Seriously Considering The Liquidator--Comments?

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T

TXNDallas

0
Jun 4, 2014
16
Murphy, TX
Pool Size
15000
I've had it with tri-chlor. After fully draining my pool about 4 years ago and acid washing the CYA levels are out of control high and I can't keep the FC levels high enough to sanitize--or be safe for swimming. All the cal-hypo shocking has raised the Calcium to over 1000ppm in that time as well. I have a company coming in about two weeks to perform a reverse osmosis process on the pool. It's pricy ($675 for 26.5k gallons) but in Dallas water isn't terribly cheap and there's a host of other issues with draining (risk of floating, 75 feet to the nearest sewer connection (aside from the backwash), etc). Anyway, I've been eyeing the Liquidator for years but have never made the plunge. We're going to be selling this house in about a +/-1yr and I'm not sure I want to make the investment in converting to a SWG; that being said, I'm not sure about the operational costs of a sodium hypo pool? Any thoughts for a ~26k gal pool? Liquid chlorination isn't popular in Dallas--I don't know anyone personally that uses it and the pool store(s) are totally confused...I may end up having to buy bleach at the super, as I've never seen it in the pool stores.

Anyway, I'm looking for some feedback on the TCO of liquid chlorination with the relatively low upfront costs compared to a SWG conversion. We have a LONG summer here in Dallas (like May-October), don't want to break the bank on liquid chlorine. On the off chance we're here for more than a year I don't want to stick with tri-chlor either.

Thoughts?
 
Welcome to tfp! In addition to the liquidator you may want to look at a stenner pump and tank. Or if you aren't sure how long you will be in the house just dose manually every night.

Any way you slice it get a good test kit to keep things in line. There is a link to the tf100 in my signature. That is what most of us here use (best value and all the tests you will need)

You could do some calculations with poolmath (in the blue bar above) to figure out how much bleach you will use daily. Figure 2-3 ppm loss daily. Plug your targets in and it will tell you the dosages

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I've read about doing a stenner pump and tank, but there's the added cost of an electrician for that, as I'm out on doing outdoor electrical--want to fail a home inspection quickly, have a pool company do your pool electrical. The Liquidator would be a DiY project for me.

Sadly, I'm a little too lazy these days to dose the pool up every night with liquid so a more automated approach is definitely warranted. I've never fully used bleach for sanitizing--I have used it inconsistently for shocking. I was hoping someone could chime in with a similar size pool and region to get a feel for the true operational costs of using liquid for regular sanitizing.

I definitely agree on a good test kit, currently using the K-2006 but when the reagents are out or too old I will certainly consider switching. I've been trolling these board for about 7 years, and just recently started posting--excellent site--learned more from here then my pool books!
 
Missed your point about doing the calculations. Obvious and great idea. I will run the numbers with about 2PPM FC loss a day and see where that puts me. There's definitely variability with regard to the true strength of 6-8% Liquid bleach (pool store's don't carry liquid here so the 10+%'s a no-go) and who knows how long the bleach has been on the shelf at the market or what the storage conditions were. Anyway I will run them with 6-8% and see what the op cost would be. Thanks!

Still if anyone in the same/similar region has an opinion about liquid chlorination with The Liquidator please chime in!


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Also, I forgot to ask anyone with a Liquidator...I can probably only situate it about 4-5 feet from the feeds into the equipment, does anyone know if the tubing that comes with it is sufficient for that distance--or if that might introduce a complication?


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Hello TXN et. al.
I am switching from a SWCG. The main reason is due to the corrosion from the salt, and the fact that my cell needs to be replaced again. Liquidator was delivered yesterday and I will post more when I get to installing it. In the meantime I am adding around 1/2 gallon of store bought bleach/day. acid needs have always been low.
 
TXNDallas said:
Also, I forgot to ask anyone with a Liquidator...I can probably only situate it about 4-5 feet from the feeds into the equipment, does anyone know if the tubing that comes with it is sufficient for that distance--or if that might introduce a complication?
Click to expand...

I think it comes with 10 feet of tubing. That wasn't enough for my install, so I bought more at Lowe's for a couple dollars. It hasn't been a problem. 1 Stop Pool Store in Plano sells liquid chlorine, but it's not cheap. I buy cases of Clorox at Costco.
 
I'm on my third or fourth year with the liquidator. It's basically set it and forget it (minus filling of course). Our local hardware store has a sale each memorial day on chlorine (2.50 per gallon 10%,which is cheap in my area) I just buy for the year and store it in the garge,or should I just call it storage shed #3.Hasnt been a car in there in years!!
 

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Well, just an alternative viewpoint on the Liquidator to complicate your decision making a bit, I've had the Liquidator now for three seasons, and mine is far from set and forget. I'm constantly battling "white stuff" build-up, to the point where if I don't pull the floats, valves, and other parts, and wash them in diluted acid every 3 weeks, mine simply stops working. All that white stuff builds up, blocks the valves and causes the floats to freeze, and it's either stuck open or stuck closed -- neither case good. Last year, I added Boric Acid to my pool and that seemed to help but definitely didn't solve my problem. I'm on a mission this season to dump this thing and get a Stenner pump, and I couldn't be more excited about the change. Heck, I'll sell you my whole Liquidator setup cheap... but maybe mine is bad luck. ;-)

So, here's a vote for going the Stenner route!
 
TXNDallas said:
I'm not sure about the operational costs of a sodium hypo pool? Any thoughts for a ~26k gal pool? Liquid chlorination isn't popular in Dallas--I don't know anyone personally that uses it and the pool store(s) are totally confused...I may end up having to buy bleach at the super, as I've never seen it in the pool stores.
Click to expand...
Your pool is larger than the average in-ground pool but you can still figure roughly 2 ppm FC per day chlorine loss though it could be up to 3 ppm FC depending on your CYA and specific operating conditions. 2 ppm FC in 26,000 gallons is 77 fluid ounces of 8.25% bleach or 53 fluid ounces of 12.5% chlorinating liquid every day. Prices in Texas can be higher so at $5 per gallon for 12.5% guaranteed (may be up to 15%) this would be about $2 per day, but you could find chlorinating liquid or bleach that is not that expensive.

As for getting chlorinating liquid in Texas, the Hasa locator indicates the following locations having Hasa chlorinating liquid (Hasa has two chlor-alkali facilities in Texas):

Riviera Pools of Dallas
4907 W. Lovers Lane
Dallas, Texas 75209
(214) 351-2071

A-Quality Pool Service
8001 Boulevard 26
North Richland, TX
(817) 281-0781

Gohlke Pools
909 Dallas Drive
Denton, TX
940) 384-7665

Another source is the following near Houston where you bring your own carboy/drum to get it refilled:

NAPCO Chemical
2830 Spring Cypress Rd,
Spring, Texas 77388
(800) 929-5976

Be sure to check stores such as Lowe's, Home Depot, Sam's, Walmart, Costco, Aldi, and K-Mart. Wherever you buy it, you need to be careful about it losing its strength if there isn't good turnover and it's higher in concentration.
 
I am pulling up a seat because I am interested in this as well. Living in North Dallas and agree liquid chlorination not very popular either. If you do would be interested in pics as well


In ground, 15x27, 80 feet perimeter, 3'6 to 5 feet deep, 9,600 gallons, 2 skimmers, 6 returns, Jandy VSP, Jandy DE 60, Jandy LXI, Nature 2 Ozone, 2 pool LED lights, 1 Spa LED light pebble tech aqua blue. Frisco,
Texas


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I love my Stenner pump... :) Its really the coolest thing.. I bought a Stenner over a Liquidator because of the ridiculous postage costs I was going to be charged due to the size of the unit.....

I really wanted a Liquidator too, but after reading a couple of threads about the white scaling problem, I was happy to go with a Stenner... :) One thing though, the Stenner requires power whereas the Liquidator doesn't......
 
I appreciate all the replies. I ordered The Liquidator last week and it's supposed to be here on Friday so I expect to get it setup this weekend. Scheduled to have reverse osmosis process done on the pool the following Monday. Plan to load up the pool with an initial load of chlorine--Cal Hypo source as the water will be low on calcium initially, and a minimum amount of stabilizer--I'm really torn on that one. On one hand it's necessary of course, on the other hand our plaster is really old and I'm not sure how much CYA might leach out of the plaster as the summer drags on. Last time seems like the stabilizer rose quickly but chlorine source was tricolor. Anyone have a feel for how much old plaster will leach CYA and what a good initial load of stabilizer would be if that's a concern? Anyway after I get *some* stabilizer and chlorine in the pool, I will load with borates again. I'll post some pics when I get The Liquidator in place. From the reading I've done it sounds like keeping TA and PH in check and loading with borates should both keep the chlorine demand lower and help prevent the scaling I've heard about--I know they recommend keeping the TA below 100 and the PH towards the 7.2-.4 range to manage both the demand and the potential for scaling...


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I've never heard of CYA leaching out of plaster as something significant. I'm pretty certain this won't be an issue for you. For CYA, I would start with the lower end of the recommended range first, and just monitor it for a few weeks. Then slowly add more, to target the mid point. As I'm sure you know, it's always easier to add then it is to take away. That's my 2 cents anyway.
 
Well it's installed. Only a small issue (which I knew would be a problem) with the unused connection that was going to the puck chlorinator...it would be a real hassle to replace the PVC, and a hose clamp with rubber is not sealing it tight...I've filled one of the 3/8 to PVC adapters with epoxy and I'm going to replace the hose clamp and rubber that's dripping with that tomorrow to see if it seals...if not I guess I'm replacing some PCV. This way at least I have an option to go back to pucks easily--though I've no plans to do that obviously.

Anyway, I'm getting reverse osmosis Monday, then will load up a minimum amount of stabilizer and shock with cal hypo as the water will be over processed. A couple of days following I'm planning to reload with borates and get the ph and TA in line. Hopefully it will be easy sailing from there, fingers crossed, with the rev osmosis this was over a $1000 venture! Here's a pic.
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