using twice as much chlorine this summer

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geh said:
Sounds like you have the experts guiding you on the CYA level and SLAM. I can tell you this about liquid chlorine and prices. I was using liquid chlorine and earlier this year the manufacture date was 8 months old. When a fresh lot came in that was 2 months old, I got exactly double the return from the fresher chlorine. This was based on daily measurements and precise testing with Taylor DPD tests. So the old chlorine had degraded by 50%. It didn't help that the warehouse of my pool store was very hot.

Likewise, the price of liquid chlorine went from $3.00/gallon to $7.00/gallon over the last 1.5 years, and I was told to expect another price increase. Between the chlorine that had degraded 50% and the current price, I was in effect paying $14.00/gallon. Since then, I bought a CircuPool SWG, and never looked back. Economically, now is the time to make that switch and generate your own chlorine. My cost was $1,500 for the SWG, about $40 for the salt, and $150 for a plumber to install (you can do it yourself but mine was a difficult fit). I expect to recoup that money in the first year or two. It is a futile process to keep adding liquid chlorine daily, and with the SWG you have much more precise and consistent chlorine levels, and a lot less anxiety about maintaining your water. Not to mention the saltwater feels great. I wish I had done this three years ago.
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Thanks for these thoughts will definitely start the research - any particular reason(s) you selected the CircuPool SWG and did you install DIY?
 
questa macchina said:
any particular reason(s) you selected the CircuPool SWG and did you install DIY?
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Many of us were attracted to the CircuPool products as they offer a 7-year prorated warranty for even DIY installs which many of the other brands do not. They also seem to be slightly lower in cost, but don't cost alone throw you off. Do some comparisons. Discount Salt Pools has a nice SWG comparison chart you can look at. Remember if you do get an SWG, get on rated for 2X the size of your pool. Not a bad DIY project if you have some basic electrical and PVC pipe gluing skills. You can see mine in my signature.
 
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questa macchina said:
Thanks for these thoughts will definitely start the research - any particular reason(s) you selected the CircuPool SWG and did you install DIY?
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As Texas Splash said, there seem to be many satisfied users on this forum, and the warranty far exceeds other warranties, even for DIY. I intended to install mine, but I had PVC unions that allowed no room for error without replumbing everything, so I had a plumber carefully ream one of the unions so we could re-use it. I mounted and patched the control panel to my pump timer myself, so I guess it was a partial DIY. The plumber charged me $150 to drop the SWG in, but if your plumbing is accessible and has a nice long run of PVC pipe I am sure you could do it yourself. Texas Splash guided me and I got mine for $1500 on Amazon, best price around. Your pool is about my size so you would want the CircuPool RJ45+, or one that is rated for around 40k gallons, nothing smaller. A nice feature of the CircuPool is that the cell uses clear plastic so you can see the cell generating the chlorine. This will be handy for troubleshooting or when the cell is nearing its end life, because you can see if it is generating chlorine or not. Mine is running at 25% and maintaining 6ppm chlorine. If I need to boost chlorine level for any reason, it is large enough of a cell to do so easily.

EDIT: looks like the price for the RJ45+ went up $230 since I bought mine a couple months ago. You might be able to get away with the RJ30+, but I think for the extra $230 you are getting a more than ample cell. The less it has to run, the longer the cell will last. I think the typical life for a cell is around 3 years, so you would probably get an extra year or two of life with the larger unit.
 
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3 days post SLAM
I think I know what's going on, but want to check the experts
Sunday 7-31-22 as noted earlier FC = 20, CC = 0, and TC = 2 - pH 8.5
  • real clear, sparkling and could see the head on the coin of the realm
  • got into the pool to retrieve said coin and...
  • what a great time to brush the tile in a detailed in your face kind of fashion and in so doing knocked/scraped/ (flaking) off some the ever present scale (another challenge for another time)
  • set timer back to it's regular 9+ hours
Monday 8-1-22 - 1 1/2" of rain overnight HOORAY! FC = 13.5. CC= 0, TC = 13.5 pH 8.5
  • added no CL
  • visually a little cloudy not "Sparkling"
  • emptied skimmer basket (storm blew in some leaf litter) canister only about 1/8th full let it ride
  • about 1/2 way (pressure wise) to where I usually back wash; i figured that the scale may need to be filtered out so I back-washed
Tuesday 8-2-22 FC= 12, CC= 1, TC= 13 pH 7.5
  • added no CL
  • cloudiness dissipating, not as good as 2 days ago, but definitely better than yesterday
  • vacuumed leaf litter and emptied leaf canister (1/2 way full), skimmer basket and final filter at pump

What I think is going on:
  • scraped off scale and new rain water caused the cloudiness?
  • FC is "floating down" toward the recommended 6-8 (with a CYA of 50)
Questions
  • though I have not tested CYA since before SLAM - have been calling it 50 based on commendation during SLAM - do I need to test CYA??
  • having been dumping copious amounts of Cl these past couple of months - I feel negligent in not using any for the past 3 days - just wait to "the numbers" tell me to, right?
Thanks a bunch
 
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If rain washes dirt in to the pool, that can cause cloudiness. But a pool should not get cloudy just from rain.
I would let the FC get below 10 ppm so you can test pH and adjust that.
 
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