How to sanitize

[CarlD]

Can't help but ask if you were doing it again would you have installed the SWCG up front? I probably will because of the maintenance and I'm out of town frequently. thanks for all the information and you are right about the dealer trying to sell nature 2 and Macquarie he pushed both as a better and best compared to salt.

Can you find another dealer? Anyone who tells you N2 and/or Baq is better than an SWCG is either a liar or an ignoramus. IMHO. You can actually use Nature2 with an SWCG but I have no idea why anyone would.

[Clayhole]

I am talking to someone else since the pushing of the nature 2 and also the actual pool builder told me the company made a fortune on baq when it first came along. I got the impression building pools is Less a priority, they had rather sell misc. product's. I have received a quote from another company which is actually cheaper and not trying to sell me any extras.

[CarlD]

I am talking to someone else since the pushing of the nature 2 and also the actual pool builder told me the company made a fortune on baq when it first came along. I got the impression building pools is Less a priority, they had rather sell misc. product's. I have received a quote from another company which is actually cheaper and not trying to sell me any extras.

Yeah, that's their whole object. They are not just selling you an expensive in-ground pool chock full of equipment, they see you as an on-going revenue stream to keep their profit line up. Did they also talk to you about a "phosphate reducing plan" where every month or so they come in and add (expensive) phosphate reducer to "prevent algae"? Bet they did! We have better, cheaper, easier and more reliable ways to inhibit algae growth.

With care you can find bleach or LC (liquid chlorine) inexpensively. I have a pool store I go to about 30 miles away that sell 5 gallon carboys ( containers) of 12.5% LC. Their stuff turns over so fast that it usually tests out at 14%. That means it's the equivalent of 10 gallons of 7% bleach....and it costs me $19, or $1.90/gallon. Since 8.25% bleach is sold in 121 ounce jugs (not a full gallon), I figure that as long as the bleach costs more than $2.11/jug (121oz of 8.25%), the LC at $19/5 gallons is cheaper. If the bleach goes to $2.11 or less, then the bleach is cheaper. However, I haven't seen bleach that cheap in my area.

If you've skipped that last paragraph (who could blame you?) what it means is that it IS possible to get LC from a (rare) pool store at a lower price than bleach. But you have to do some tricky calculation to come up with that. I also like the carboys because they are "deposit bottles" so no bleach bottle disposal, and easier to store. You DO need to invest in a $4 spigot but that lasts for years and years.

Moving on: You asked if I'd do it differently with an SWCG if I had to do it again.

No.

I could not justify the cost of an SWCG despite the "Gee Whiz" factor based on the numbers. It just didn't add up. I didn't install one with the pool and, even knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have.
But after the 2012 season our situation changed where we'd be away more often and for longer times. Therefore it made perfect sense to install it before the 2013 season. So I did. I wouldn't change that decision either.

But my situation is not your situation, and you'll have to make that decision. However, I would STRONGLY recommend that you learn and study our BBB method and get comfortable using it as if you don't have an SWCG. It's a whole lot easier for a BBB'er to add an SWCG when they already know the BBB method. All the SWCG is, then, is a more convenient way to add chlorine--and everything else is the same. Except, of course, you need to maintain your salt level correctly, but the SWCG tells you what it is and even can estimate how much to add (you program in the volume of your pool).

[kelemvor]

I am talking to someone else since the pushing of the nature 2 and also the actual pool builder told me the company made a fortune on baq when it first came along. I got the impression building pools is Less a priority, they had rather sell misc. product's. I have received a quote from another company which is actually cheaper and not trying to sell me any extras.

Until pooldoc validates your account you'll have to log out to do this, but... go over to the baquacil section of the forum. That stuff is a nightmare. Read about other people's experience before you make the same mistake they did.

Here's a writeup with general information about the stuff: http://www.poolsolutions.com/gd/phmb...sanitizer.html

Here's a link where you can read about others who have used it: http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/forumdi...%28PHMB%29-etc