Chlorine sanitation

[colinn]

Good afternoon everyone. For those of you that use chlorine for sanitizing their pool, do you have any regrets not getting a swg. I read often how those who used chlorine initially and then switched to a swg wished they did it sooner. For those that continue to use chlorine, do you have any problems or hang ups with this method. I’m leaning towards chlorine versus a swg.

 

[ComputerGuyInNOLA]

A Salt Water Chlorine Generator is a chlorine pool. The difference is the chlorine is made on site using the SWG. No more hauling chlorine and dosing your pool. It is much simpler and easier on your back. It also saves time. Higher up front cost but less work. Having owned both I would never go back to manually adding chlorine.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Colin,

I have three SWCG pools... If you add them all together, they have been saltwater pools for over 20 years... I have had zero problems with them.. I'd rather fill them in than go back to a standard chlorine pool.

That said, you should run your pool the way you want...

Before deciding, tell us why you would rather have a standard "chlorine" pool? What advantage do you see??

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[colinn]

Colin,

I have three SWCG pools... If you add them all together, they have been saltwater pools for over 20 years... I have had zero problems with them.. I'd rather fill them in than go back to a standard chlorine pool.

That said, you should run your pool the way you want...

Before deciding, tell us why you would rather have a standard "chlorine" pool? What advantage do you see??

Thanks,

Jim R.

Hi Jim. Thanks for your input. I’ve been on the fence before of the fear or corrosion that I’ve read about but I’ve read more lately of owners with a swg and how they love it. I’ve also spoken to owners that have chlorine and say they like it too. I spoke to my pb today and told him that I will go with the swg. My fear is that during the summer months I won’t be able or will be upset that I have to lug jugs of chlorine to the pool and then also the storage of it. I don’t want to store jugs of it in my garage and Leaving it outside in the back yard is also not a viable option.

 

[colinn]

Colin,

I have three SWCG pools... If you add them all together, they have been saltwater pools for over 20 years... I have had zero problems with them.. I'd rather fill them in than go back to a standard chlorine pool.

That said, you should run your pool the way you want...

Before deciding, tell us why you would rather have a standard "chlorine" pool? What advantage do you see??

Thanks,

Jim R.

Another question I have for you is do all your swg have a sacrificial anode? How long are they good for and is that something that you change over time or do you replace the entire unit once the sacrificial anode is depleted?

 

[JJ_Tex]

Another question I have for you is do all your swg have a sacrificial anode? How long are they good for and is that something that you change over time or do you replace the entire unit once the sacrificial anode is depleted?

I asked the same question 2 years ago when I was building and on the fence about salt water. I was told that you do not need one.

For what its worth, I'm very happy I went with salt water. My favorite thing is that it is super easy to maintain your chlorine once you get it dialed in. And if you do need to adjust your chlorine, you whip out your phone and make the adjustment in about 5 seconds flat. That convenience is hard to beat.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Colin,

No one is Texas uses a sacrificial anode... At least no one that I know of..

Just not needed.. I have had zero damage or corrosion. The myths about SWCGs are just laughable..

I bet you can't find anyone with actual evidence of any damage. The best you will find is someone who's brother knows a girl at the corner store, who's heard of a problem that her teacher said he had seen back in 1960...

Like I said I have three saltwater pools, no damage, no corrosion, no rust, no nothing. I live in the DFW area.

You are about 50' from the gulf... I'd be much more worried about saltwater from the gulf than I would my pool.

Do you plan on having an autocover...??

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[colinn]

Colin,

No one is Texas uses a sacrificial anode... At least no one that I know of..

Just not needed.. I have had zero damage or corrosion. The myths about SWCGs are just laughable..

I bet you can't find anyone with actual evidence of any damage. The best you will find is someone who's brother knows a girl at the corner store, who's heard of a problem that her teacher said he had seen back in 1960...

Like I said I have three saltwater pools, no damage, no corrosion, no rust, no nothing. I live in the DFW area.

You are about 50' from the gulf... I'd be much more worried about saltwater from the gulf than I would my pool.

Do you plan on having an autocover...??

Thanks,

Jim R.

Why is there no need for a sacrificial anode? Does having one depend on your region? I don’t plan for an auto cover.

 

[colinn]

I asked the same question 2 years ago when I was building and on the fence about salt water. I was told that you do not need one.

For what its worth, I'm very happy I went with salt water. My favorite thing is that it is super easy to maintain your chlorine once you get it dialed in. And if you do need to adjust your chlorine, you whip out your phone and make the adjustment in about 5 seconds flat. That convenience is hard to beat.

Thanks for your input. I feel more at ease now that I’ve decided to go the swg route. I like many buyers in Houston have been swayed away from it. My builder will go with what ever I want. He has never persuaded me away from swg, something that every other builder has.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Colin,

Sacrificial anodes seem to be a "back East" kind of thing.. Just like a lot of pool builders shy away from SWCGs in the Houston area, pool builders back East tend to use anodes. The question is why?? Maybe one of our back East members might be able to chime in with some answers.

What do you think this sacrificial anode is going to do? What metal do you plan to have in the pool itself??

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[colinn]

Colin,

Sacrificial anodes seem to be a "back East" kind of thing.. Just like a lot of pool builders shy away from SWCGs in the Houston area, pool builders back East tend to use anodes. The question is why?? Maybe one of our back East members might be able to chime in with some answers.

What do you think this sacrificial anode is going to do? What metal do you plan to have in the pool itself??

Thanks,

Jim R.

I thought the anode prevents galvanic corrosion. Remember I’m still new to this so my apologies if these questions seem strange. I’ve seen some videos on YouTube where pool Maintanence guys talk about the topic of swg and there was a mention of having a sacrificial anode when having a swg. Good to know that isn’t the case here. As always thanks Jim for your input and quick replies. And thanks in advance to the questions I’ll ask in the future. I really do appreciate the pointers you’re giving.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Colin,

I re-read my post and should have said... While I don't think that anodes are needed at all, if you have any doubts, it would be worth the $200 bucks to have one installed for piece of mind.. They can't hurt anything other than a small pain in your wallet.....

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[ComputerGuyInNOLA]

The only corrosion you’re going to need to worry about is steel furniture and umbrella holders that are near your pool. We had to replace all of our furniture with aluminum furniture. All of my steel powder coated furniture rusted. I have had four umbrella stands break off at the base. I really need to do some research and find one with an aluminum tube. I just had one break the other day and it wasn’t even windy. See the picture above.

 

[Jimrahbe]

NOLA,

The questions is... Would the same thing not happen if the pool did not have a SWCG???

I left a hammer on the roof of a rent house.. Did not find out for about a month.. The whole head of the hammer was rusted to the point I just threw it way. Saltwater was not involved..

Plenty of rain water though...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[ComputerGuyInNOLA]

Jim, Good point! You are right about that.

 

[colinn]

I actually decided to go with the swcg. I fear that the surge in pool building with cause a shortage in chlorine in the spring and fall or if there isn’t a shortage, then I fear the price will go up. I’ve already seen prices of liquid chlorine going up at local hardware stores.

 

[Dtkokay]

Good call. I’m in Houston also and the SWCG has been incredibly convenient, especially when leaving for a weekend or vacation. I used tablets for the first month of my pool because you can’t use the swcg when the pool is brand new. The tablets worked fine but I found it was a pain to keep adding tablets every few days, and they were also inconsistent with the amount of chlorine they added.

I do keep a few gallons of liquid chlorine on hand just in case I need to do a quick boost of chlorine. Home Depot sells them in packages of 3 gallons (under the name HDX Chlorinating Liquid).

 

[colinn]

Thanks for the heads up. My pool should be done by the end of for month or the middle of March for the latest. I plan of buy some bottles of liquid chlorine until I can use the swcg.

 

[Stoopalini]

You won't be sorry you went with a SWCG. It makes life so much easier.

A pool is really nothing more than a big science experiment in your backyard. Your goal is to keep the chemistry balanced in the water. The three things I have in my setup which make this so easy is the SWCG, the cartridge filter, and the fact I plumbed my auto-fill into my water softener loop.

So when I started the pool up, I balanced the water (added CYA, added calcium, brought pH into line, etc ...). I used 3" Trichlor pucks in the beginning, since I needed the CYA anyway .. and because I couldn't add the salt and turn on the SWCG for 30 days anyway. After the CYA was at 70ppm, I switched to liquid until we hit the 30 day mark .. then I added salt and switched on the SWCG. Since then, all I have had to do is adjust the SWCG % from time to time, and add muriatic acid to keep the pH in line.

The reason I mention the cartridge filter is because it doesn't require backwashing. With a sand or a DE filter, you have to backwash it from time to time, and that removes water from the pool. So you lose CYA, salt and calcium when you backwash; Which means you have to keep an eye on those levels and add when necessary. With a cartridge filter, the only loss is due to splash out (ie: kids jumping and splashing inth e water) or overflow due to heavy rainfall.

The reason I mention the auto fill being plumbed into my water softener, is due to the fact when water evaporates from the pool, and the auto fill brings in make-up water ... I'm not adding any calcium (or other hardness) to the pool since the water passes through my home's water treatment system 1st.

I don't think I'd want my pool without those three things working in combination with each other. All I'm having to do for the chemistry at this point is keep the pH in line with muriatic acid ... and I have a plan to install an automated system for dosing acid come spring time (a Pentair Intelli pH system). So after that, all I'll really need to do is check the levels and make some adjustments to the SWCG % and Intelli pH dosing amounts.

So that takes care of the chemistry ... for cleaning, we have a robot and two paramount paraskim skimmers.

The wife and I thought adding a pool was going to be a huge maintenance item for us ... but it really hasn't. I will say all the props goes to TFP though .. as I started reading and posting months before we even broke ground. So when it came time to pick equipment and make changes during construction, I knew exactly what I wanted.

 

[derekm]

To add a different opinion, I have NO regrets about not using a SWCG. I've had my 36 YO pool for 28 years, and frankly a SWCG wouldn't be much less work, and my water is always crystal clear.

I normally use nothing but house brand bleach, which I pick up in the grocery store laundry aisle when I'm there for food, and visit the pool store once or twice a year for a bucket of pucks. Although I have a test kit, I do most testing with HTH 6-way test strips which I pick up at Walmart early in the season (they sell out) and find to be sufficiently accurate. I stopped taking test water to the pool store after they asked me why I bother when it's the best water they ever get!

I keep the solar cover on when I'm not using the pool, and run the 2-speed pump on low on a timer 12 hours a day. I find a hopper full of pucks will keep the chlorine level up when I go away for 2 weeks from time to time, as long as the solar cover and timer are on.

When I use the pool I take the cover off, test chlorine level with the strips, turn the pump to high, and pour in some bleach if needed. When I'm done, I turn the pump to low and replace the cover. Once a week (under normal use) I vacuum the pool, backwash the filter, top up the puck feeder, and double-check all the levels with my strips and/or the Taylor test kit. I have grocery store laundry aisle washing and baking soda on hand for pH up and alkalinity, but find I almost never need to add them as things stay steady. No algaecide or anything else is added. At season end I add some metals sequestering agent, and polyquat algaecide before shutting down, and remove the winter cover to a clear pool in the spring. I refilled the pool from my well last summer due to a liner replacement, and found that all levels were perfect, so my washing and baking soda are still in their boxes, and calcium levels (hard water here) were fine too. I never "shock" the pool unless we have a big pool party (which are rarer as I get older!).

As for CYA, I find it always goes back to zero over the winter (I know that doesn't happen for everybody). I never add any, just letting the CYA in the pucks slowly build it up during the season. Once the CYA is normal I turn down the puck feeder and use more bleach, unless I am going away.