SWCG's and chlorinating in cold...

[steveinaz]

For those with SWCG's, when the water gets so cold that the cell doesn't produce chlorine, is it ok to just use bleach? Is this what you do? I'm in Southern Arizona and we never close our pool...

[mkamp1515]

Hey Steve,

I live outside Ft. Worth, TX and we never close our pool either. When my chlorinator stops producing chlorine (water temp less than 50 degrees) and I have little to no chlorine, I just throw in a little shock. I have done that one time this off-season. With that said, I think it is only for piece of mind. Nothing is going to grow in the water at that water temp. You really do not need much chlorine when the temp is so low. I have never used the bleach method. I just make sure I have a few packets of shock on hand primarily for emergencies such as if my chlorinator stops working, etc. Our water has been hovering in the upper 30s to low 50s for 2 months now. Your water temp is probably higher most of the time.

Hope that helps a little.

Mike

[steveinaz]

Yes, that helps, thank you!

[nater]

Hey Steve,

I'm in the same situation. I keep the solar cover on during the winter to help keep pine straw and leaves out, but don't "close" the pool. I think I'll use a mesh cover next year. Anyway, about a month ago I had an algae bloom at water temps around 47 degrees. Too cold for the SWC, but warm enough for a problem.

I'd suggest tracking your FC and adding Cl as needed. If you're not worried about CYA buildup, you can use shock or pucks. I use bleach as needed. Fortunately its much easier to kill algae this time of year, and my problem cleared right up.

If you have a lot of leaves, twigs, dead bugs, etc accumulating on the bottom your FC demand will be higher. I typically vacuum the garbage out every 6-8 weeks to ensure the Cl will be available for killing algae as the water warms up.

[waterbear]

I don't even worry about it. I have found that if I bump up the salt level a bit it tricks my non temp compensated Goldline unit into producing chlorine better at low temps. If it gets cold enough to shut everything down not much is going to be growing and we aren't using the pool. I live in N. Fl so we always have sun but it has not grown any algae in the two winters the SWG has been on line.
Bottom line is if it does develop any problems it's nothing a few jugs of bleach would't take care of!

[steveinaz]

Thanks all, appreciate the assist!