ready to make the switch

[BoHpool]

Anything is acceptable, until it gets you in trouble. Using cal-hypo adds a certain % of calcium to your pool. So let's say you need 4ppm of FC each day, well, you'll be adding a similar ppm of calcium. It won't take long to get calcium out of range, and you'll end up with calcium scaling.

The reason TFP recommends a SWCG or liquid chlorine is because neither adds other friends (calcium or CYA). It's not that cal-hypo, tabs, etc can't be used. It's just that they can't be used continuously, unless you're comfortable emptying your pool each year and starting over.

Common bleach (unscented, no additives) can be picked up just about anywhere. Liquid chlorine can be found at most big box stores, awl-mart, ace hardware, etc.

My city water apparently has a calcium hardness of 240 so I can that being a problem. I will probably need to drain the pool at the end of the winter season anyway. The load on the poll Jan- April is insane.

 

[BoHpool]

Walmart

Says in-stock in Weslaco, TX Wal-Mart.

CDS Liquid Chlorinating Chemicals 1 gal - Ace Hardware

CDS liquid chlorinator (pool shock) for swimming pool water disinfection provides instant gratification when added to pools and has no wait time to swim. Less expensive to use than granular chlorine. No scaling when compared to granular products that can lead to excessively high...

www.acehardware.com

In-stock in Weslaco, TX according to Ace's website, though costs more than Wal-Mart.

Hope that's helpful!

The last two months of reviews for Pool Essentials are horrible. Maybe the supply chain problems messed something up. Thanks for the Ace Hardware tip. I had not seen that before.

 

[IceShadow]

For calculations, most pools go through 2-4ppm of FC daily. My understanding of Cal Hypo is that it adds equal parts of FC and CH to the pool. So if you have a 30 day month that uses (on the high end) 4ppm per day, you're adding 120ppm of CH to your pool each month.

 

[reggiehammond]

My city water apparently has a calcium hardness of 240 so I can that being a problem. I will probably need to drain the pool at the end of the winter season anyway. The load on the poll Jan- April is insane.

My CH on well water is a bit higher, and my TA is off the charts. But because I don't add any CH via chlorinating method, my CH levels only raise in small increments. Totally manageable...

But if you're good with dumping water and starting fresh - more power to you. I totally understand not wanting to chase liquid chlorine, but I still think you're GREAT candidate for a SWCG.

 

[IceShadow]

The last two months of reviews for Pool Essentials are horrible. Maybe the supply chain problems messed something up. Thanks for the Ace Hardware tip. I had not seen that before.

Chlorine is chlorine. I don't know how one could review it poorly on a national chain's webpage.

You do want to get it relatively fresh and if the store stores it outside in the sun and heat it will degrade quicker, so I can see having an issue with it from certain stores, but that isn't something that is on a national scale.

 

[BoHpool]

You can also use bleach from any market, as long as it doesn't have any additives, so just Sodium Hypochlorite as the active ingredient.

I used this sometimes before switching to a SWG. Its 7.5% Sodium Hypochlorite so not as strong as pool chlorine, but not bad. Became hard to find recently.

Downside is since its likely lower concentration you'll need more of it. But maybe easier to find around you.

For now, you can use tablets for a while to get you CYA back up.

Randy

Cloralen has zero availability here in the Valley. I did look at HEB and they have a store brand. I need to check the contents as the web info is insufficient.

 

[BoHpool]

Chlorine is chlorine. I don't know how one could review it poorly on a national chain's webpage.

You do want to get it relatively fresh and if the store stores it outside in the sun and heat it will degrade quicker, so I can see having an issue with it from certain stores, but that isn't something that is on a national scale.

The reviews say it has no chlorine smell and does not raise the FC level. It might have aged or who knows what.

 

[BoHpool]

For calculations, most pools go through 2-4ppm of FC daily. My understanding of Cal Hypo is that it adds equal parts of FC and CH to the pool. So if you have a 30 day month that uses (on the high end) 4ppm per day, you're adding 120ppm of CH to your pool each month.

120 ppm a month would be a problem.

 

[reggiehammond]

The reviews say it has no chlorine smell and does not raise the FC level. It might have aged or who knows what.

Each COVID wave in the US has been slightly preceded by bad reviews on scented candles for having less or no smell.
Reviews on websites are worth less than the paper they're not printed on! Many many many TFP members use Pool Essentials reliably.

 

[proavia]

Find a local commercial bleach/chlorine supplier. Maybe a janitorial supply or power washing company has it in bulk or knows who does. Any "Tractor Supply" or similar businesses around?

Unfortunately, your nearest Hasa supplier is in Corpus - 115 miles away.

Fresh chlorine really doesn't have much (if any) "chlorine" smell.

 

[IceShadow]

The reviews say it has no chlorine smell and does not raise the FC level. It might have aged or who knows what.

I can't imagine the entire country is using the same chlorine supplier for Wal-Mart chlorine. Probably localized stores that had issues. That's not to say the one near you won't have issues - just that you can't know that it will based on reviews from everywhere else in the country.

 

[BoHpool]

I bought 6 gallons of Pool Essentials liquid chlorine today along with a Clorox chlorine stabilizer. I used pool math and added 1.5 gallons of chlorine. Pool math said to add 14 lbs on CYA but I only added 4 lbs. I don't want to overshoot. I'm sure pool math is correct but I am using 3 inch tabs to try and use them up before going all liquid.

 

[BoHpool]

I added 4 LBS of CYA on Monday the 1st. I have not seen the level go any higher. Do I need to wait an actual week before adding more? I have tested multiple times in single sittings. I have used different bottles of the reagent. The result is always the same <30.

 

[BoHpool]

So it is hot and sunny here. We have not had any rain for a couple of weeks.
On 8/3 I stopped the calhypo and started using LC exclusively.
8/3 10PM FC 2 pH 7.8 added 64 oz LC
8/4 7AM FC 4 pH 7.6 clear CYA <30
10 AM FC 4
1:30 PM FC2 added 26 oz LC
4:30 PM FC 1.2 added 32 oz LC
10 PM I didn't write it down
8/5 7AM FC 2 pH 7.6 CYA <30
11 AM FC 1 added 32 oz LC
5 PM FC 1 added 38 oz LC
5:45 PM FC 2
9:45 PM FC 2 Added 100 oz
8/6 6:30 AM FC 4 pH 7.8 CYA <30
I'm very happy with the Pool Essentials LC, thanks for talking me into using it. I think the LC will smooth out once I get the CYA above 30. I am using trichlor tabs but they don't seem to be adding FC or CYA. I have 3 gallons of monosodium cyanurate monohydrate, I want to be very careful not to get too much CYA again.
Thanks for all the help!

 

[setsailsoon]

B,

Congrats. Good to be careful and soon you'll get the hang of it. Eventually you'll find you can trust Pool Math and just add what it says to do all at once. You'll never be far off. Tablets take a while to dissolve so the CYA increase is much slower.

Just when you get the hang of this you'll want to switch to salt!

Chris

 

[BoHpool]

B,

Congrats. Good to be careful and soon you'll get the hang of it. Eventually you'll find you can trust Pool Math and just add what it says to do all at once. You'll never be far off. Tablets take a while to dissolve so the CYA increase is much slower.

Just when you get the hang of this you'll want to switch to salt!

Chris

Already planning to talk to the manager about getting a SWG. During the winter season, the load on the pool is crazy.

 

[TexEdmond]

Already planning to talk to the manager about getting a SWG. During the winter season, the load on the pool is crazy.

It shouldn't be too difficult to make that business case. Remember the recommendation to greatly oversize the SWG for the volume of the pool, especially if you're seeing very high bather loads. This is all based on the assumption that your local regs will allow you to run CYA at the recommended levels (which some local codes don't allow).

 

[BoHpool]

It shouldn't be too difficult to make that business case. Remember the recommendation to greatly oversize the SWG for the volume of the pool, especially if you're seeing very high bather loads. This is all based on the assumption that your local regs will allow you to run CYA at the recommended levels (which some local codes don't allow).

Regulation is very loose down here. We have unregulated 'subdivisions' called colonia all over the place. We are in an un-incorporated area, the county. I at least need a liquid chlorine dispenser if we can't get the SWG in the next couple of months. What brand of SWG do you recommend?

 

[proavia]

Knowing more about your present equipment on each pool - especially any automation - may help in recommending a possible SWG solution.

 

[TexEdmond]

This. My decision was easy, the Pentair IC60 was really the only choice for me because it's the right amount of oversize (60k capacity for 25k pool) and I already have Pentair electronics and app control.

That for me was more important than warranty, because being the second owner none of the warranty stuff transferred anyway, and I was doing the work myself.

I believe there is a preferred manufacturer that has a good DIY warranty, but I don't remember their name off the top of my head. Or, if you wanted to see about negotiating a deal with your current "pool company" and see if they can get a warranty unit (or units) to match your current equipment. They might even be able to get a wholesale price on parts, you never know.

Given your comment about bather load, if you don't already have it, get the Pool Math app and start building a database of chemical use. This will help you better predict your daily FC loss, there's a section for keeping track of chlorine costs, and that'll help you figure out how best to size your SWG system. Many pool owners here are strictly single family residential pools, and the breakeven costs on chlorine usage versus installation costs are quite long... For us it's mostly a convenience and peace of mind thing. In general the larger the pool and higher the bather load, the SWG makes more financial and labor sense, if sized correctly. The basic recommendation here for residential pools is at least a 2:1 ratio - SWG capacity to pool volume, but the larger residential units are sized to around 60k gallons and probably wouldn't be wise in your situation. During the big shortage last year, I stumbled on some commercial grade salt cells from Pentair, but fortunately found the correct consumer parts for my pool. Since your bather load is predictably high, you might want to aim even higher than the 2:1 ratio, and that might mean a parallel array of two 40k SWGs, for example. Knowing your daily FC loss will help, and then use the calculators to convert that back into total chlorine produced. Remember the SWG unit output is rated in WEIGHT of chlorine produced, which you'll then have to convert back into PPM for your pool's volume.

It's possible you'll also still need to keep some chlorinating chems around in case you need to shock or if there's a health issue like C-diff or norovirus.

"I'm not an expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Select last night." Take all of this with a grain of salt (ha) and make sure you check your math!

Good luck!