Liquid chlorine pump?

[randyrayd]

Tabs increase CYA; liquid bleach increases salt content, plus I'm out of town a lot and can't be adding bleach and testing daily. So I'm considering a liquid chlorine pump.

Your thoughts please?

rd

 

[PrivatePilot]

Here's an old project of mine that might be of interest to you. Quite a few members tried it over the years with success, and with a ~$20 investment it's an option. Not sure I'd want to rely on it for more than a 24-48 hour period without testing, but your call on that:

My $25 auto chlorinator DIY project

 

[tim5055]

Tabs increase CYA; liquid bleach increases salt content, plus I'm out of town a lot and can't be adding bleach and testing daily. So I'm considering a liquid chlorine pump.

Your thoughts please?

rd

Please understand, liquid bleach and liquid chlorine are the same thing, only different concentrations of chlorine. Bleach is generally 8.25% and "liquid chlorine" is 10 or 12.5%. They all add salt,,but not enough to worry about.

My Stenner Install - July 2014

 

[randyrayd]

PrivatePilot: Interesting. I can fix things generally, but not too good at making things. Plus I really don't have an inconspicuous place that is near a power supply.

Tim5055: Thank you, sir, and I'm aware of the difference (or similarity?) between the two. I was using the terms "bleach" and " liquid chlorine" to differentiate the two percentages. I probably should have just used the percentages.

To all: I'm also aware of the caustic nature of chlorine, especially the higher percentage one. Of course the pool store says the pump will break down and continually need replacing or repair. Of course they want to continue to sell me pucks, so I would like to know if this is true or if the pumps are built to be sturdy enough to last a while, aside from the annual maintenance on variable supply pumps mentioned in your link.

Thank you,
rd

 

[slickraft]

I bought a $12 peristaltic pump on eBay and using a $8 24VAC-12VDC converter, I run my pump with an old Orbit sprinkler timer. It works great and if the pump fails who cares at $12? I have spare tubing and a spare pump ready to go. The pump is 3' above the chlorine container but it easily primes itself. I keep the chlorine jug and pump inside my tool shed and run 1/4" black drip tubing to my pool equipment It is very easy to adjust the run time on my sprinkler timer. It is also easy to run one zone at a time if I decide I want an extra boost after storms or high bather load. It returns to normal programming after the boost session. It was a simple job to measure that the pump adds roughly 2 oz per minute of run time. I always inject while the pump is running or course.

 

[mac4lyfe]

You always have to watch your CYA and CH with pucks, dichlor, trichlor and CalHypo shock. If your numbers are low, you can certainly use them but eventually you are going to reach a manageable limit. Many pool stores could care less how high your numbers get because the solution is just add more stuff. Once I'm at manageable numbers, I only use liquid bleach. Unfortunately, it becomes a pain to haul bottles of bleach from Walmart home every week. Even with a chlorine pump, you're going to need a good supply of bleach. I looked into a lot of local options but the best solution for me was to get a SWG. No more trips to the store for bleach but i still have to use acid to reduce the PH from using the SWG. Very simple and much more economical for me.

 

[randyrayd]

Thanks, slickraft. I have no place near electricity to hide pumps of any kind.

Mac, I had SWG and was going on my third one in about 8 years when I said screw this and went to floaters. My pool builder went belly-up within days of my pool being finished. I had no training and just winged it, so I'm sure I was not maintaining things correctly. I still have some salt build up on coping and the overflow from my spa. My CYA is through the roof and as soon as it warms up a bit, I'm having RO done on the water to get everything to zero and start over. I also have stain issues, but that's in another post.

I still haven't heard from anyone with a retail chlorine pump regarding the longevity of a retail pump.

Thanks for the responses.

rd

 

[gary300]

A lot of people on this forum use the Stenner peristaltic pump for chlorine (or muratic acid) feeding. The pump can be ordered with a matching tank that it attaches to or you can supply your own tank. Here is my setup:



Stenner pumps and parts are widely available. HERE Stenner Pumps

I originally got my Stenner pump because I was going on vacation and had no one to dump bleach into my pool (around half a gallon per day in the middle of summer). It turned out to be so useful that I continued using it all the time.

As far a longevity goes, I have had my pump now for two years with no failures. I did change the pump tube after one year per mfg recommendations.

 

[Patrick_B]

Yes, they make pumps for this duty, so once again that is bad information from a pool store employee who has no idea what they are talking about.

 

[randyrayd]

Thanks, y'all. Good to know they are dependable and I figured that was the case with the pool store.

rd

 

[mac4lyfe]

Mac, I had SWG and was going on my third one in about 8 years when I said screw this and went to floaters. My pool builder went belly-up within days of my pool being finished. I had no training and just winged it, so I'm sure I was not maintaining things correctly. I still have some salt build up on coping and the overflow from my spa. My CYA is through the roof and as soon as it warms up a bit, I'm having RO done on the water to get everything to zero and start over. I also have stain issues, but that's in another post.

Thanks for the responses.

rd

Hey Randy,
Your pool is the same size as mine but smaller depth, total gallons. How much chlorine do you go through with high CYA? My pool takes like 12 bottles of bleach to shock and they are like $3.50 a bottle I think at Walmart. Then just to maintain proper chlorine levels in my pool during peak season cost about $100/month in bleach, so I come out a lot cheaper with a SWG even if they would only last 2 or 3 years. My first cell lasted 6 years, my last cell lasted only 3 years and I'm a year and a half on another cell. My pool is too big for me to keep taking trips to wally world.

Is it cheaper to use an RO on pool water to reduce CYA versus just doing a partial drain? I was under the assumption that most companies that use RO for pool applications charge a pretty penny for the service. I don't think a home RO system would work as it drains more water than it filters in most cases. You're in Austin, so water cost to refill shouldn't be very expensive??

 

[mac4lyfe]

and remember if your CYA is high than you should immediately stop using pucks. The higher the CYA the higher free chlorine you're going to need to maintain. Once you get your numbers correct you should only add bleach (liquid chlorine), nothing else. But you have to check the pool chart to see how much chlorine demand you need at your CYA level.

Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart

Some people let their CYA get so high that it takes a WHOLE LOT OF chlorine to shock. They wonder why their pool is green and it won't clear up even though they are throwing gallons of bleach at it. If you're going with a liquid pump, you really want to keep your CYA at a manageable level.

 

[Reddogdan]

I have the same Stenner setup as Gary. You can find more info under the SWG forum which is where all the automatic colorine mods were moved.