UV or Ozone

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Hello again. Am still researching options for sanitizing systems. I know that the folks on this forum advocate chlorine systems, but does anyone have suggestions for a non-chlorine system? I came across this ECOsmarte Planet-Friendly USA - Benefits and am wondering if there is much truth to the company's claim that it is "the best non-salt, non-chemical water technology on the planet."

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OK, found this EcoSmarte but my question stands: does anyone have suggestions for a non-chlorine system that works?
 
There is Baquacil, which uses biguanide as a sanitizer and hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizer. It is far more expensive, less effective, and it is rare to get more than a couple seasons of use before significant problems arise. We have an entire sub-forum dedicated to people switching from it to chlorine.

Bromine is also an option but cannot be stabilized against sunlight as chlorine can so it is not well suited for outdoor pool use.

All regular members of TFP run their pools with chlorine to great success and comfort. Is there a specific reason you are so interested in avoiding chlorine?
 
Many of us here strongly advocate chlorine use because of the, been there done that....

When it comes down to it there really are limited options, and a lot of snake oil products out there

Chlorine is the easiest, and most effective, Baqua is a distant second (I say this as one that used Baquaslime) then there is the European Ozone system which is nothing like the Ozone generators sold in the US, involves much larger amounts of Ozone and large holding treatment tanks and lots of careful management. Of course they also tend to have a lot more indoor mostly public pools in Europe given the climate, ..... and of course there is Bromine which is chemically very similar to Chlorine with none of the up sides (both are halogens, but Bromine does not outgas like Chlorine at room temperatures, and Bromine has some nastier byproducts).

Ike

p.s. just to be complete there is also MPS with Silver ion which is used in hot tubs as a sanitizer in Australia but it is not effective enough at pool temperatures and really needs the warmer water of a hot tub to react fast enough for sanitation
 
There is no non-halogen system except Baquacil. Chlorine, bromine & Baquacil are the only EPA-approved pool sanitizers on the market. Even the metal ion systems (Cu & Cu + Ag) MUST state that a small residual of chlorine is required in order to label their products as pool sanitizers. If they do not, then they are in violation of federal laws and can be fined.

You can research metal ion systems if you want. Cu+Ag ions in conjunction with small amounts of chlorine (I'd add UV, borates, regular phosphorous removal and Polyquat to mix) will get you a "low chlorine" pool BUT as you can see, you'll be spending a lot more money on fancy chemicals to get to that low chlorine level. You'll also need to regularly test for metals in order to ensure they are at the right level. As well, if you're going to use metal ions, then you'd be better off constructing a vinyl liner pool as plaster surfaces more easily develop metal scale and staining.

And, should your water develop an algae problem, you will find correcting it to be very difficult because metal ions and shock levels of chlorine don't mix well. You will definitely scale out metal at that point.

Matt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006
 
Isaac-1 said:
Matt left out that that metal ion systems that use copper also turns blond hair such an interesting shade of green. (same is true of copper based algaecide)
Click to expand...

Well, seeing as how all the hair has retreated from my scalp, I can't be blamed for forgetting those little details ;)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006
 
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