Hayward Chlorine Feeder

[AnnaE]

I have a 24 feet round above ground pool, 54" depth, with a Hayward 1.5 HP EC45 DE filter. When I purchased this pool in July 2004, it came with the Zodiac Nature II filter/cartridge and Hayward Chlorine Feeder. On another post, I've learned that I don't need the Nature 2 filter/cartridge. I will just keep the filter and not replace the cartridge. However, what should I do with the Hayward Chlorine Feeder? For the past two years, I've dropped in the tablets and left it alone. Should I continue to do this?

Thanks!

[waste]

I have a 24 feet round above ground pool, 54" depth, with a Hayward 1.5 HP EC45 DE filter. When I purchased this pool in July 2005, it came with the Zodiac Nature II filter/cartridge and Hayward Chlorine Feeder. On another post, I've learned that I don't need the Nature 2 filter/cartridge. I will just keep the filter and not replace the cartridge. However, what should I do with the Hayward Chlorine Feeder? For the past two years, I've dropped in the tablets and left it alone. Should I continue to do this?

Thanks!

Anna, you don't need to dump the chlorinator. However, you probably want to look into using bleach - there are a lot of posts here on how and why to do so. The problem with the auto feeder is that the pucks used in them drive your cya (cyanuric acid) way up (lessening the killing power of the chlorine in your pool) and tend to drive the pH down. At the top of this thread is a post by Watermom giving Ben's 'best guess' as to what adjustments need to be made on the chlorine, for a given cya level.
Your best bet is to get yourself a decent test kit that will tell you chlorine(both total and free), pH, total alkalinity and cya (some will give you calcium hardness but, since you don't have a concrete pool you don't need to worry about it). There is an excellent kit available via this site, but if you can't afford it, Walmart has a decent one for under $20. You need to learn how to use it, and get accurate results, and then post the numbers here, where many people will help you adjust your chemistry. ( You could also take a sample of your water to a pool store that offers free testing and post those numbers here - DON'T buy any chemicals from them nor follow their advice! - post the #s here and let us help you save yourself money and headaches.)

Give Poolsolutions (the sister site to this one) a good read and you'll understand what I've suggested a little better. - Happy pooling!

[CarlD]

AnnaE:
It all depends on your water. If your CYA is low and your pH is high, the pucks in your chlorinator will help both. But if your CYA is too high and your pH is low, the pucks will exacerbate the situation.

Automatic chlorinators that use pucks are not "set and forget" systems. You have to test your water weekly for CYA...and you should be testing your pH daily, or at least 3 times a week.

[AnnaE]

CarlD & Waste:

Thanks for your suggestions. I ordered Ben's kit. Hopefully, it will be here before we open the pool. I live in Chicago and we probably won't open the pool until mid-May. I'll test the water and post it on the site. Hopefully, you guys can give me some help once I've posted the results.

We didn't have any problems with our pool the first year because we had it in late July and closed it in September. However, last year, we had algae problems, especially around the stair area -- probably due to the sand weighing down the stairs.

Another question: in Ben's "Purchasing Pool Chemicals at the Grocery Store", Ben says that I shouldn't use this method if I have Nature2. I do have Nature 2, but I am not going to use the cartridge this year. Will I be okay?

Thanks again!

Anna

[DavidD]

AnnaE,
As stated in the "other" post, I too used to have Natures 2 and now use the grocery store method. As long as the cartridge is removed, you should be fine. However, I believe you had planned just to leave the old one in and not replace it. I believe you will still be OK but maybe Ben can chime in and give us his opinion. I will let you know that I started with the bleach method before removing the Natures 2 and everything was fine.

[AnnaE]

That's good to hear. I'm trying to get caught up on all the posts by reading as much as I can, but I got a little bit confused when I read the section from Ben.

I'm going to try the grocery store method and test with Ben's kit once I get it. It all sounds so simple when I read it on the post. Thanks.