New Pool Owner Needs Advice about Ozone

[jmarcum]

Thanks guys. I assume you mean this thread in the China Shop http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...tor-experience I've just read the original post so far. Funny thing, Blue Haven installed mine as well. From just the first post the guy seems to be happy with the performance of the ozinator just not the headaches of keeping it operating. I'll read all the replies later tonight. I originally asked for salt water but the BH guy insisted I'd be happier with ozone. So much so that he said if, within 12 months, I decide I want to swap over to salt water he will remove the ozinator and give me a full credit for it towards the salt water system. The more I read though, the less I like about salt water. If I remove the ozinator I'll just go straight old school.

[PoolDoc]

Not sure why you don't like salt.

There are problems with corrosion . . . on older pools, or if you have a non-salt compatible heater. And, there are problems with stone / deck / exposed finish damage . . . but this seems to be limited to pools in arid areas, where rain rarely rinses off decks and stone work.

However, there are only 2 real advantages to salt:

1. Some people like the 'feel' of salty water ('smoother', 'slick'). Also, increased salinity, approaching that of eye 'saline solution', reduces eye irritation. BUT you can add salt even without having a working SWCG.

2. SWCG is probably the most reliable constant feed chlorination system available to residential pool owners: it will run untended for weeks, if you don't have a leak / refill cycle going on to reduce salt levels. No other chlorine feed system -- bleach, trichlor pucks, cal hypo tabs (commercial only) approaches this level of reliability.

However, this is most valuable to pool owners who, by necessity or preference, ignore their pool for days at a time. For this reason, I usually RECOMMEND salt system (a) for pool owners who travel or are often away from their pool, (b) for pool owners who have a hard time with consistency, or (c) pools at vacation homes or other locations not continuously occupied.

For pretty much everyone else, an SWCG system is just a convenience.

[jmarcum]

I bought a cheap little 3 in 1 test kit. Not sure if this will help anything but I saw it and it was only a few bucks so I figured I'd try it until I can get the one you guys recommended. The CL and BR test show very low levels. I shocked the pool with 1.5 pounds of shock and added 2 chlorine tabs on Sunday. The pH test looks perfect. Everything I read about Ozone pools says to expect low chlorine levels though. Do you guy think this is a problem? I can post a link to a photo of the test results but the CL color tube is almost clear immediately as well as after 5 min. The pool looks great though, the water could not be clearer.