So, I finally got around to doing this. I have some "professionalizing" to do -- mounting it better in a box, using larger container for chlorine, etc. -- but it's working. Someday I might buy the Stenner pump, but this is working for now and was super cheap.
I prototyped this with an Arduino, but it was much easier just to buy a little motor which came with its own control board, power supply and variable speed control, managing dosing by a separate timer to turn it on and off.
I put in an old calcium hardness bucket and used standard aquarium tubing from aquarium shop.
Adjusted the flow control about mid-way (a slow drip) and estimated the one minute flow in a measuring cup. My filtration pump comes on twice a day and I run it on slow for 10 minutes before coming on high speed. I connected the dosing pump to a cheap wifi-enabled exterior plug outlet designed for timing Christmas Lights (but you can use any timer you like) and used the app to instruct it to come on for 7 minutes in the morning and 9 minutes in the evening (while the filter pump is on low).
I can now either play with the motor speed control or the on/off timing (or both) as needed to keep my chlorine steady. I figure I'll under-dose slightly for safety and check periodically to only add a little bit of supplemental chlorine as needed. So far, it's working really well.
I ordered a 5 gallon container off Amazon and Pinch-A-Penny said they'd fill it up for me, though if they don't I can just buy cheap one gallon jugs and keep it topped up more easily than changing out bottles or 2.5 gallon jugs often.
(5 Gallon Plastic Hedpack with cap: Car Washing Buckets: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific)
2.5 gallons won't quite keep the pool chlorinated for a week's vacation during the peak of summer with 50 CYA.
I first bought an extra elbow from my tablet dispenser and drilled a hole into it to insert tubing into the chlorinator, but it wasn't reliably feeding into the pool supply line without my circulation hose running. So, I removed it altogether, capped it, and drilled a hole in a threaded plug for the chlorine line. I sealed with some special epoxy and 5 minute fix-it.
$18 12V DC Dosing Pump Peristaltic Dosing Head Adjustable Speed For Aquarium Lab
I prototyped this with an Arduino, but it was much easier just to buy a little motor which came with its own control board, power supply and variable speed control, managing dosing by a separate timer to turn it on and off.
I put in an old calcium hardness bucket and used standard aquarium tubing from aquarium shop.
Adjusted the flow control about mid-way (a slow drip) and estimated the one minute flow in a measuring cup. My filtration pump comes on twice a day and I run it on slow for 10 minutes before coming on high speed. I connected the dosing pump to a cheap wifi-enabled exterior plug outlet designed for timing Christmas Lights (but you can use any timer you like) and used the app to instruct it to come on for 7 minutes in the morning and 9 minutes in the evening (while the filter pump is on low).
I can now either play with the motor speed control or the on/off timing (or both) as needed to keep my chlorine steady. I figure I'll under-dose slightly for safety and check periodically to only add a little bit of supplemental chlorine as needed. So far, it's working really well.
I ordered a 5 gallon container off Amazon and Pinch-A-Penny said they'd fill it up for me, though if they don't I can just buy cheap one gallon jugs and keep it topped up more easily than changing out bottles or 2.5 gallon jugs often.
(5 Gallon Plastic Hedpack with cap: Car Washing Buckets: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific)
2.5 gallons won't quite keep the pool chlorinated for a week's vacation during the peak of summer with 50 CYA.
I first bought an extra elbow from my tablet dispenser and drilled a hole into it to insert tubing into the chlorinator, but it wasn't reliably feeding into the pool supply line without my circulation hose running. So, I removed it altogether, capped it, and drilled a hole in a threaded plug for the chlorine line. I sealed with some special epoxy and 5 minute fix-it.
$18 12V DC Dosing Pump Peristaltic Dosing Head Adjustable Speed For Aquarium Lab
12V DC Dosing Pump Peristaltic Dosing Head Adjustable Speed For Aquarium Lab | eBay
1 x New 12V DC Adjustable speed Dosing Pump Peristaltic Dosing Head For Aquarium Lab. Flow rate:25ml~120ml/min, you can change the flow rate by change the tube size. 1 x Power Adapter. We will be happy to resolve any issues you may have in a cordial and friendly manner.
www.ebay.com
