Well, I was VERY excited to purchase the liquidator a couple of months ago, got it all setup, had reverse osmosis process performed on the pool water (really high CYA and calcium hardness) and I'm having a terrible time getting this thing to actually "auto-chlorinate" the pool!
I have the 3/8" upgrade, it's plumbed correctly as best I can tell--Out is going to the filter basket drain plug, check valves are correct, flow valve after OUT and before flow meter. Not using a variable speed pump...have about 6" of bleach in the bottom, don't seem to have build-up on the in/out valves, but I can't get the darn thing to chlorinate worth a dang. I even switched to 12.5% $trength liquid thinking maybe it needed a higher concentration. Water's at 85 degrees, pool runs from 9:00AM to 8:00PM, I'm in Dallas and we're in the "hot" part of summer (100 degree days). I can never get the flow all the way up to 5 even running it wide open and I'm wondering....
So I replaced a puck offline chlorinator during this installation, I plugged one of lines that was directly after the pump before hitting the filter as I mentioned I'm coming off the filter basket for Liquidator...HOWEVER on the "In" side I used the existing 3/8" plumbing that was from the puck chlorinator--for whatever reason when that was plumbed in originally it comes directly after the split for the pool return and spa return and comes off the pool return after the split...we have the spa waterfall into the pool so normally it's set to 50-50% spa/pool return.
All that being said, I'm wondering if maybe the "in" flow to the liquidator is too low vs. the suction from the pump side?--since it's probably only getting 50% of the return as input into the liquidator tank. Does this make reasonable sense as to why running it wide open only produces about a 3.5 flow on the liquidator?? When I close the "out" float and wait a couple of minutes, and then release it, I *do* get a "5" on the flow meter for 20 seconds or so...
I really want to make this work but don't want to unnecessarily drill another hole in the plumbing if it's a lost cause here? Maybe it's just too hot, and it get direct sunlight for most of the day, and perhaps the Liquidator just can't cope with that? (I've read about painting the bottom half of the liquidator, but undecided). At any rate, aside from the 6" of liquid in the bottom of the liquidator, I'm adding at least a quart of 12% a day--and that stuff ain't cheap. Again the original theory was that perhaps enough water just wasn't moving through the liquidator and the increased strength would compensate...
Also, I'm finding keeping up with the acid demand to be quite onerous...I've had company and haven't been measuring the levels frequently enough (about a week since the last time), and now my pH is up at 8.0 and TA at 120...just added a gallon of acid. Borates are at 80 FWIW. Calcium is 300, CYA about 50.
Suggestions on making this work? My excitement for the Liquidator is fading as it becomes a money pit of bleach and acid and doesn't chlorinate basically at all as far as I can tell (FC measured 1.8 this morning and that's with my supplemental directly liquid chlorination last evening).
HELP!!! Thanks!
I have the 3/8" upgrade, it's plumbed correctly as best I can tell--Out is going to the filter basket drain plug, check valves are correct, flow valve after OUT and before flow meter. Not using a variable speed pump...have about 6" of bleach in the bottom, don't seem to have build-up on the in/out valves, but I can't get the darn thing to chlorinate worth a dang. I even switched to 12.5% $trength liquid thinking maybe it needed a higher concentration. Water's at 85 degrees, pool runs from 9:00AM to 8:00PM, I'm in Dallas and we're in the "hot" part of summer (100 degree days). I can never get the flow all the way up to 5 even running it wide open and I'm wondering....
So I replaced a puck offline chlorinator during this installation, I plugged one of lines that was directly after the pump before hitting the filter as I mentioned I'm coming off the filter basket for Liquidator...HOWEVER on the "In" side I used the existing 3/8" plumbing that was from the puck chlorinator--for whatever reason when that was plumbed in originally it comes directly after the split for the pool return and spa return and comes off the pool return after the split...we have the spa waterfall into the pool so normally it's set to 50-50% spa/pool return.
All that being said, I'm wondering if maybe the "in" flow to the liquidator is too low vs. the suction from the pump side?--since it's probably only getting 50% of the return as input into the liquidator tank. Does this make reasonable sense as to why running it wide open only produces about a 3.5 flow on the liquidator?? When I close the "out" float and wait a couple of minutes, and then release it, I *do* get a "5" on the flow meter for 20 seconds or so...
I really want to make this work but don't want to unnecessarily drill another hole in the plumbing if it's a lost cause here? Maybe it's just too hot, and it get direct sunlight for most of the day, and perhaps the Liquidator just can't cope with that? (I've read about painting the bottom half of the liquidator, but undecided). At any rate, aside from the 6" of liquid in the bottom of the liquidator, I'm adding at least a quart of 12% a day--and that stuff ain't cheap. Again the original theory was that perhaps enough water just wasn't moving through the liquidator and the increased strength would compensate...
Also, I'm finding keeping up with the acid demand to be quite onerous...I've had company and haven't been measuring the levels frequently enough (about a week since the last time), and now my pH is up at 8.0 and TA at 120...just added a gallon of acid. Borates are at 80 FWIW. Calcium is 300, CYA about 50.
Suggestions on making this work? My excitement for the Liquidator is fading as it becomes a money pit of bleach and acid and doesn't chlorinate basically at all as far as I can tell (FC measured 1.8 this morning and that's with my supplemental directly liquid chlorination last evening).
HELP!!! Thanks!