For those who have converted - I want to know if there is any chlorine odor or dry feeling on the skin after swimming

[zea3]

A SWG will require a little space on a wall or post, electrical supply and approximately 12" of pipe run after the heater. It needs to be the last thing before water returns to the pool. Like Lee said, test drive the chlorine first and see if you like it before investing in an SWG. You can add salt for the feel without having an SWG and it won't mess anything up, chemistry wise.

 

[anthonypool89]

Leebo...how long did you use baquacil? I think you meant to say either that "all the headache is converting from Baqua to Chlorine" or else 'to chlorine from Baqua' (?) Either way, I get what you mean!!! I appreciate the thought of waiting till next year - I seem to recall encountering that piece of advice before. The plan, as you say, to at least give it a try seems worth it, but I'd say to do so should involve the willingness to go an entire season, otherwise it wouldn't seem to allow for a real fair comparison. I do like the idea of not draining. For one thing, we're on a well and so I'd be hesitant to tap close to 12k gallons to refill. I'd probably get Aqua Duck as I did after the renovation back in '14. Thanks for the kind words as well. I have, shall we say, "paid my dues" to get the water as clear as it typically is - but it takes several additional products (other than the regular A-B-C maintenance schedule - I still think of the three in the old soft swim terminology).

 

[anthonypool89]

A SWG will require a little space on a wall or post, electrical supply and approximately 12" of pipe run after the heater. It needs to be the last thing before water returns to the pool. Like Lee said, test drive the chlorine first and see if you like it before investing in an SWG. You can add salt for the feel without having an SWG and it won't mess anything up, chemistry wise.

Z.....agree completely on just going with chlorine. Thanks.

 

[pookiesunshine]

I was going to disagree respectfully w/Leebo and say the size and being on CDX make draining even more attractive, then i saw your comment about being on a well, so, well, forget it.

 

[Leebo]

In my eyes there's no simple way to convert from Baquacil TO chlorine. Draining is likely the cheapest/quickest but it's never been high on my list, but that's 100% a personal opinion. You'll do a fair amount of work AND still need to preform the conversion process. Waiting until Spring helps greatly reduce the amount of Baqua products are in the water and almost always greatly speeds up the process. That said, I agree that often the cost/time is greater when converting verses a simple drain. That said, ANYTHING is better than sticking with Baqua in my eyes.

@anthonypool89
We used Baquacil for roughly 18 years before I found TFP. You can read about our conversion in this thread. When zooming out and looking at efforts needed to convert from one product to another by far there's more effort required to switch TO chlorine. Once the conversion is complete however maintaining a chlorine pool is a snap. When converting from Chlorine to Baqua all you really need to do is neutralize all the chlorine and add the Baquacil products (Algaecide, Sanitizer, CDX, and an Oxidizer) but when you're wanting to go from Baqua to Chlorine you'll need to first break down all of the Baqua then add all chemicals needed to run a chlorine pool.

If you hate Chlorine pools, switching to Baqua can likely be done in a day or two............but I've never heard of somebody who's followed TFPC who's wanted to go back.

 

[Jeff J.]

Both issues are partly why I stopped with chlorine about 25 years ago. The main issue was getting into a "chlorine demand situation" which seemed to be an unsolvable problem. It started to call for outrageous amounts of "burn out" (yes..that's how far back I go with chlorine!). My wife would prefer to swim without having to worry about washing her hair after each time she is in the pool. Baquacil works for that purpose. The whole idea behind the original "soft swim" (baquacil system) WAS that it is gentler on the skin. So...give me some idea about how a well-maintained chlorine pool feels. I know that if there is not enough chlorine - if I'm correct anyway - it results in "chloramines" - which is where strong odor starts to set in. Partly what turns me off to the conversion and TFP process mentioned here is using bleach in the pool. I'm still more partial to actual "pool chemicals" rather than buying household products as substitutes. I don't question that it works, but I just have a hard time thinking about getting away from chemicals specifically designed for pools. I suppose there is little logic behind this reasoning.

A few things that put me off about the idea of switching: 1) Having to drain all or most of the pool. I just had it filled 6 years ago following complete renovation. 2) Using massive amounts of bleach (or whatever form of chlorine) to do the conversion

Any alternatives to the above?

I've never used Bacqua. I used to just throw pucks and granules in the skimmer, because that's what my pool guy told me to do.. While I still enjoyed the pool, the PH and TA were zeroed out, there was often a chlorine smell, and my family would sometimes get skin irritations. And I would fight algae blooms.
I found TFP last year. Since then, I've also added salt to 1900 and borates to 50. My water is crystal clear and silky smooth, and easy on the eyes. My family raves about it, and I love it. The only time I've noticed a chlorine smell on my skin was a couple of days ago. There was sadly a dead opossum in my pool, and I raised my FC to shock level. It was still high the next day when I went.
Anyway, I don't k

 

[anthonypool89]

LOL...I catch rabbits, mice, frogs, and chipmunks in the skimmer. Biggest challenge is a still-living frog cause it'll dart off into the pool. Then ensues a mad chase with the net until I finally (literally) catapult it out of the pool and across the fence into the farmer's field. Worthy of a few minutes' humorous youtube video.

 

[Chasarms]

If you decide chlorine is right for you, you have the option of installing an injection pump and a small tank for the liquid. It takes the daily process of adding the liquid out of the maintaining process. I just did this, and it is working wonderfully for us.

For that “silky” water feel, many add to the water.

 

[anthonypool89]

I have just tonight absolutely confirmed what I've been suspecting over the past two seasons. The chemical system I've been using, for whatever reason, is working well enough to keep the water (most of the time anyway) quite clear. As a result, a false assumption is easy to make that there is no white water mold accumulation. This is not the case. With the water as clear as it is and the low sun on it tonight, I used the brush and notice that a good deal of WWM comes off the walls and floats in the water. Especially discouraging - after adding a gallon of oxidizer today and 2 pints of biguanide - a container of "Ahhsome" yesterday, etc. there were large clumps of what I presume to be WWM growing along the wall of the deep end. Most of the problems occur in the deep end - always have. If everything I'm using is not just keeping the water clean but also (presumably) killing these organisms, I should not be seeing this accumulation. So the mold is there, all the time, but unless brushed and/or readily visible ala these larger growth clusters that seem to materialize within 24 hours (they were NOT there last night), it's easy to think that I've got things under control. The next logical leap is that the stuff is in the water all the time as well and so I'm swimming in it despite, again, the water looking really good. This is truly depressing, since I do not know what else to use to fight this problem. I shudder to think what the lines look like. I guess I should be brushing more often but that = even more problems with the filter. Pressure is now up to 17, which is an increase of nearly 5 lbs. in 2 days. I don't know how I'm going to get through this season with 3 more months to go. Might as well pitch a tent next to the filter tank I suppose. Right now I'm feeling pretty down about the whole thing.

Are there any alternatives besides chlorine and baquacil? Just wondering....

 

[Jeff J.]

I have just tonight absolutely confirmed what I've been suspecting over the past two seasons. The chemical system I've been using, for whatever reason, is working well enough to keep the water (most of the time anyway) quite clear. As a result, a false assumption is easy to make that there is no white water mold accumulation. This is not the case. With the water as clear as it is and the low sun on it tonight, I used the brush and notice that a good deal of WWM comes off the walls and floats in the water. Especially discouraging - after adding a gallon of oxidizer today and 2 pints of biguanide - a container of "Ahhsome" yesterday, etc. there were large clumps of what I presume to be WWM growing along the wall of the deep end. Most of the problems occur in the deep end - always have. If everything I'm using is not just keeping the water clean but also (presumably) killing these organisms, I should not be seeing this accumulation. So the mold is there, all the time, but unless brushed and/or readily visible ala these larger growth clusters that seem to materialize within 24 hours (they were NOT there last night), it's easy to think that I've got things under control. The next logical leap is that the stuff is in the water all the time as well and so I'm swimming in it despite, again, the water looking really good. This is truly depressing, since I do not know what else to use to fight this problem. I shudder to think what the lines look like. I guess I should be brushing more often but that = even more problems with the filter. Pressure is now up to 17, which is an increase of nearly 5 lbs. in 2 days. I don't know how I'm going to get through this season with 3 more months to go. Might as well pitch a tent next to the filter tank I suppose. Right now I'm feeling pretty down about the whole thing.

Are there any alternatives besides chlorine and baquacil? Just wondering....

There's bromine, but I don't know much about about it. It's mainly used in hot tubs and indoor pools. There's the mineral systems which say they use smaller amounts of chlorine, but they're not thought highly of here.

 

[anthonypool89]

Chlorine is undoubtedly still the best. I'm going to have to do it whether I want to or not.

 

[Shirker]

This year or next?

 

[anthonypool89]

Leebo - let me ask this. Is there ANY chance that - with chlorine - I'd possibly still have problems with white water mold? Being that it's also an environmental (rather than solely a pool sanitation method) issue, might I still wind up having it just as a function of where we live surrounded by these actively-worked farm fields? As I said somewhere along the way, the closest field is probably only 20 feet away from the pool on the west side, so obviously elements are constantly blowing into the water. I'm certainly willing to try chlorine and find out. I was looking again at the parpool-spa website (seems to be the one that pushes aqua finesse tablets) and they seem to downplay the WWM as mores being an environmental problem and thus ANY pool sanitizing method is subject to it. After reading that the other year, it seemed to make sense and so that sort of dissuaded me from the idea of converting again, but, on the flip side, I NEVER hear anyone here complain (under chlorine) that they have WWM.

 

[anthonypool89]

This year or next?

Josh...THAT's the million dollar question. I'm not sure how long l can limp along here (literally....totally blew out my back 3 weeks ago and so the last thing I needed is a ton of extra pool work this summer) with doing this filter every week (or less!) So,, yeah, here's the thing...I'm 64 and so none of this work is getting any easier. Sounds like the conversion process entails a good amount of work - at least for several days - but then hopefully done and what comes after should presumably be less work going forward.

 

[Leebo]

I’m not a scientist nor do I know all the technical mumble jumble concerning mold. I’m not able to say never simply based on lack of knowledge. That said, looking at my memory.....I can’t recall ever seeing it on TFP unless the user was sanitizing with Baquacil.

The largest headache of doing the conversion right now is the expense. Your pool is full of Baqua and it’s gonna take a fair amount of chlorine to convert. That said, when we did our conversion it was also in the middle of the summer. We had purchased a “stock-pile” of Baqua chemicals at the start of the year and had simply ran out of several items. For us it was either spend the money or converting verses spending the money on more Baqua products.

 

[anthonypool89]

Leebo...I'll go along here for at least a few days or maybe even weeks yet and see if things settle down. I probably don't brush enough for one thing. Bummer that after having bought an extra set of grids the other year (so as to be able to switch off and keep one chemically cleaned more often) - now, my original set of grids fills up like a water balloon - all 10 grids - and so is REALLY heavy to lift. Right now I'm having back problems from something really stupid that I did while moving my snowblower to a basement garage - and so this is not the best time for me to indulge in any more pool work than absolutely needed. I even did the filter teardown and recharge hours after I injured my back - probably the worst thing I could have done; however, it needs it when it needs it. I was in a "no flow" situation. What a summer this is turning out to be!

 

[markayash]

A big advantage to a SWG is I am out of town and usually worry about the pool and getting my kids to check and add Chlorine but not this year. I made sure it was good and bummed the SWG up a notch before I left. I have checked the camera and it's still perfect blue and clear

 

[anthonypool89]

I like the idea of SWG but don't like the thought of adding another piece of equipment. If nothing was landscaped around the existing equipment, I might be more amenable to it. I think the best thing to do, as recommended, would be try straight chlorine first, then go from there. Still, thanks. All the suggestions are valuable.

 

[mguzzy]

I like the idea of SWG but don't like the thought of adding another piece of equipment. If nothing was landscaped around the existing equipment, I might be more amenable to it. I think the best thing to do, as recommended, would be try straight chlorine first, then go from there. Still, thanks. All the suggestions are valuable.

When you get ready to putl the trigger.. heck even now, post up a pic of your equipment pad. There are some very creative thinkers on the forum.. Adding the two items for an SWG (controller and cell) may be easier than you think. I'm just thinking ahead for you

 

[anthonypool89]

When you get ready to putl the trigger.. heck even now, post up a pic of your equipment pad. There are some very creative thinkers on the forum.. Adding the two items for an SWG (controller and cell) may be easier than you think. I'm just thinking ahead for you

Great idea...I'll get a pic ready and post it shortly (can you tell I'm getting somewhat anxious to do something?? lol)