New to the world of Pools, DIY or use a service Pool Chlor?

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SequoiaHosting

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Jul 10, 2008
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Hey All,

So, I am very excited, I have my own pool! Never had one before, the harsh weather of Scotland really left pool ownership to the rich. Now I am living in California and everyone seems to have them!

Anyway, back to my topic. I am thinking of doing it all myself, buying a test kit, becoming a TFP lifetime member and just learning the hard way, a few neighbors have a pool guy who comes round but the $90 a month prices seem a little steep for me. I received a flyer through my door from a company called Pool Chlor who are suggesting a low monthly fee of $36 if I use there "unique" chlorination system. Part of me wants to do this myself, I like learning new things, but the $36 a month seems like a great deal, a visit to Leslie Pool Supplies would suggest I would spend over that per month if I do it myself. However, I could be completely wrong. Has anyone heard of this company before?? My inground pool is about 20k gallons, sand filter (very old), has some sort of pebble based material construction and Polaris 280 (I think its a 280). I live in the valley of California, a place called Visalia, so its very hot during the summer but pretty cool during winter which, I believe, would mean high running costs in the summer and very little during winter. I guess this is a tough question, but any idea of a monthly running costs?

Thanks for the advice!
 
Hi, and welcome to TFP.

There was just a thread about Pool Chlor this morning! However, most folks can do it themselves much cheaper, and then you KNOW your water is safe and sanitary. Don't listen to what the pool store says! Most of them don't really have a clue, and are in it to make the $$.

We are here to help, and love to answer questions!!
 
Welcome to TFP! :wave: Scotland huh? How do Cali and Scotland compare?

Sorry off subject. :oops:

Monthly costs, as far as chems? or total, including utilities, water?

I can tell you personally, there is no contest for me, anyway. My season is not as long as Cali, of course, but I expect I'll spend less than $40 on bleach the entire season (about 4 months), forget about a month.... $90 is insane. So naturally $36 sounds better but what is their "Unique" chlorination system....? Leslies is correct, if you buy THEIR pool chems you will spend that much. But if you go BBB... A jug of bleach lasts me about a week. I can get this jug for $2.28 at Target or Walmart (big jugs 174 oz). Since I switched to BBB a year ago, I have not added anything except bleach to my pool. Here's a link I did, a few months ago....

does-the-bbb-method-save-me-money-t6634.html?hilit=%20save%20money

Good luck. Get yourself a TF-100 and go BBB and you won't regret it for a second. :mrgreen:
 
Hey Guys,

Thanks for the quick replies. Leslie Pool Store was a nightmare, really, a horrible experience. Every isle some guy would pounce on me, I needed to get a new bag for my Polaris and they informed me its no longer made and that I would need a new one. Needless to say, I spotted the bag on the shelf :roll:

I am going to do it myself, order one of them TF-100 Test kits and get on top of the pool maintenance. As for monthly costs I was just thinking chemicals, water is not metered where I am and electric for the pumps, well, I would rather just not know that :-D. Less than $40 for bleach is amazing, my season might be longer, but honestly, the pool will get five months of use tops, more likely four.

One other question, at the moment I have the main pump running for six hours, another local pool supplier told me that would be fine, however, I am thinking in this heat (100+ in the day and 80 at night), I should have it running for 12 hours?

As for Cali and Scotland, two different worlds! Everyone talks the same language but pretty much everything else is different. Lived in Scotland all my life and to be honest, I don't miss too much bar my family. The weather was horrible! And the drink! Bars, late night Indian and Chippies, Dang, I feel lucky to still be alive! :lol:
 
SequoiaHosting said:
Hey Guys,

Thanks for the quick replies. Leslie Pool Store was a nightmare, really, a horrible experience. Every isle some guy would pounce on me, I needed to get a new bag for my Polaris and they informed me its no longer made and that I would need a new one. Needless to say, I spotted the bag on the shelf :roll:

I am going to do it myself, order one of them TF-100 Test kits and get on top of the pool maintenance. As for monthly costs I was just thinking chemicals, water is not metered where I am and electric for the pumps, well, I would rather just not know that :-D. Less than $40 for bleach is amazing, my season might be longer, but honestly, the pool will get five months of use tops, more likely four.

One other question, at the moment I have the main pump running for six hours, another local pool supplier told me that would be fine, however, I am thinking in this heat (100+ in the day and 80 at night), I should have it running for 12 hours?

As for Cali and Scotland, two different worlds! Everyone talks the same language but pretty much everything else is different. Lived in Scotland all my life and to be honest, I don't miss too much bar my family. The weather was horrible! And the drink! Bars, late night Indian and Chippies, ****, I feel lucky to still be alive! :lol:
Click to expand...

I think you'll be pleased you decided to go for it. Now here's what you do next. Go to your User Control Panel and Update your Signature in your Profile. You want to add your pool equipment/type etc., so say something like 20,000 gallons IG with XXX finish, (can't remember) and XXXX Sand Filter, XXX speed or hp pump, polaris, etc., whatever else you'd like to add. That way when you post we can see right away what your specs are. Also include a full set of test results when you can. You may find you spend more than me given your locale and type of pool, but it shouldn't be anywhere near the numbers they quoted you.

Last question. What is "Indian and Chippies"?....... :mrgreen:
 
haha...Indians is Indian Food and Chippies are deep fried Fish and Chips/Fries wrapped in a paper bag (I used to live 5 miles away from the place that invented deep friend candy bars), around 1AM when you stumble out the pub after too many lagers, that is what you go for. They have trouble with heart disease in Scotland, no idea why :lol:

Going to add my pool details, need to get the measuring tape out, the pool is an interesting shape and I think its 10ft at the deep end? It had a diving board and I know to meet code it had to be 10ft deep? Or was it 8ft?
 

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If your pool is around 20,000 gallons, then a usage of 2 ppm FC per day at a cost of $3.65 per gallon for 12.5% chlorinating liquid or $1.35 per 96-ounce jug of 6% bleach, both of which are on the high side of what you may be able to get, would be about $35 per month. I'm using conservative numbers here and your actual chlorine demand could be less, especially if you use a pool cover or have a higher CYA level or don't have a lot of direct sunlight on the pool -- and these costs for chlorinating liquid and bleach are higher than you can get in some areas. Nevertheless, their $36 monthly fee is not horrible when you consider that they will be brushing the pool every week in addition to adding chlorine.

So it's really a matter of price vs. convenience of having someone else go and get the chlorine, add it, brush the pool, etc. Probably the thing to do is to start off managing the pool yourself, finding good local sources of chlorinating liquid or bleach at decent prices, and seeing how you feel about adding chlorine regularly and doing weekly brushing.

The Pool Chlor I visited is the headquarters in Arizona so I can't speak for the one in California, but suspect it is run in a similar fashion using similar techniques (their website is here). They basically manage the pools similar to BBB users in terms of using unstabilized chlorine, but they use chlorine gas which is generally much cheaper than chlorinating liquid (mostly due to less weight to transport). If they only visit once a week, the chlorine levels will fluctuate quite a bit during the week, but are roughly in the range of what we recommend on this forum.

Richard
 
My pool is 13,500 gallons. I use a solar cover. My pool is open from early May to early September. Water temp hovers around 86-88 degrees. Full sun. Two kids and me, with the occasional friend and the rarer pool gathering. I have bought about 12 jugs of bleach thus far since May opening, paying no more than $2.28 a jug. So I have spent less than $30 for about 2 months. I may be less than the average, I don't know. But that's my personal experience. :-D
 
10k gallon pool here, with full sun. I used a solar cover as well in the early spring and have been swimming since early April. I unde up using about 2 bottles of bleach each week (Walmart Ultra 6% 174oz bottles). Bottles are less than $3 so it's under $6 per week or $30-36 each month.

I've only had to shock once this year.
 
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