Ecosmarte?

[rustin]

Does anyone here have experience with ecosmarte systems. I have read the website and many testimonies and Im considering this in my above ground pool and maybe even the whole house.

I am fearful of the effects of chlorine and have a serious intolerance to it myself. Just to smell it in my tap water from our community well is enough to give me headaches and at times after showering I can smell it in my skin for hours. Needless to say I do not get to enjoy the pool for the same reasons.

I know how important chlorine is for sanitation, but if there is a better way I would like to at least try it. This seems to be a better way. Would love to hear all input.

Thanks!

[aylad]

I'll have to do some research on the ecosmarte systems. But I do want to point out that what you are smelling is actually chloramine, not chlorine. To oversimplify: When you add chlorine to a pool, some of that chlorine attacks organic stuff in your pool and kills it off. This combination is a chloramine--and that's what you're smelling. When you are showering and then smell it on your skin, what you are actually smelling is the chlorine working on the normal bacteria that we all have on our skin.

When you have a properly chlorinated pool, you should not be able to smell chlorine in it.

Janet

[CarlD]

aylad is not pulling your leg. I can have VERY high chlorine levels and smell nothing--until I stick a hand or foot in. Then the chlorine metabolizes what ever is on my skin converting Free Chlorine to Combined Chloramines--and releasing that classic Chlorine odor.

[waterbear]

Ecosmarte in a word is ... snakeoil!
It is your basic copper/silver ionizer system that throws in a lot of pseudoscience with such things as 'nascent oxygen' and 'free radicals' and 'hydroxyl ions' on their previous websites. Interestingly enough, their current website just says "under construction" under the 'science summary" for pools.

As far as their claim of eliminating toxic chemicals...last time I checked copper and silver were both toxic, which is why they kill pathogens, (and also many invertebrates, which is why copper runoff into oceans, ponds,and streams can damage the environment.

While copper and/or silver can kill pathogens the kill times are too slow to properly sanitize water in a pool. This requires a fast acting, residual sanitizer. According to the EPA there are only three of these (count 'em, three). They are Chlorine, Bromine, and Biguanide (Baquacil, SoftSwim, Revacil). IF you have a TRUE chemical sensitivity to halogens (as determined by medical tests) then biguanide based systems will be your only recourse but be aware that they are very expensive, don't work that well, and you will eventually (usually in 2-5 years) succumb to pink slime or white water mold, both of which are cured by...you guessed it...chlorine!

Oh yeah, almost forgot....copper is what makes hair green and also stains pool surfaces!

BTW, what you are smelling in your tap is not chlorine but chloramines. Chlorine is not used to sanitize drinking water, a mixture of chlorine and ammonia is. Chloramines have a strong chlorine smell and do not occur to any great extent in a properly cared for outdoor pool. (But are often noticed in a commercial pool towards the end of the day when there is a heavy bather load and very often in indoor pools.) When they do we get rid of them by shocking the pool. A properly maintained pool does not smell like "chlorine" (actually the smell is chloramine.)

[CarlD]

A properly maintained pool does not smell like "chlorine" (actually the smell is chloramine.)

Hey! Didn't Jan and I just say that?

But thanks for helping identify YET ANOTHER erosion system that claims to magically clean your water, while pumping silver and copper into the water. I'd rather have the silver in my pocket, thank you very much!

[chem geek]

I started a thread a while ago on Ecosmarte here disputing much of their "science" on their website. There's also a post near the end of that thread linking to some user experiences here. If you search on forums, you'll find mixed experiences, but quite a few bad ones mostly due to the metal ions getting out of control causing staining or other problems including cloudiness if chlorine isn't used.

[rustin]

Wow!
Thanks for the info. It seemed too good to be true and I guess thats probably the case.

I tried to search in the forum for ecosmarte and nothing came back,
maybe I did it wrong. Anyways I really appreciate the info and will stick with BBB and routine cleaning I guess.Just wish I could enjoy it more with the kids but the smell is too much.

I had read about the metabolic response causing the smell in other threads in the past and thought if I kept it up better maybe the smell would not be quite so bad. Not really sure why it is so strong to me but most things are. We have to use organic cleaning solutions in the house for the same reasons and the girls have to be careful with the perfume.

Really cant spend more routinely for the other methods and chlorine has worked well in the past so I guess we'll keep it as is.

Thanks to all!

[CarlD]

try giving the pool a good shocking--raising chlorine up to shock levels and keeping it there for 24 hours. Then let it come down and the smell should be gone--because you will have metabolized all the chloramines.

[waterbear]

Hey! Didn't Jan and I just say that?

Yes, I was just repeating it for empahsis!

But thanks for helping identify YET ANOTHER erosion system that claims to magically clean your water, while pumping silver and copper into the water. I'd rather have the silver in my pocket, thank you very much!

It's not an erosion system but a full blown ionizer that is extremely ovepriced! (no surprise here. It seems the higher the price the more pseodoscience!)
They even want you to replace your sand or zeolite with some very expensive ground glass that they conveniently sell at a different website these days. They used to sell it off the ecosmarte website!

[CarlD]

Nothing like a magic bullet!