Chlorine sanitation

derekm - Great perspective. Many like myself chose a SWCG but it isn't the only way to add chlorine. I think even tablets are okay as long as CYA level is monitored and you're okay with periodically draining your pool.

As for the test strips, I've tested them against my dropper test kit, and the strips seem to be pretty accurate for pH and decently accurate for chlorine.
 
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derekm - Great perspective. Many like myself chose a SWCG but it isn't the only way to add chlorine. I think even tablets are okay as long as CYA level is monitored and you're okay with periodically draining your pool.

As for the test strips, I've tested them against my dropper test kit, and the strips seem to be pretty accurate for pH and decently accurate for chlorine.
 
Strangely, in 28 years I've never had to drain water from the pool to lower CYA as the CYA "magically" disappears each winter. I think it must be a colder climate thing, but when I take the cover off in mid-April it's always at zero. I also stop the pucks mid-summer before the CYA gets out of range, and then only use it for vacations, so it doesn't have a high level to get rid of, anyway.
 
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No regrets here! 🙂 I manually chlorinate my pool and I plan to forever. Saltwater systems are great for some people but not for me. I work from home so I have a lot of free time and actually ENJOY testing my water and adding liquid chlorine and other chemicals (as needed) daily during the summer. Yes, I’m a weirdo and extremely OCD, lol. Plus I’m cheap so I don’t want to invest in purchasing the SWCG and replacing the cell every so many years.

A lot of TFPers swear by saltwater, and that’s great but it’s just not for me. I use liquid chlorine only (no pucks or stabilized “shock” products) and still have crystal clear water and keep everything balanced. I do not have any issues with dry or rough skin (saltwater has a much softer feel.) If you don’t have as much time as I do or don’t want to add a bunch of LC daily during the warm months, then a SWCG is probably a great choice for you!! It’s all personal preference. Maybe some day I’ll get tired of all the testing and daily chlorine adding and get a SWCG. 🤷🏻‍♀️
 
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Strangely, in 28 years I've never had to drain water from the pool to lower CYA as the CYA "magically" disappears each winter. I think it must be a colder climate thing, but when I take the cover off in mid-April it's always at zero. I also stop the pucks mid-summer before the CYA gets out of range, and then only use it for vacations, so it doesn't have a high level to get rid of, anyway.
I’m in central Ohio and my CYA drops drastically during the winter too. I keep it at 40 or 50 (it’s always somewhere right in between the two when the dot disappears) during the season but when I opened last spring, it dropped to 20!!!! And this was before I added about a foot of hose water. Crazy.
 
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