Solar Chlor XT

[john1158]

This post was split from Solar SWG?
hmmmm I decided to see if anyone had success with Solar Chlor XT after I bought one. It was reduced to $70 on eBay so I took a gamble. This thread doesn't sound like I will have positive results but I will report back. I live in north Georgia and have covered my pool for the winter (left it open last year) and only use the integrated spa a few times over the winter so chlorine demand is low. As the spa is integrated and I currently run the pump in both pool and spa modes to keep the entire water system in balance. In addition when freeze protection runs it circulates water from spa into the pool so I have established the recommended salt lever in the entire 25,000 gallons. The Solar Chlor is floating in the Spa much like the robot system Matt described. It went in the water a few days ago and I will monitor chlorine levels and see how it goes. If it doesn't work I will be able to plumb in a generator fairly easily. Even if it only works for my low demand winter conditions and I have to install an inline system for warm weather I will be satisfied.

 

[john1158]

delayed the evaluation as Atlanta has had a bout of freezing weather and I brought the Solar Chlor XT indoors I put back in operation this morning 2/1/2019 current chlorine level 4 ppm no other chlorine source available. pool covered except for spa

I am also considering my results may not be positive until I can maintain a higher water temperature current water temp is 48F

 

[john1158]

checked today and chlorine level has risen to over 10 from the Solar XT

 

[Donldson]

What is "over 10"? How are you testing your FC level?

Daily test results with an FAS-DPD would be extremely useful. Without knowing the FC loss, or even what your current FC level is prevents us from drawing any useful numbers. I don't even see the volume of water in your spa. With this information we could figure out how much (well, little) chlorine this thing is producing. Otherwise this just isn't a very accurate or useful test, I'm afraid.

 

[john1158]

Hi I measure my FC level with Millard 5 way test strips and OTO drops. Both indicate over 10ppm free chlorine. The XT is the only source of Chlorine in pool or spa at this time. The spa is integrated with the pool and water circulates between the two. The SPA is a 6 ft diameter circle 4ft deep with a 18 inch bench so it has about 18.84 sq ft surface area exposed but as mentioned previously the water is circulated across the pool and spa

 

[Donldson]

So wait, are you suggesting that the FC of the entire 25,000 gallon pool raised by 6 (at least) in less than a week? That would be the equivalent of 20 ounces of chlorine, 3.3 ounces per day.

The Saltron Mini (a small SWG for spas) runs off of 10 watts and can product 1.1 ounces in 24 hours. The 12x12 inch solar panel on the XT in perfect conditions could product nearly the same wattage. Now the panel is not in perfect conditions for any part of the day as it is not angled, and has 13 hours of complete darkness. 60 watt-hours would be a very generous estimate of its power output on a clear day.

So, you are claiming that this unit running on maybe 60 watt-hours per day is producing 3x the chlorine of a plug in unit running on 240 watt-hours a day? 12x the chlorine production per watt?

Now, I'm willing to bet that the fault actually lies in testing since test strips and OTO are completely unreliable for accurate numbers, but if you would like to explain how you believe your system is indeed putting out such improbable amounts of chlorine I am all ears.

 

[john1158]

Hi JD, thanks for the interest. This is just an informal sharing experiment for me. I had the opportunity to purchase the XT at what I thought was a low price and I thought that it could contribute to my chlorine levels and reduce the need to run my pump. After I purchased the unit I read some additional posts here that made me doubt that the unit would be beneficial at all. So I decided to post the results I get.
I agree that test strips can be variable and that multiple measurements over time are the only way to get any meaning. What I can say so far is that the pool has not had chlorine tablets or shock of any kind added to it since Feb 1. So that is 15 days. My area has had 1.4 inches of rain in that time. You have a valid point about the original chlorine level and the potential error level of the chlorine testing. Both systems use a color compare indicator method which is going to create variance. But over time there will be chlorine demand and if the device is the only source of chlorine then measurement of chlorine over time is confirmation of production.

What is demonstrated to me is that the chlorine level has been at least stable and possibly a small increase. I have measured the chlorine levels on 5 different days over the course of the 15 days and each time the ppm level has been a solid 10ppm or slightly better on all 5 OTO and all 5 strips. You have raised my interest in estimating the demand I might have and I will do some reading on that.

 

[Donldson]

Well, since you have gotten all that rain, meaning clouds, my estimates of the output of the solar panel are probably way too optimistic.

So, again, would you mind explaining how this item is producing over 12x more chlorine per watt than another SWG? I'm sorry, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof and you appear to not even be willing to use a proper test kit to give us any type proof at all. This is not the Amazon reviews page where anybody can claim how great a product is without a shred of evidence, we are going to challenge results to see if they stand up.

I personally take a great deal of pride in knowing information on TFP is accurate, when someone posts something that looks suspicious I will take them to task over it. If they can't back up their claims then I am going to call them out on that. The last thing I want is someone buying something because someone came to the site to sing its praises and weren't called out on their erroneous claims.

 

[john1158]

Hi JD, I appreciate your keeping a high bar for the integrity of the posts. I certainly am only doing this to share experience and have no desire to mislead anyone. I have ordered a Taylor FAS/DPD testing kit to be able to perform more accurate measurements and I will post results when I have them. I ordered online so it will be a few days. I have been doing quite a bit of reading to be able to provide a response to your question about power efficiency. I did come across the thread Economics of Salt Water Generators by Chem Geek here on TFP you might be interested in it and it does point out considerable variances in power supply ratings and generation capacity. Anyway, thank you for the feedback and I will report the new test data when I have it.

 

[Donldson]

Thank you, I have read it before. While it does show how different SWG's can be more efficient than others it is comparing large multi-hundred dollar units, not relatively cheaply made solar units. Much of the efficiency difference comes from more costly manufacturing techniques that cannot come in to play at the price point the XT is sold at. If anything the design of the XT would preclude it from producing even the same amount of chlorine as a similarly powered unit. "Built down to a price", to use a term by one of my favorite YouTube personalities.

EDIT: We have also completely ignored that this thing is putting copper in to your pool. Copper staining is one of the ugliest stains and most difficult to remove so it is universally discouraged here. So no matter what the price or chlorine output I would discourage anybody from using this in their pool.

I congratulate you on the test kit, it will prove to be a valuable tool in your pool care. I look forward to your numbers.

 

[john1158]

Hi JD
Have measured with FAS DPD 3 times
the 2 daytime readings were stable at FC 9.5 and we had received another .5 inch of rain overnight in between readings.
I did an overnight chlorine loss test and the level decreased overnight from 9.5 to 9.0 ppm (no rain on that overnight) I took a reading at 7pm after sun went down and at 7am sun had been up for 30 min but pool was shaded from house
CC .5 and 0 on daytime readings .5 on overnight loss morning reading
CYA 25 (using test strips)
PH 7.5


to your comment on the copper. The copper is supplied by a round copper spool about 1" in diameter and 1.5" tall. It is removable and not connected to anything electrically so I may be able to take it out in the future.

 

[john1158]

Update - found math error, reposting later

 

[Pool_Medic]

To be filed in the “If it’s sounds to good to be true....” canister.

 

[john1158]

I have had the Solar Chlor XT in my pool/spa for 3 months. Based on long term experience I believed it was generating a small amount of chlorine but I did not have any quantitative evidence. To get a quanity estimate I performed 1 1 day experiment. I isolated my SPA from my pool and stopped all circulation at 8am The Pool Water and the SPA water conditions were the same at this time. ph 7.6, Salt 3600 temp 78 and chlorine level of 8.0 ppm The Solar Chlor was in the SPA with volume of 450 gal at 6pm I sampled the pool and SPA chlorine levels. The pool had decreased to 6.0 ppm and the Spa had increased to 8.4 ppm all test were done with Taylor FAS drop test at .2 ppm per drop sensitivity. If I assume the Spa would have declined similarly to the pool the Solar Chlor accounted for 2.4 ppm of chlorine on 450 gal or about .17 ounces of chlorine. It was a bright day of full sun so I don't think it is capable of much more. With one test the results are not exact but they should not vary in orders of magnatude and my conclusion is that while the Solar Chlor XT does generate chlorine i do not think it would ever pay for itself in chlorine avoidance or electricity reduction.

 

[Donldson]

Thank you for that well done experiment, your measurements and accounting for variables was well thought out and I appreciate all of that. So I guess if someone wanted to use it in a stand-alone hot tub it might work, but since those are usually covered and kept at temperature we are back to square 1.

I said above that 60 watts of power from the panel would be generous and it looks like I was right, as (assuming it has a similar cell design as the Saltron, which is unlikely but I will give it the benefit) 60 watts should have produced 0.275 ounces. If the variables are correct then the solar cell produced about 37 watts of power, enough to run a 60-watt equivalent LED bulb for 4 hours.