Stabiliser

[ PoolDoc note: OP is in FRANCE; do not give US specific advice! ]

I would like to know what people's practice is with stabiliser. I have a salt water pool. The instruction book for the chlorinator (Aqualux Dynamic) says to use stabiliser to stop/reduce salt loss. However, over the ten years we have had the pool, our pool technicians (it's a holiday house, so we have to have people look after the pool for us) have never to my knowledge put any in, nor have I.

Speaking yesterday to our new pool maintenance company I asked the question and they said:

1 If you have too much stabiliser you have to reduce it by changing all/some of the water
2 If you have too little, you simply lose salt, which is easy to replace
3 When the technicians think it's necessary to have stabiliser, they put chlorine blocks in the skimmers - they have stabiliser in them.
4 So on balance, it's simpler not to add stabiliser. When the technicians next come they'll check anyway (at the moment we are here, so I am looking after the pool myself).

I am happy with that advice, but am interested to know what do other people do?

I have never heard of low stabilizer causing salt loss. Low stabilizer levels cause chlorine loss to the sun and cause your SWCG to work harder, thus reducing cell life. SWCG manuals typically list a specific stabilizer level for that particular unit. (Your technician is right that the only way to reduce CYA is to change some of the water.)

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

David;

Most SWCG's sold in the USA do not have the capacity to fully chlorinate an outdoor pool unless stabilizer levels are greater than 20ppm. I have no info about "Aqualux Dynamic" products (a French brand, I assume?), but I would guess your case is similar.

So, you want to have enough CYA present, without too much. I'd recommend finding the manual for your unit and following the recommendations there.

Otherwise, much of what I would tell you to do is dependent on your use of pool test kits not available in Europe. If you want to look around, some comprehensive Palintest and Lovibond pool test systems are available. They are better than test strips, though much more expensive, and not as accurate, as the Taylor K2006 we recommend.