Controlling my Stenner pump via Android phone with OpenSprinkler

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merkurmaniac

merkurmaniac

0
May 15, 2014
17
Sugar Land, TX
I have installed a Stenner MP45 pump into my system to dose chlorine. It has a flowrate of 35 GPD, or 3.11 oz/minute. Looks like about 27 minutes will give me the dose that I want. I used open sprinkler at my old house, so I was already familiar with it, and just installed it into my new house (this one has a pool.) I have lived here a year and the previous owner used pucks. The CYA was more than 250 when I moved in. Over the last year, I had ceased using pucks and instead Chlorinated daily with liquid bleach from Aldi's, and water my lawn with pool water as part of my CYA elimination program. Over the last year, I have driven my CYA level down to around 40 or so. I am happy with that aspect and plan to continue with liquid bleach, spring summer and fall. Using the Stenner will allow me to draw from a 5 gallon tank and dose it automatically.

For my timer, I will use the Opensprinkler controller. Its a weather aware, arduino based system for controlling irrigation sprinklers and since it is open source based, the developers and others are very helpful in adapting the program, giving advice, etc... I already was using the first 8 zones for my sprinkler, so I bought an expansion board. I will use the first extra zone to control my Stenner and maybe the next one after that to do an automatic water addition to the pool each day. With open sprinkler, I can control the run time of the pump each day in minutes, and I can do it from my phone. My plan is to have it kick on at 8pm each night and run for 27 minutes. After a few days, I'll measure the chlorine and adjust the run time up or down. I ahve a VFD pump that runs 24hrs a day to circulate, so I am not real worried about synchronizing chlorine and water pumping in my system.

It is getting hard wired using a 24Vac relay. I'll post some pics soon. Maybe in the future, I can have it adjust the Chlorine input slightly based on temp and clouds. The sprinkler system already can increase and decrease the sprinkler run time based on weather, so I might be able to get a routine added for pool chlorination. In any case, being able to adjust my daily Chlorine dose from my cell phone will be really cool.
 
Finished it up last night. I can manually run it for X minutes from my phone. I also set it to kick on for 27 minutes at 8pm each evening. Pretty much instantaneous when the phone button is tapped.

oh, and you must have missed this line in my long post. "I have a VFD pump that runs 24hrs a day to circulate, so I am not real worried about synchronizing chlorine and water pumping in my system."
 
I did indeed miss that. Sorry for the confusion.

By the by, there is no point in running the pump 24 hours a day in a residential pool. That is drastically more pump run time than the pool needs (unless something is going wrong). Nearly all residential pools are fine with a pump run time of roughly four hours.
 
Here is a picture of my setup. The Large rectangular box is an old Suncast brand plastic outdoor box that was really beat up and weathered. I pressure washed it, then painted it to match the house color, then clear coated it. Its was just a bit too short, and with the weight of the chlorine bottle (same as the extra bottle just outside it), it would certainly be damaged, so I cut out the floor in it, so the bottle sits "thru" it and is actually on the tile below it. The tubing goes from the box to the pump, then back into the system via the drain port on the item that is directly behind the stainer on the near pump in the picture. It was some device to add metals to the system ,or something like that. Its just a wide spot, now. The pump is at right in the pic, mounted underneathe the bay window. The relay is in a weather proof box.Chlorinator[1].jpg
 
THis set up has been working great. I can dial up or dial down the amount of chlorine I add to my pool each day with my android phone. Right now, I am pumping 45 oz of 10-12% chlorine into my pool. It runs a 8 pm each night and runs for 15 minutes at 3 oz per minute. My chlorine level is about 5 if I test first thing in the morning. I am running my VFD pump at 15% power from 4pm till 4 am with a 1.5 hr stint in there at 85% power for the pool cleaner's bennefit. Seems to be keeping up just fine.

I have now added another zone to my sprinkler system that ties into the discharge of my waterfall pump. I'll add it to my opensprinkler controller and run it for 10 minutes each day (approx, don't know what run time will offset evaporation.) It will be another zone in my program and the water (have tested it by turning the valve on manually) emerges underwater at the deep end. THe sprinkler controller should automatically adjust for weather (heat, wind and rain), so it will be a matter of tuning. Pool running a little low, add a minute or two run time. Eventually, it will get pretty close. It will for sure be better than tossing a hose in the pool each weekend or so. BTW, no auto fill, no drains on this pool ....
 
Hi,

I will look for some photos, but they are not going to be too helpful. The opensprinkler can open and close 24V dc sprinkler valves, and with this power level, it can easily close and hold closed an a/c relay. This is the one that I bought. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005T742IA?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01 The open sprinkler is wired across one side of the relay, and 110V from a GFI across the other side. Hopefully this answers your questions.
 
Do you get a warning when the chlorine reservoir is getting low? Too bad there wasn't a sensor that could accurately read FC as that would make it a very automated process as you could write an algorithm to adjust Cl dosage depending on the reading.

Would this be possible by using gravity rather than a stunner pump? Elevate your reservoir a couple of feet and have a solenoid control the Cl line input. Would that work?
 

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I used the stenner for a bunch of reasons, primarily its steady, measured output. It can also move chlorine when the pump is pumping. A gravity system would most likely only work when the pump was down and there was no real backpressure. This would take timing. Also, most sprinkler valves need a good amount of pressure to work well. The stenner was the easier, more reliable option, and maybe even a cheaper one too.

Oh, and no low level warning. Just have to check the tank every now and then. It drops at a constant rate, so you'll know before long, how much to add and how often.
 
SO, I figured out that my tubing was fine in the pump, on the rollers. The connection from the tank to the suction side of the pump was not good enough for it to pull a vacuum. It was unable to pump. I bought two nuts and ferrules and the correct black plastic tubing from chemworld for $20 and it took 2 minutes to install. Now its running awesomely.

With the open sprinkler controller, I can just pull up the opensprinkler app, hit the chlorinator zone, and tell it to run for 7 minutes, or whatever. Its suuuuper easy now. I also have the "pool fill "zone on my sprinkler system adding 2 minutes of water to the pool each day, and the level is staying fairly even this spring so far. Life is good.
 
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