Adding liquid chlorine with a pump

[etbrown4]

I know that Stenner pumps are the first choice but at $3-400 seem too pricey.

Curious if other members have used the tiny $30 peristaltic pump on Amazon. The feedback there is fair to poor notably with reports of pump or silicon tube failure, but you know that feedback can be unreliable.

So unless TFP members like the Amazon $30 pump, are there good alternatives besides the Stenner?

 

[Jimrahbe]

et,

Try one of them and see how well it works.

You need to be able to time how long the pump is on, and how much chlorine it is putting in the pool.

It would be a good idea to design your system so that if the pump, or tubing fails, it will not dump chlorine all over your equipment pad.

Let us know how it works..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[etbrown4]

Well I'm pretty sure lots of TFP members already have. The I. D. of the lines on the $30 pump are like 1/8" or less (tiny) and many folks say the silicone around the pump head breaks a lot. I'm leery.

I saw one youtube using the $30 pump was injecting into a return line right where it attaches to the suction side of an in ground Hayward pool pump. Again I'm curious about longevity and break downs.

Also considering a Milton Roy LMI chem feed pump. New these are $$$, but lots on ebay at $100-$150.

Feed rates are the easy part. Just determine how much 12% chlorine you want per day, and go. I plan to dispense thru a 100' 1/4" od vinyl tube at the deep end, in front of the skimmer.

 

[thrystan]

I've been running this pump for 3 years with no problems, once I got the right tubing. Don't use the tubing that comes with it, it's too short and not compatible with chlorine or acid and tubing joins too close to the pump aren't a good thing. Amazon.com
I'm actually running 2 of these, one for chlorine which hasn't had any problems, and one for acid. I did have to replace the acid pump because I didn't have the right tubing and the pump didn't react well to acid fumes. But with tygon tubing and a 4:1 water-acid solution that one has been running fine for 2 years.

I find that 4.5 seconds of pumping is about one ounce of liquid.

 

[etbrown4]

Poster Thrystan is using a similar Amazon pump but it's 12v, and not variable speed but the info is very helpful.

The pump they most commonly sell is 120v with variable speed, Amazon Amazon.com

I can see that different tubing might be needed, but I thought silicone was impervious to most all chems. Sounds like Tygon might be better.

Let's see if other members have tried the variable speed 120v version as it may also have different mechanism/pump rollers etc.

 

[thrystan]

Poster Thrystan is using a similar Amazon pump but it's 12v, and not variable speed but the info is very helpful.

The pump they most commonly sell is 120v with variable speed, Amazon Amazon.com

I can see that different tubing might be needed, but I thought silicone was impervious to most all chems. Sounds like Tygon might be better.

Let's see if other members have tried the variable speed 120v version as it may also have different mechanism/pump rollers etc.

I think I'm using PVC tubing for the chlorine. But make sure you Google the chemical compatibility for the tubing you want to use. Silicone definitely does not work for acid, I don't remember if it works with chlorine.
It appears that the pump you are looking at uses 5mm tubing, the one I use uses 10mm tubing. One issue I've had was the adapter connecting the tube to the plumbing clogging with chlorine salts. It took a couple of years to happen, but I suspect the smaller tube would have the issue sooner.

 

[etbrown4]

Trying the $30 Amazon pump connected to 100' of 1/4 polyethylene irrigation drip tubing. (Deep end is a long way from the pool pump, and I choose not to try to tap into the return or suction side of the pool pump)

So far so good. The very slowest rate is about 5ml per hour or about 16 oz of chlorine per hour. You can easily do more.

My chief concern is the reliability of this very small and inexpensive pump, so we shall see.

In 50 years of mechanics and hydraulics, I just have the feeling that a $100 pump would be more suitable.

There is a pool owner on Youtube who says he's used a similar tiny Intllab pump for several years, but his last comment was he was going for a stronger pump. So there's uncertainty a plenty.

 

[thrystan]

Trying the $30 Amazon pump connected to 100' of 1/4 polyethylene irrigation drip tubing. (Deep end is a long way from the pool pump, and I choose not to try to tap into the return or suction side of the pool pump)

So far so good. The very slowest rate is about 5ml per hour or about 16 oz of chlorine per hour. You can easily do more.

My chief concern is the reliability of this very small and inexpensive pump, so we shall see.

In 50 years of mechanics and hydraulics, I just have the feeling that a $100 pump would be more suitable.

There is a pool owner on Youtube who says he's used a similar tiny Intllab pump for several years, but his last comment was he was going for a stronger pump. So there's uncertainty a plenty.

How are you planning on regulating how long the pump will run?

 

[etbrown4]

It can run with a 120v timer

 

[Poolboi!]

New here but took over maintenance of a family pool this year due to some unsavory water conditions all of last year.

I've been using this POS pump that I had laying around. Been running almost 4 weeks now. POS Pump Def not enough time for promises of greatness. Used to use 2 of these in a PH up and PH Down containers for hydroponics set up. It never died and lasted the few months I had it set up, but wasn't subjected to the sun and outdoor conditions.

It pumps about ~3.3oz per minute for me, so I have it set on a few timers below. Ill run it a few times each day while the pump is running. It outputs from above the rail (24' AGP) where the return jet is.

Currently wired - Extension cord plugged into outdoor kasa smart plug -> Extension cord into Shelly 1PM Mini smart relay ->120V to 12V Mean well PSU -> POS Pump. Just in a water tight container.

The Shelly device was my fail safe if the Kasa doesn't shut off when I set it to. Right now, if the Shelly receives power, it is automatically on. I will set the Kasa to turn off usually anywhere from 4-10 minutes (Uses set time of day). Then I'll set the Shelly to auto turn off if still on after lets say 10 minutes. This way, if the kasa fails to turn off at it's specified time, the shelly will still turn off after the X number of minutes anyways. Only downfall is I will need to catch it during testing because if the Shelly doesn't turn off, it doesn't turn back on to reset the relay timer. I believe you can go deeper into coding to get the shelly to turn back on after XX minutes or add the schedule to the shelly too.

Been decently satisfied so far. I only go over there once during the week now. Usually Thursday to make sure the sweeping/robot was ran a bit during the week and to verify the FC and PH I was sent during the week is accurate to my expected testing. They still send me FC and PH tests daily/every other day that I track.

 

[thrystan]

I used one of those for a while, the biggest issue I had was that I had it plumbed into the suction side of the pool plumbing and the chlorine was being sucked through the little pump. I tried several things to prevent that issue and settled on the slightly more expensive pump I linked earlier in the thread.

New here but took over maintenance of a family pool this year due to some unsavory water conditions all of last year.
I've been using this POS pump that I had laying around. Been running almost 4 weeks now. POS Pump Def not enough time for promises of greatness. Used to use 2 of these in a PH up and PH Down containers for hydroponics set up. It never died and lasted the few months I had it set up, but wasn't subjected to the sun and outdoor conditions.

It pumps about ~3.3oz per minute for me, so I have it set on a few timers below. Ill run it a few times each day while the pump is running. It outputs from above the rail (24' AGP) where the return jet is.

Currently wired - Extension cord plugged into outdoor kasa smart plug -> Extension cord into Shelly 1PM Mini smart relay ->120V to 12V Mean well PSU -> POS Pump. Just in a water tight container.

The Shelly device was my fail safe if the Kasa doesn't shut off when I set it to. Right now, if the Shelly receives power, it is automatically on. I will set the Kasa to turn off usually anywhere from 4-10 minutes (Uses set time of day). Then I'll set the Shelly to auto turn off if still on after lets say 10 minutes. This way, if the kasa fails to turn off at it's specified time, the shelly will still turn off after the X number of minutes anyways. Only downfall is I will need to catch it during testing because if the Shelly doesn't turn off, it doesn't turn back on to reset the relay timer. I believe you can go deeper into coding to get the shelly to turn back on after XX minutes or add the schedule to the shelly too.

Been decently satisfied so far. I only go over there once during the week now. Usually Thursday to make sure the sweeping/robot was ran a bit during the week and to verify the FC and PH I was sent during the week is accurate to my expected testing. They still send me FC and PH tests daily/every other day that I track.

 

[etbrown4]

I've given up on the Amazon $30 pump. As many reviewers there have said, that pump will only start reliably when set at half speed or higher, due to low torque.

While one youtube guy is using the similar $30 Intllab pump, he is injecting into the suction side of the pool pump, apparently without having the pool pump suck chlorine when the little pump is off.

I found it was easier to run 100' of 1/4" irrigation drip tubing over to the pool skimmer. Then no worries.

 

[Flying Tivo]

Im 5 years with my stenner pump adding acid. It has not failed me yet and still using the same santoprene tube. I think those 100 bucks are going to come back to bite you sooner than later.

 

[etbrown4]

Peristaltic pumps offer the advantage that no fluid contacts the pump surfaces so there's almost no way for a corossive liquid to damage it.

On the other hand, there are lots of diaphram pumps out there furnished with viton or other impervious materials, some at much lowet costs than a Stenner peristaltic.

Anyone heard of any good diaphram pumps out there being used for chlorine, as I'm about to try several.

 

[etbrown4]

Going forward with an Lmi Milton Roy diaphram pump, and will start with 20 oz per day of 12% in 10,000 gal. I don't have a foot valve or check valve with strainer for now, but hopefully it might not be needed. Will see if, when off, or moving from jug to jug I lose prime.