LorraineQ

We currently have an AquaCal heat pump that heats a 15000 gal pool and 750 gal hot tub (both inground). It is getting old and now erratically heats the hot tub sometimes way outside acceptable tempurature range. I have heard of electric instant water heater options, but would like some feedback from the forum. I want somethng that just heats the spa. I don't trust some of the commercial pool people around here to give me a straight answer.

I mis-spoke when I said the pucks last 3-5 weeks. What I meant was the 50lb pail lasts 3-5 weeks.

I read this forum nearly everyday. I learn more and more everyday. I run a 38 room guesthouse in Key West Florida and have the following to keep up with: 15100 gal inground, diamond brite (resurfaced July 2007), DE filter 9800 gal inground, diamond brite (needs resurfacing - next summer) DE filter 750 gal inground spa Cartridge filter 250 gal Leisure Bay vinyl spa Cartridge filter I fired my pool service this summer. They were costing me a lot of money and one of their service people was adjusting chemicals way out of whack. I finally decided to take it all over. I guess I was a little nervous about doing that at first since, I am pretty busy and do not always have a grasp on how to solve pool problems (CPO qualified in 2005). Over the last year, the Health Dept has given me passing inspections (except for minor equipment/marking stuff). They like to ding us on having too high CYA (>100). We can swap stories about incompetent health inspectors another day. All the experts in this forum tout the advantages of using liquid chlorine over stabilized trichlor. I have been thinking about changing to LC, but I am a little afraid of the cost. Times are tough down here right now. The big reason I want to switch is because of the build up of CYA that comes from using the Trichlor. On the other hand, will I go through much more LC (in our sunny climate) and have to purchase more and more stabilizer? You see my dilemma. I buy my chemicals from In The Swim. Mostly because it is convenient and slightly cheaper than my local pool supply stores (Key West is very expensive). A 50 lb pail of 3" Trichlor pucks costs $119 (from In the Swim). Cost of similar products here in town are at least 3-4 times more. I called and got a quote on Liquid chlorine (10%) and 55 gal drum would cost $182 (with a $55 deposit on the container, I guess). After all that, I'll get to my question: Based on the difference in price, I am not sure how much LC I would go through compared to the Trichlor. The pucks usually last 3-5 weeks and I maintain FC levels at about 4-10 ppm. I was going through a whole lot more until I stopped listening to the pool service and doing it myself. I don't have a lot of storage, and I don't have a lot of time to run to the store to pick up gallons of Chlorine. So I need to buy in bulk. All your comments are much appreciated!

Thank you, Richard. That is extremely helpful and enlightening. I wish they would have these discussions in CPO classes! Lorraine

I have searched this wonderful forum, but I am not quite seeing the answer I need. I have 2 commercial pools (at a guesthouse). The problem pool: 9800 gal in ground D.E. filter (with a couple of torn grids) Almost all chemicals come from In The Swim pH and TA are usually within tolerance I test with Taylor test kit and strips. This pool is in pretty good sunlight all day. Florida Keys (nice and hot). Summer heavy rains off and on. CYA is almost always high >100 The problem: Early in the summer I started seeing yellow algae and began using an algae product (Super Algacide) from "In the Swim". I did it every week and there was no affect on the algae. FC was kept between 1-6 ppm. The pool service I was using at the time said I should shock, which I did, but it was never enough. So one day he said, use 4lbs of shock and that should do it. It did, for a while. It also raised the FC to over 20 ppm. I closed the pool until it came back to 10. But the algae came back a few days later. (BTW, the shock is 73% Calcium Hypochlorite) I would routinely put 4-5 3" tabs of stabilized chlorine, chlorine shock once a week and non-chlorine shock once a week. I would brush the walls nearly every day to keep the algae down, but it would never go away. Then a strange thing happened. TC and FC got to about 15 ppm and the CYA was around 100 - 150. I stopped putting tabs in the chlorinator, and the chlorine never changes! I know this is probably due to the high CYA, but I had not put chlorine in the chlorinator for well over 2 weeks. Then we had several days of heavy rain, so much so the pool was close to over-flowing. I thought, Finally, the chlorine and Cya will come down a bit. Levels did not even budge. I am still not adding any chlorine. I know the only solution to the high CYA is to do a partial drain, but my big question is why does the chlorine never change over time? It is so confusing. All help gratefully appreciated. Thanks, Lorraine