Homemade Acid OR Chlorine Injection System

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I am thinking of doing a poor mans version of this idea, or maybe a lazy mans version... I run my pool 4 hours a night and want to be exact with my chlorinating...

1. 5 gallon bucket
2. Big enough hole to hot glue a funnel to the bottom so the water slopes into it. Funnel has to have a small exit for a small hose
3. Put a drip button or something on the end of the hose on the end of the funnel to get the flow rate down to 5 gallons an hour or half hour
4. Set up complete

Put it in action
1. Pool running
2. Fill the bucket up to 4 gallons of pool water
3. Remove a skimmer lid
4. Set bucket on top of skimmer, water starts to slowly leak into skimmer
5. Add bleach to the bucket
6. It drips into the skimmer over the next 30 min to an hour and flows into the pool through the return lines.

I am thinking this will be diluted enough for the equipment, and disburse the chlorine out of my 5 returns evenly and efficiently.
 
caliskier said:
I am thinking of doing a poor mans version of this idea, or maybe a lazy mans version... I run my pool 4 hours a night and want to be exact with my chlorinating...

1. 5 gallon bucket
2. Big enough hole to hot glue a funnel to the bottom so the water slopes into it. Funnel has to have a small exit for a small hose
3. Put a drip button or something on the end of the hose on the end of the funnel to get the flow rate down to 5 gallons an hour or half hour
4. Set up complete

Put it in action
1. Pool running
2. Fill the bucket up to 4 gallons of pool water
3. Remove a skimmer lid
4. Set bucket on top of skimmer, water starts to slowly leak into skimmer
5. Add bleach to the bucket
6. It drips into the skimmer over the next 30 min to an hour and flows into the pool through the return lines.

I am thinking this will be diluted enough for the equipment, and disburse the chlorine out of my 5 returns evenly and efficiently.
Click to expand...

I told my wife about this, and she said, why not just a tiny pinhole and test it to see if it drains in an hour. I think by adding the pool water to the bucket first it dilutes it all the more as it dribbles into the skimmer that has fresh water coming in from the pool.
 
caliskier said:
2. Big enough hole to hot glue a funnel to the bottom so the water slopes into it. Funnel has to have a small exit for a small hose
Click to expand...
Sorry but why do you need/want this? Seems unnecessary to me.

Also, you can draw from the top of the bucket too. The hose just needs to be primed and you can then use it like a siphon. This way you don't need any holes in the bucket and the bucket can be off to the side and just the small hose goes into the skimmer. You would still need something to regulate the flow such as a valve or irrigation button.
 
caliskier said:
I am thinking of doing a poor mans version of this idea, or maybe a lazy mans version... I run my pool 4 hours a night and want to be exact with my chlorinating...

1. 5 gallon bucket
2. Big enough hole to hot glue a funnel to the bottom so the water slopes into it. Funnel has to have a small exit for a small hose
3. Put a drip button or something on the end of the hose on the end of the funnel to get the flow rate down to 5 gallons an hour or half hour
4. Set up complete

Put it in action
1. Pool running
2. Fill the bucket up to 4 gallons of pool water
3. Remove a skimmer lid
4. Set bucket on top of skimmer, water starts to slowly leak into skimmer
5. Add bleach to the bucket
6. It drips into the skimmer over the next 30 min to an hour and flows into the pool through the return lines.

I am thinking this will be diluted enough for the equipment, and disburse the chlorine out of my 5 returns evenly and efficiently.
Click to expand...


i don't get the point.... if you have to add it daily anyway why not just pour it directly into the pool.
 
mas985 said:
Sorry but why do you need/want this? Seems unnecessary to me.

Also, you can draw from the top of the bucket too. The hose just needs to be primed and you can then use it like a siphon. This way you don't need any holes in the bucket and the bucket can be off to the side and just the small hose goes into the skimmer. You would still need something to regulate the flow such as a valve or irrigation button.
Click to expand...

I put too much detail here...

I put this with your post because I like what you did, but I am not ready to go that far yet. Mine is a simi-automated solution. All I want to do is take a 5 gallon bucket, drill a small hole in the bottom and set it on top of my skimmer without the lid on the skimmer. Nothing really related to what you did, although I really like your idea.

Why would I do this? I have a liner pool, the liner is 6 years old and showing signs of wear from the previous owner not adding the chlorine correctly. When I add bleach, no mater how slowly I pour it, if I have a leaf on the bottom of the pool it begins to move. This tells me that the bleach is sinking to the bottom. Now I do sweep, etc, but really, I would rather not worry about not sweeping good enough or having to pour slow enough.

The reason I am posting it and not just doing it is because I have been told to not pour bleach directly in the skimmer as it is too concentrated and hurts equipment. However here i am diluting it somewhat by adding 4 gallons of water and at the same time I am slowing down the rate to at least a 30 min trickle. So I guess I really just have a question: if I dilute it that much, would I be safe with the skimmer constantly pulling in fresh water over a trickle for 30 min...

Thanks in advance.
 

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No, I think you misunderstood. I was asking why you are bothering with a funnel. What does that do/add?

And like I posted, you can do almost the same thing as you propose but without drilling a hole in the bucket. Just use a siphon instead. Basically, the same setup without putting a hole in the bucket that has a potential to leak.

Also, why not just pour the bleach in front of the return if you are worried about the liner?
 
mas985 said:
No, I think you misunderstood. I was asking why you are bothering with a funnel. What does that do/add?

And like I posted, you can do almost the same thing as you propose but without drilling a hole in the bucket. Just use a siphon instead. Basically, the same setup without putting a hole in the bucket that has a potential to leak.
Click to expand...


Thanks, agree on the funnel, I can kill that. The siphon is a nice idea, but too much effort. I actually want the bucket to leak, the hole is in the bottom, I want it to leak straight down into the skimmer box and into the system. I will just dip the bucket in the pool, set it on top of the skimmer box, pour my bleach in that, it trickles through the hole in the bottom into the skimmer, into the system, out all of my returns.

mas985 said:
Also, why not just pour the bleach in front of the return if you are worried about the liner?
Click to expand...

Understand the question, but that is what I want to stop doing. for the following reasons...

I have a liner pool, that is old and wearing out, I can tell that when I add bleach, over the return no mater how slowly I pour it, the bleach settles on the bottom. Then I get to sweep it around, not a huge deal, but I would rather set it and forget it and not worry sweeping or pouring slow enough.

I just calculated that this would be about 128ppm going through the skimmer and into the pump and system at my current chlorine add rate over 30 min. If I slowed it down to 2 hours, it would be 32PPM going through the system unless I am calculating wrong.

I typically add 96oz a day of bleach, (I have a small pool leak I cannot find so the CYA is not holding well). Adding this to 4 gallons of water makes it 18700ppm, if the flow rate of my skimmer is 20 gallons per min, then I calculate that 18700ppm over 30 min translates to 128ppm through my system.
 
If you are actually pouring the chlorine over the return AND you are doing it slowly, very little should hit the bottom. Maybe you should just work on your technique. There many on this forum with vinyl pools that have no issue with this.
 
Anyone have any ideas where I can get an inexpensive 10 gallon tank (or around 10 gallons) that will be compatible with the acid? They all seem pricey. What material should the tank be made of?


mas985 said:
You shouldn't need lower than 2:1 anyway but you may need a bigger tank or dual tanks to lengthen the time between refills. I am now running on two 5 gallon Home Depot buckets with the lids to get a month of run time in the summer. Also, be aware that using any metal parts, unless acid resistant, will likely fail fairly quickly.
Click to expand...

Awesome idea on the homemade acid system! How did you piggyback the two home depot buckets together? Care to share a pic? thanks
 
You just tee each bucket line together. Plus you can combine any number of buckets so you really don't really need a large container:

20160117_125313.jpg
 
Ok, it's my turn to try this after ditching the SWG, burning through the second cell after one summers use. I want to start with a chlorine dispenser. I went to my canadian Home Depot and didn't find any "drip buttons". I tried clicking on a previous link but obviously it didn't work anymore after all these years.

Can someone tell me where I can get these in Canada? Also, has someone found a more straightforward yet passive way to control the chlorine feed? Lastely, will I be able use both drain plugs on the pump, for
Chlorine and MA?

Thanks!
 
It you read through some of the posts, some used a needle valve which has shown some promise.

And no, you can't use both drain plugs because the return side plug is under pressure.
 

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