at 48 ppm.
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I wonder how your friend was able to get that exact number. What test kit does he use?

CYA is the most difficult test IMO and test results vary depending how you test it. I get 30 when outside with the sun hitting the tube, 40 with the sun hitting my back and the tube is over my shadow, etc.
 
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