Baquacil to Chlorine...How to make chlorination more automated.
When I open my pool this season, I will be switching over to Chlorine from Baquacil. I have seen several different kinds of feeders for the chlorine, and have heard of many different ways of chlorinating your pool. (Liquid bleach, pucks, grains).
What do people prefer out there? With Baqua, I would check my water levels weekly, and added chemical weekly to biweekly depending on weather and usage. I have read people with chlorinated pools add chlorine every couple of days which is why I assume they have automatic feeders to slowly dose the pool. I don't really know much about these.
If some of you can share a little bit about how you add chemicals, and how automated you can make it (no SWCG please) I would love to hear them.
Re: Baquacil to Chlorine...How to make chlorination more automated.
Feeder options are limited:
1. Tab feeder. The *only* one we recommend is the Rainbow 320 and it should not be installed inside any enclosure. The Hayward tab feeders are exceedingly hard to regulate, and the inline model restricts flow drastically, unless you have a very small pool. Both Hayward and Rainbow off line feeders are tricky to install.Pentair R171096 Rainbow 320 Automatic Chlorine In-Line Pool Feeder
If you have a heater, you need a check valve, to protect it from the feeder chlorine:Valterra 200-C15 PVC Swing/Spring Combination Check Valve, Clear, 1-1/2" Slip
Valterra 200-C20 PVC Swing/Spring Combination Check Valve, Clear, 2" Slip
2. Tab floater. Easy to use, but not appropriate where small children can fiddle with them. Can get trapped at ladder, etc and bleach liners.Kem-Tek Pool Floating Tablet Dispenser
3. Liquidator bleach feeder. There's been quite a bit of discussion about these, over the years. Hasa has now bought the unit from the inventor. I've never used one, but I believe they work fairly well. Here's Hasa's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1UMoZHwWjk
PSTPools Retail offer
4. Pump based bleach feed. Systems based on Blue-White, LMI, Stenner or other chemical feed pumps are what I used for years on large commercial pools. They *are* what you need on very large pools, but you have to have large bleach storage tanks . . . and the pump and tube set are fairly high maintenance. Not really recommended unless you enjoy spending time fiddling with your pool gear.
5. SWCG. Salt water chlorine generators are essentially a feed system, based on manufacturing chlorine from salt, on site.
There is another option, that more closely approximates the 1x per week approach allowed with Baquacil: the HiC2 method, which involves using high stabilizer (> 100 ppm) levels with high chlorine levels. There are 2 downsides of this approach. First, if you allow algae to get started in your pool, it can take EXTREME levels of chlorine to clean it up. Second, if you allow the very high CYA levels to biodegrade, you can end up with a huge mess if the bacteria converts the CYA to ammonia instead of nitrogen gas.
If you don't want an SWCG, I'd recommend either the floater or the feeder. Later (after your CYA builds up) you can elect to get a Liquidator or use the HiC2 method. This season, we're testing careful phosphate remover use as a method of avoiding the problems with the HiC2 approach, so you can check back on this.
