Pucks vs Liquid

[CypressTx]

I had my ~13500 gallon pool built over a year ago, and I asked them if they could install a liquid chlorinator but it wasn't an option (they're all Pentair and had to do a Pentair rainbow puck feeder).
Now i'm having problems getting the pucks to dissolve. The only way I can seem to get them to dissolve properly is to run my variable speed pump at a 3000 RPM rate and that's killing my electric bill.
So my first question - for all you who pour bleach in regularly, how often do you have to go out and pour bleach in? What do you do when you go on vacation?
I'm not one to be very consistent, so i'm wondering if i'd be better off buying a liquid chlorinator. If I get one of those, how often will I be driving across town to buy liquid chlorine to refill the tank (i'd prefer a bigger tank so I don't have to as often).
I understand there's also a high flow kit for the rainbow puck feeder, should I try that first?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Russ,

We never recommend using pucks on an ongoing basis.

You best option is to go with a Stenner Liquid Chlorine pump, or in my opinion a much better choice is to go with a Saltwater Chlorine Generator..

For those that add Liquid Chlorine manually, they normally add chlorine every day, or every other day, in the summer. This time a year, twice a week as pool don't use much chlorine when the water is cold.

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

- - - Updated - - -

Curious... does your pool have that public pool chlorine smell? Do you add Pool Store "Shock" every week or every other week?

 

[CypressTx]

I had a saltwater chlorine generator in my last pool. It seemed to wear out my pumps quicker than normal and my flagstone and moss rock were wearing somewhat quickly too. So we opted not to do saltwater this time.

How easy are the Stenner pumps to install? I unfortunately am not very handy and can't seem to find anyone who installs them or knows much about installing them. How often do you typically have to re-fill the chlorine tank if I got a bigger sized tank?

Russ,

We never recommend using pucks on an ongoing basis.

You best option is to go with a Stenner Liquid Chlorine pump, or in my opinion a much better choice is to go with a Saltwater Chlorine Generator..

For those that add Liquid Chlorine manually, they normally add chlorine every day, or every other day, in the summer. This time a year, twice a week as pool don't use much chlorine when the water is cold.

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

- - - Updated - - -

Curious... does your pool have that public pool chlorine smell? Do you add Pool Store "Shock" every week or every other week?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Russ,

I have three saltwater pools and have none of those issues, but I fully understand your reluctance to go saltwater. There are a lot of myths about saltwater pools.. It is similar to saying the Titanic sunk due to saltwater. It is obvious.. it was floating in saltwater and it sank, what more proof do you need? But we all know there is more to the story...

Stenners are a good alternate choice... I would estimate that you will need about 65 oz. of 8.25% bleach a day (or 55 oz. of 12.5% Liquid Chlorine).. Less in the winter a little more in the middle of the summer... I'll let you do the math..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[cfherrman]

Pick up a gallon a bleach a week when you get groceries, no special trips for clorine.

Keep your puck feeder for vacations, but you have to plan your chemical balance.

Just start out as a bleach pourer and then later go with bleach injection

 

[slickraft]

Dissolving the pucks has never been a problem for me any time of year. Are you trying to raise the chlorine levels quickly or is this for normal daily chlorine demand?

After coming to TFP and giving up on pucks for daily use, I manually poured my bleach and only used tabs for vacations or to bring up CYA as needed. I later converted to chlorine injection and love that (built my own). I have no interest in moving to a chlorine generator system but I'm never going back to manual chlorine dosing.

 

[Bama Rambler]

The injection pump is pretty easy to install. You can buy a plug in timer if you have a convenience receptacle close to the plumbing.

The only thing you'll have to do is install an injection point in the plumbing on the return plumbing after the filter.

You can get a 15 gallon drum to store the bleach in and it will last a good long while. For example, at half a gallon a day use it'll last 30 days.

Do you know what your CYA level is now?

 

[CypressTx]

This is normal daily chlorine demand. When the variable speed pump is running at the low speed, no water is coming out into the rainbow feeder and thus the pucks aren't ever dissolving very quickly enough to have an acceptable level of chlorine.
Here's one question for those familiar with pucks - two pool pros have told me to only have around 3 pucks in the feeder at a time rather than fill it full. Is this the cause? If the water was lowly trickling this slow over 8 pucks vs 2-3 pucks, i'd probably produce more chlorine...??

Dissolving the pucks has never been a problem for me any time of year. Are you trying to raise the chlorine levels quickly or is this for normal daily chlorine demand?

After coming to TFP and giving up on pucks for daily use, I manually poured my bleach and only used tabs for vacations or to bring up CYA as needed. I later converted to chlorine injection and love that (built my own). I have no interest in moving to a chlorine generator system but I'm never going back to manual chlorine dosing.

 

[Bama Rambler]

I have a few questions.
1. Did it previously work and has just recently stopped?
2. Has anything in the system been changed recently?
3. Is your feeder plumbed for top or bottom feed?
4. Have you removed the feeder tubing and inspected it for blockages? I'd go through the tubing, the valve, the tee, and the fittings to make sure something isn't blocking the flow.