Blowout
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How is the Woods timer working out for you? Looks like you have the 50015, correct?
Getting Prepared to Install a Stenner
- Thread starter garyengr
- Start date
How is the Woods timer working out for you? Looks like you have the 50015, correct?
Yes. It's great so far. Instructions are not good so I had to experiment with settings. But overall I like it.
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Have been using a stenner pump and tank for 9 weeks now and am still extremely happy with the performance. The following is my latest FC data chart:
I've added a prediction of chlorine demand which is a 7 day sliding average computed from projected tank chlorine strength (projected from chlorine batch date and time in tank at assumed 90 degrees), dosing and measured FC. I've also included average temperature in Tucson (1/2 (high plus low)). In addition, I have shown where I've added chlorine to the tank, how many gallons I've added and what the residual level of chlorine is in the tank. Over the last 4 weeks I have been gone about two weeks thus the blanks in the FC chart. Over the last week and a half I have only measured FC two times. As can be seen, the stenner pump is maintaining FC within my desired band based upon the dosing I have set up. As can be seen from the chart, I have taken a more "hands off" approach than I did in the beginning. Now when I add chlorine to my tank, I predict the combined chlorine strength in the tank and adjust the dosing based upon current estimated FC demand and projected chlorine strength in the tank - seems to be working pretty well based on the last two tank batches.
Gary
I've added a prediction of chlorine demand which is a 7 day sliding average computed from projected tank chlorine strength (projected from chlorine batch date and time in tank at assumed 90 degrees), dosing and measured FC. I've also included average temperature in Tucson (1/2 (high plus low)). In addition, I have shown where I've added chlorine to the tank, how many gallons I've added and what the residual level of chlorine is in the tank. Over the last 4 weeks I have been gone about two weeks thus the blanks in the FC chart. Over the last week and a half I have only measured FC two times. As can be seen, the stenner pump is maintaining FC within my desired band based upon the dosing I have set up. As can be seen from the chart, I have taken a more "hands off" approach than I did in the beginning. Now when I add chlorine to my tank, I predict the combined chlorine strength in the tank and adjust the dosing based upon current estimated FC demand and projected chlorine strength in the tank - seems to be working pretty well based on the last two tank batches.
Gary
So I'm getting everything ready for spring now & haven't used pump for a couple months & nothing seems to be pumping out even though it seems to be running & there's plenty of bleach. Where would u start to figure out issue?
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I assume by "..nothing seems to be pumping out.." you have disconnected the output line and verified with the pump running there is no flow. In this case the two most likely candidates are a plugged pickup or broken pump tube.
(1) Disconnect the inlet line to the pump and blow through it. If air flows, your pickup is not plugged. If no air flow, clean you pickup.
(2) Remove the pump from the tank. Open the pump latches and remove the pump tube. Inspect the pump tube for cracks. Most likely issue is a separation/crack in the pump tube at the inlet side. If there is a crack replace the tube.
After 6 months I lost flow from my pump. The pump tube had cracked at the inlet. This caused no flow (leak in suction side of pump). Had it cracked at the outlet side, there would have been no flow through the injector but there would have been flow through the overflow line back into the tank. Since the pump "pulls" on the line with most of the force at the inlet fitting, I would expect this to be the most common failure. My stenner came with an extra pump tube. After the failure, I bought a spare tube and pump kit to have on hand.
You can find "youtube" videos which go through changing out the pump tube. There are slightly different instructions depending on whether you have a fixed or variable pump.
Gary
Thx Gary I'll try that. Should there be water flowing from my "pool pump" back into the stenner? When the stenner is off and the pool pump is on, there is water flowing toward the stenner & leaking out the stenner.
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There is a check valve which is screwed into the back of the injector, but the check valve usually does not 100 percent prevent the backflow of water into the Stenner. The fact that the rollers are pressing into the tube would stop the water there, but if the tube is defective water can leak out of the tube then out of the plastic piece on the bottom of the pump.
Ahh, makes sense. I will change the tube right away.
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I have a variable speed pump. If my chlorinator goes at night while the pump is going at 1000 RPMs, is that enough for the stenner to be effective?
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Yes - I run my VS pump at about 1600 RPM from 6am to 5pm. As long as you have circulation when the stenner is delivering chlorine you should be fine. At low pump speeds the concentration of chlorine in the plumbing will be higher but the chlorine will be dispersed even at low pump speeds.
Gary
Gary
Garyengr, i.e. the "engineer." How could I tell? 
Well, it's been a year since your last "chart update." What are your thoughts now? I am interested in seeing how your FC and adjustments fared through the winter. Do you cover your pool? Winter and a cover got me in trouble last year.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the "hand's off value" of the Stenner? The system could never be totally hands-off, because it's just a half-automated system overall. So we'll just make that an "11" on the scale! A value of 1 would be 100% manual, i.e. testing daily, calculating daily, and dosing by hand daily.
I sense that the Stenner brings a new level of aggravation. However, at least the FC levels in your pool remained in the tolerance bands. However, it is anything but smooth. Probably the only means to provide a smoother line is to have the system measure and provide feedback. The IntelliChem (and others) comes to mind. However, that's a big up-front investment.
Overall, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Also, this was an AWESOME thread. Thank you for being detailed and providing great explanations!
Well, it's been a year since your last "chart update." What are your thoughts now? I am interested in seeing how your FC and adjustments fared through the winter. Do you cover your pool? Winter and a cover got me in trouble last year.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the "hand's off value" of the Stenner? The system could never be totally hands-off, because it's just a half-automated system overall. So we'll just make that an "11" on the scale!
A value of 1 would be 100% manual, i.e. testing daily, calculating daily, and dosing by hand daily. I sense that the Stenner brings a new level of aggravation. However, at least the FC levels in your pool remained in the tolerance bands. However, it is anything but smooth. Probably the only means to provide a smoother line is to have the system measure and provide feedback. The IntelliChem (and others) comes to mind. However, that's a big up-front investment.
Overall, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Also, this was an AWESOME thread. Thank you for being detailed and providing great explanations!
Garyengr, i.e. the "engineer." How could I tell?
Well, it's been a year since your last "chart update." What are your thoughts now? I am interested in seeing how your FC and adjustments fared through the winter. Do you cover your pool? Winter and a cover got me in trouble last year.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the "hand's off value" of the Stenner? The system could never be totally hands-off, because it's just a half-automated system overall. So we'll just make that an "11" on the scale!
I sense that the Stenner brings a new level of aggravation. However, at least the FC levels in your pool remained in the tolerance bands. However, it is anything but smooth. Probably the only means to provide a smoother line is to have the system measure and provide feedback. The IntelliChem (and others) comes to mind. However, that's a big up-front investment.
Overall, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Also, this was an AWESOME thread. Thank you for being detailed and providing great explanations!
Couldn't think of anything more original than "garyengr" back in the early 90's and have stuck with it. I'm on the road right now and don't have access to my file. I do not put a cover on my pool. Over the winter if I recall correctly, I was down to injecting maybe 20-30 oz of chlorine a day. I haven't been keeping records as well as I did the first year (have gone on several multi week trips this summer). I also don't care if I maintain tight control on the FC levels now days, if I end up being a little high "so what" since the pool is safe to swim up to the shock levels. This summer I have been using more chlorine than last year. I have gotten up to injecting 97 ozs per day and even then the FC level was dropping 1/2 to 1 ppm per day (with my pool, roughly 27 oz of 10% chlorine will raise the FC level by 1 ppm). Don't know if that is due to a hotter summer, less cloud cover, or something else. I can say that I have not had a mustard algae outbreak since switching to liquid chlorine and the stenner pump.
After a year and a half with the stenner, I would give it an 6 or 7. On the plus side you can go a couple of weeks without adjusting if you need to. On the negative side, buying 14 gallons and filling the tank every 3 weeks in the summer is somewhat of a drag. The variability in the charts was due in part to my micro managing and in part to weather. Remember the FC measurement is only accurate to +/- 1/2 ppm best case (unless you use a larger water sample). Therefore the difference in two measurement over two days has a variability of +/- 1 ppm. Also as I recall, we had rain and cloud cover quite a few of the days last year.
On a different subject, I had a problem with overfilling my tank. The spill over tube from the pump (in case the stenner tube breaks) goes into the flat on the top of the tank under the stenner and probably extends 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch into the tank. I put in 14 gallons and with the residual, the chlorine level was at the top of the tank. With the temperatures in Tucson over the early summer, I believe the air in the top of the tank expanded and pushed the chlorine up the spillover tube into the pump which then leaked out of other parts of the pump flooding the top of the tank. I ended up having to replace the roller assembly in the pump. I am now careful about overfilling the tank.
Gary
All good points. I suppose the chlorine levels could go high, out of band, and no negatives would reset. You'd be wasting money if you always kept it very high, but a high-creep then dial-back-down would be fine. After all, it's all chlorine being used.
Something was definitely weird this summer. Up here in Phoenix, it was a harsh summer to landscaping plants and trees. Last year I don't recall as much sunburn on the leaves. Some newly planted Lantanas, though watered and should be tolerant of the sun, just vaporized, turning instantly crispy when the sun's rays hit them. Some established plants got hit pretty hard too. Interestingly, I commented on a Tucson garden website (TJ's garden), and the blog author wrote back saying they were having issues with plants as well...much worse than they recall from previous years! So we have three, similar stories of how "hot" this summer was in AZ! I think El Nino had something to do with it. Monsoon season was pretty light this year, definitely not as powerful and harsh as last year all over the Phoenix valley. So the less cloud cover, even if spotty, coupled with less moisture could definitely created harsher and more prolonged sunlight and higher temps.
This coming winter, I will be debating to cover or not to cover. My pool and yard is north-facing. Good in the summer, but chilly in the winter! I have a heat-pump, and the cover helps hold the heat in and keep it warm. It also helps my water bill with less evaporation in the bone-dry winter months! Overall, we can usually swim in November. December and January was a bust though; it just got too darn cold at night! Was able to jump back in, however, in late February!
garyengr said:
Well, a 6-7 on the "hands off" scale is still a BIG improvement over the '1' of manually doing everything. I think your testimony has cinched my Analysis Paralysis of getting and installing a Stenner pump. Like you, I will need to install a few new electrical pieces in order to accommodate the pump. I like the all-in-one approach of the Stenner tank, though I'd buy the 7.5 gallon version, but it is indeed pricey. For the price, I'd much rather spend it on future chemicals and just buy a 5-gallon bucket w/lid at Home Depot and put everything (pump included) inside a small patio box w/lid.
garyengr said:
Good tip and good catch!