Soon to be pool owner - is there any such thing as automated BBB?

[cjl2103]

Hello and many thanks to this forum for educating me as I prepare to build my first pool. I am planning on having a 21k gallon pool built and I am stuck on the sanitization system.

My main concern is maintenance. I don’t mind tending to a pool weekly, but I think that daily maintenance (especially when I get home late from work) would suck the joy out of owning a pool. My family also travels during the summer and I would like a system that is a bit more forgiving if left alone for a week or so at a time. From what I have read on this forum, the best solution would be a SWG. I’ve swam in salt water pools and like them very much. Also, I have problems controlling paper wasps and I have heard that they are not too fond of saline water.

BUT…

I am on septic and have no storm sewer so I am concerned about dumping salt water into the woods. I do not want to kill my surrounding vegetation, especially around my sand filter that would require frequent backwashing.

I also had my heart set on stone coping (no waterfall) and a limestone patio. I know that salt water can be damaging to those materials, even with occasional re-sealing. It can get hot and dry in central Texas, where I live, and the idea of efflorescence and having to rinse even more salt into the woods is not appealing.

So, I’m wondering if there is a way of automating the BBB approach to the point where it will give me the benefits of a SWG without its drawbacks. For example, perhaps a Stenner pump loaded with a month’s worth of chlorine at a time might be just as effective as the consistent dosing of chlorine offered by a SWG. I want to stay away from puck systems, since I do not want to exchange my pool water any more than necessary and I understand that CYA buildup can be a problem with those systems. I’ve also read that borates and fake wasp’s nests can deter wasps from using my pool more than I do.

Has anyone else achieved a fair degree of BBB automation without creating other problems? If so, I would really appreciate your advice. I know that there is no maintenance-free option, but if I could just do more maintenance less frequently rather than less maintenance more frequently, that would be helpful. And besides, on the weekends, I can put my kids to work!

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome to the forum.

I don’t mind tending to a pool weekly, but I think that daily maintenance (especially when I get home late from work) would suck the joy out of owning a pool. My family also travels during the summer and I would like a system that is a bit more forgiving if left alone for a week or so at a time.

I think you should carefully think through what you are getting into. Attending to a pool weekly is not very practical. There are a hundred reasons why and others will list some but I am concerned you are asking for something unrealistic.

 

[kimkats]

Here is an link to an old thread about how to have a automatic FC BUT like Dave said you will still need to do some daily testing on things like PH and FC especially on a newly built pool.

Options for automatically adding liquid chlorine?

Kim

 

[440dodge440]

I have a Stenner pump that auto feeds chlorine. I can let mine go for at least a week with no problems, as long as the solar cover is on. It takes some fine tuning regarding how much chlorine to add each day, but once that's in place, I have been able to just roll back the solar cover, vacuum a bit, and swim.

 

[Geebot]

From your brief description I can't even guess if an automatic cover is an option but that would go a long way toward minimizing your maintenance.

 

[cjl2103]

Thank you for your prompt replies! I appreciate that pools are a lot of work and that they will require additional attention when new, after storms, etc. I am just wondering if there are any tricks to consolidating maintenance chores under normal conditions.

From your brief description I can't even guess if an automatic cover is an option but that would go a long way toward minimizing your maintenance.

A pool cover is a must and I don't think I would mind messing with it whenever I use the pool (mostly on weekends). I am planning an irregularly-shaped pool on a hillside, so the uphill 1/3 will be below grade and the downhill 2/3 will be above grade. The pool will widen as it goes downhill, so I can't figure out how to position a pool cover reel where I would need it (on the above-grade side of the pool). I was thinking of a solar cover with some shelf brackets on the back perimeter of the pool. That way, we could get in the pool, manually roll up the solar cover and "toss" it over the back edge where it would rest on the brackets just out of view. We would reverse the process when finished using the pool. I can't think of another solution except for the Solar Roller SolarRoller.com | The Solar Roller rolls Solar Covers in Sections Like Pieces of a Puzzle , which doesn't look any easier to handle. Any other ideas or products would be greatly appreciated.

440dodge440, your setup sounds ideal to me. Thanks!

duraleigh, do you think my concerns about SWG with no sewer/storm drain are valid?

 

[Isaac-1]

I don't think you should have much issue with backwashing a sand filter and discharging salt water in Austin most of the time. In typical years you get more than enough rainfall to flush out any salt build up that the vegetation sees from the pool. This assumes typical grass and other non-salt sensitive vegetation.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Given your location I'll say this - every pool is a salt water pool. The end results of most of the chemical additions made to a pool is for chlorine to be converted to chloride. So pool water will always build up an equilibrium amount of salt depending on the particulars of your climate. For hot and dry climates where water evaporation is high and rainfall is limited, pools will easily build up 1000-2000ppm salt over time. An SWG pool has a salt concentration typically at 3600ppm, so your pool will almost be 2/3 of the way there anyway. Given discharge volumes from backwashing are, at most, a few hundred gallons of water (and that's being generous), the vegetation in your area will likely not even notice the difference. Chlorine is really not a problem if it discharges onto ground soil away from grasses as the chlorine will react very quickly with organics in the soil and quickly become neutralized. Studies using very high levels of chlorine (well above what's found in pools) have shown that most of the chlorine is dissipated within the first few inches of soil and so damage from chlorine is limited. Grasses tend to absorb water through their blades as well as roots, so discharging high chlorine concentration waters directly onto the lawn is probably not the best idea.

I would suggest you rethink the freeform shape to your pool if you want to cover it and consider the very expensive option of an auto cover. The Solar-Roller and all other forms of pool cover manipulation devices are, in general, a hassle. Pool covers, even with rectangular shaped pools, are unwieldy and difficult to take on and off on a daily basis. Also, given the high heat in your area, you will not be able to keep it covered all the time as a standard translucent bubble cover will cause the pool water to heat up to hot tub level temperatures. High temperature water is not refreshing to swim in and, once the water gets up into the low 90's, chemical usage will noticeable increase. So, if you want a covered pool, you'll need to seriously consider an opaque auto-cover which will necessitate a rectangular shaped pool.

Also, in your area, many pool builders will push you away from SWG and chlorine automation and towards "low chlorine" and "alternative sanitizer" options. They will heavily market and push UV/Ozone and mineral systems. None of those systems are needed in a residential outdoor pool and they are, in short, a waste of money. Traditional chlorine sanitation is all you really need and SWGs are perfect at supplying that (Stenner chlorine pumps work too). The push against salt is, as you allude to, hardscape damage and sub-contractors not wanting to warranty work on SWG pools. What is completely misunderstood is that, if a pool owner is proactive and keeps their pool water balanced, then most of the salt-damage issues go away. Salt damage occurs when pool owners neglect proper maintenance and allow their pool water to get far out of balance (corrosive or scaling conditions). Unfortunately too many SWG pool owners were sold on the idea of a "maintenance free pool" and either neglected proper maintenance or left it up to pool service companies which are, in many ways, worse at pool maintenance. So the higher levels of damage prompted the industry to look for other methods of sanitation for the majority of pool owners that "want" a pool but don't want to be responsible for pool maintenance.

Good luck with your build.

 

[jblizzle]

I would vote for a SWG and if you are concerned with backwashing then get a cartridge filter, although your climate will have the CH climbing fairly quickly, so the backwashing would slow that down. Lots of tradeoffs

 

[needsajet]

I noticed you said that pools are a lot of work, so I'll mention that my experience is that the amount of maintenance is about the same as lawn and garden covering the same area.

Light work includes testing twice a week which takes me 5 or 10 minutes, and sometimes another test or two per week when the pool is being used a lot. I put the suction cleaner in once or twice a week as well, and that takes 5 or 10 minutes. I brush the pool every week and that takes 25 minutes, and if I want to work up a sweat I can, but brushing is the only thing other than swimming that I might call exercise. I add acid once a week and that takes about 5 minutes.

The solar cover is new to me, but I'm planning to only use it in spring when the grandkids (and me) are keen to get back to swimming. We lost interest in autumn as the days got colder. Putting the cover on or off takes 5 minutes as well. If I'm busy I just leave it on or leave it off. One day doesn't make much difference.

When you're first learning the testing and dosing, you will probably do twice as much because it's all interesting and you want to do it perfectly, but then it settles down. SWG's are reliable and not harmful as previously mentioned. Stenner is fine as well, but remember you'll be buying liquid chlorine and bringing it home, where the SWG is manufacturing your chlorine on site. For SWG, you'll buy liquid acid and salt, but the total weight to lug around for me has been around half the weight that liquid chlorine would have been. From what I've read here, if you're dosing with liquid from a jug, there's no cost up front for SWG or Stenner, and you can also get to know your demand and pour a pre-determined amount in with testing every 2 or 3 days.

I backwash around once a month and that's 200 gallons. Half the time, I do it to get rid of rainwater.

I stroll around most days and just check the pool, including the equipment. This is important to help catch anything that's going sideways. But if I'm away I don't worry about it, because the equipment is pretty reliable and fail safe.

It's fair to say that there will be some annual tasks in addition depending on how you run your pool. I reckon a quarter or half day, 3 or 4 times a year.

Haha, just went out to check the pool and it looked like the RAAF had carpet-bombed it with something left over from Ghostbusters. Took me about 20 mins to hose off the cover and clean the deck. Luckily the pool needs a little water making that one cost-effective! Dear Turtle Doves, Thanks for the sanitizer testing service.

Have fun with your build and then enjoying your pool!