waterbear
-
Posts
4,036 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
87
Posts posted by waterbear
-
-
Automatic dosing controllers are often more work than testing and manually dosing since they need constant attention to keep them running properly. IMHO, they really don't belong on residential spas and pools! They are of value in commercial operations that have a full time staff that maintains them. The one exception I would make to this would be a salt water chlorine generator or a bromine generator. These devices do simplify maintaining proper sanitizer levels but do not relieve you from having to test and adjust other water chemistry parameters and because of the way they work might require more frequent pH adjustments. However, it is a small tradeoff for the convenience factor of always having properly sanitized water!
-
I have a 18x36 inground pool with a vinyl liner. The pool holds 25,000 gallons. I have been trying to get the pool usable for close to a month now and am still not having any luck. After many trips to the pool store I finally bought a test kit myself. The pool started out dark black and smelly, I added 17 gallons of bleach which helped some. Since then I have added LOTS of powder shock, algecide, ph increaser and clarifier.
Stop adding unnecessary chems and let's get a handle on the situation. Is your test kit chlorine test an FAS-SPS chlorine test (titration test), a DPD test (turns red and uses a color comparator), or OTO(turns yellow and uses a color comparator)? I assume you can also test for pH, TA, CYA and calcium (not total) hardness. What is the make of your test kit?
The pool is now a bright blue color but not clear at all. After another pool store trip they had me add (this was yesterday) 2 pounds of granule shock, 4 pounds of soda ash and clear and perfect 6 way clarifier. These are my current readings.
Lets look at your test results and see what needs to be done and in what order. The good news is your TA is fine at 110 and you have a vinyl pool so calcium is not an issue unless it is very high. Might be worth testing it and making sure it is not above 400-500 ppm. Anything lower should be fine.
FC - 1
TC - 3
PH - 6.8
Alkalinity - 110
CYA - 70
First, you need to get your pH up. 6.8 is the lowest limit on most test kits and it is possible that yours is actually lower than that! That low a pH can damage your vinyl liner. I would use borax to raise the pH (the stuff in the green box in the laundry aisle of the grocery store) since your TA is fine at 110 ppm and you really don't want to raise that. pH increaser will raise both pH and total alkalinity. If you are worried about adding borax to your pool, don't be! Pool stores sell it for a lot of money under such names as Enhance, Optimizer, and Supreme as an algaestat and water enhancer! You will need about 10 lbs to raise the pH to 7.6, assuming your pH is really at 6.8 and not lower. I would put in 1 whole box (4.75 pounds poured right into the skimmer), wait about an hour and test your pH to see how much it rose. It should be around 7.3. If it is add another box and then retest in about an hour. If your pH is not at least 7.4 by now then add no more than half a box at a time to get it there and then stop for now. you can make minor adjustments to your pH after we take care of some of the other problems.
The next thing I would do is a partial drain and refill to lower your CYA much closer to 30 ppm. With a vinyl pool you don't want to drain much more than maybe a foot below the skimmer at most so you are talking about several drain and refill cycles until the CYA tests in range. The trichlor tablets in your chlorinator add CYA with every tablet and that will overstabilize your pool. Your chlorine will not work as well and you will need to run it at a much higher level and shock to a higher level to get the same effect. Your other alternative is to stop using tabs and start manually dosing with liquid chlorine or bleach (same chemical, different strength. You will need about twice the amount of 6% ultra bleach to get the same ppm FC as 12.5% liquid chlorine. If you continue to use tabs your CYA will just continue to rise. At a 70 ppm CYA level you need to maintain your FC between 5-10 ppm for normal chlorination and shock to 20 ppm! If you try to do this with trichlor tabs your CYA will shoot through the roof very fast! If you get your CYA in the 30-50 ppm range you need to maintain a 3-5 ppm FC and shock to 15 ppm, much more do-able!
Next, once the CYA is under control you need to shock your pool to the proper level (SEE ABOVE) and MAINTAIN THAT CHLORINE LEVEL UNTIL YOUR CC GOES TO 0 AND YOUR FC READING IS HOLDING OVERNIGHT! That means testing and adding UNSTABILIZED chlorine (liquid, bleach , or cal hypo if your calcium is not too hgh) at least morning and night, 3 or 4 times a day will make it go much faster. If you use 12.5% liquid chlorine then every pint and a half will raise your FC about 1 ppm (actually closer to 26 oz but pint and a half is close enough for government work!)
If you are using 6% ultra bleach then you will need a bit over 1 1/2 quarts to do the same (1 1/2 quarts and 5 oz)
If you are using 5.25% regular strength bleach you will need 1 3/4 quarts and 5 oz to raise your pool 1 ppm FC. Test your FC and add enough to raise it the rest of the way to 15 ppm (assuming you have gotten your CYA between 30-50 ppm) and test it at least morning and night and adding enough liquid chlorine or bleach to maintain that level until your FC holds overnight and the pool starts to clear. If there is any stuff that you can vacuum out do so to waste before you start this! Get as much of the organic stuff out of the pool first and the process will go much faster.
Once your FC is holding and there is no CC then you are done. Just let your FC drop and maintain it between 3-5 ppm and let your filter clear the pool It might take a week to do so but it will.
Needless to say I need help! The pool currently has particles floating through the water that I can actually see if I get down close to the waterline but they look very fine. I also have a Hayward chlorinator that is currently set on 5 and is using about 5 tabs every 5 days. I have backwashed it several times over the last month and used the brush on it but I have not vacuumed it any.
Once you are done and the FC is in the 3-5 ppm range recheck your ph and adjust to about 7.6 and then check your TA. TA should still be in range but if it's too low baking soda will raise it.( Baking soda is EXACTLY what the pool store sells you as total alkalinity increaser!)
Hope this helps.
-
This is a known problem with the Hayward CL200 series. The control valves tend to either be all the way off or all the way on, no matter where you set it. Sometimes cleaning it is succesful but not always.
-
Hello...I am just new to the forum and very grateful I found the site. My issues are this; I have no idea how to maintain my hot tub!!! It was my husbands prior. It had been in dis-repair and after a few broken nail, a heating coil, blower, etc. I filled it with water and now what? I have been using the strips to test the water, however it gets a very intense odor that burns you lungs after some time. I would greatly appreciate it if some one would not mind giving me some guidance on what to do; step by step maintenance. I have asked several spa dealers in the area and to no avail they try and sell me hundreds of dollars worth of unnecessary products. Also, I would very much so like some information on the alternatives for chemical uses such as the baking soda method. I am not sure if it is of great importance or not as to the climate you live in or rather the tub is outdoors or not. I live in Colorado and the tub sits in a Gazebo. When I lived in Arizona and had a pool, it seemed easier to use a testing kit for the water.
Your help is very greatly appreciated!!! A question, are you using chlorine, bromine, or biguanide as a sanitizer? These are the only three EPA approved sanitizers.
Get a good test kit for testing your water, that is the first step. Strips just won't do the job! If you are using chlorine you want to get a Taylor K-2006. If you are using bromine you want a Taylor K-2106.
There are no alternatives to chemicals. Baking soda is used to increase the total alkalinity of your water (one of the water parameters that needs to be monitored and adjusted from time to time). Baking soda is just the commom name for sodium bicarbonate, which is sold by pool and spa supply stores and dealers as "total alkalinity increaser" for a high price. It's just baking soday. Perhaps you are referring to what is sometimes callled the BBB method (bleach, borax and baking soda). Bleach is sodium hypochlorite. Same thing as liquid chlorine but about half the strength. It is one of the possible choices to use as a chlorine source if you are using chlorine. If you are using bromine it is an excellent choice for a shock. Borax is used to increase pH without increasing total alkalinity (The chemical usually sold for increasing pH is sodium carbonate (aka washing soda, sal soda, or soda ash) It will increase pH but it also increases total alkalinity, which is not always what is needed.
If you are going to use chlorine you need a chlorine source such as bleach, liquid chlorine, or dichlor. The first two are unstabilized chlorine and that actually has advanteages in hot tubs but you migh need to add a very small amount of stabilizer (cyanuric acid) to the water if the tub is exposed to sunlight. Dichlor is stabilized chlorine but it causes stabilizer levels to keep rising and that causes the chlorine to become a less effective santizer when the stabilizer level gets too high. This could allow the bacteria that causes "hot tub itch" to grow in your water. However, if there is no stabilizer in the water at all it's hard to keep a free chlorine level, especially if the tub is exposed to sunlight.
If you are using bromine you need sodium bromide, bromine tablets in a floater (optional), and an oxidizer to convert the sodium bromide into active bromine sanitizer. The most commom oxidizers are bleach, liquid chlorine, dichlor, and MPS (postasium monopersulfate or non chlorine shock). My preference is for bleach.
In either case you will need baking soda to raise the total alkalinity when it is too low, dry acid (sodium bisulfate which is usually called pH decreaser or pH down or pH minus or a similar name) to lower the pH when it is too high, Borax (from the laundry aisle of the grocery store) to raise pH when it is too low. This is also sold in pool and spa supply stores as a "water enhancers and agae preventative" when used in a 30-50 ppm concentration for a lot of money! I would recommend staying away from the pH increasers that are usually sold. They are sodium carbonate (see above). They will raise your pH AND your total alkalinity together and often your pH is the only thing that needs to be adjusted!
Finally, you might need calcium chloride to increase the hardness of your water if your calcium level is below about 125 ppm for acryic spas, 150 ppm for fiberglass, or 200 ppm for plaster.
I know it sounds confusing but it really isn't. The first step is to decide if you are going to use chlorine or bromine. Chlorine is a bit simpler but requires daily checks. Bromine is a bit less maintenance once you get it adjusted but bromine is a known sensitizer that some people are allergic to and it has a decided chemical smell.
I do not recommend biguanide (SoftSoak, Revacil, BaquaSpa, etc.). It is very expensive and has more disadvantages than advantages IMHO. It will attack certain plastics that are used in spas and it has a tendancy to develop algae, white water mold, and pink slime. It will also require more frequent filter cleanings and replacement! It's main advantage is for people who have a true chemical sensitivity to both bromine and chlorine.
These are the only three EPA aproved sanitizers. All other products (ozone, ionizers and other copper/silver systems, UV, enzymes, etc. are supplimentary sanitizers that must be used in conjuction with (usually) chlorine for properly sanitized water. They are NOT stand alone systems.
Hope this is helpful. If you read through the forum you will find a lot of information on the proper use of chlorine, bromine and biguanide.
-
Hello! We will be getting a 24ft above ground pool. I decided that I want to go with a salt water generator since it's minimal upkeep and healthier. The place where we will be getting our pool only sells the Mineral Springs. I've discovered that we do NOT have to use the bags of Beginnings and Renewal. Now my questions:
Is it ok to use the water softener salt that is sold at places like Lowes Home Improvement?
Yes, as long as it is at least 99.5% pure and does not contain any additives for removing iron or cleaning the softener. I like the solar salt because it is faster dissolving than the pellets.
What size bags are they and how much do they generally run?
Usually 40 and 80 lb. In my area a 40 lb bag is about $5 and an 80 lb bag about $8
How much salt will we be adding to a round pool that holds 13,000 gallons of water?
You will need about 340-350 lbs of salt initally to get to a 3200ppm salt level and you will need about 7 1/4 lbs of cyanuric acid to reach the proper stabilizer level in your water, assuming you are starting from 0 for both of them.
How often will we probably be adding the salt (pool will be in direct sunlight away from any trees)?
You only need to add salt to make up for any lost from splashout, filter backwashing, or leaks. Ditto for the CYA. You will need to add acid on a regular basis to keep the pH in line since SWGs tend to cause the pH to rise. Not really that big a deal.
Should we purchase a different SWG brand instead of the Mineral Springs one?
The Mineral Springs is a rebranded Goldline (Hayward) AquaRite unit. It is one of the better ones out there. Goldline also makes a unit specifically for above ground pools call the AquaTrol. IMHO, the best unit on the market is the Pool Pilot Digital with the Goldline units running a close second.
Check out www.goldlinecontrols.com and www.autopilot.com for more info.
Good units are also manufactured by several other companies such a Zodiac, Resilience, WaterMaid, Pentair, and others.
I'm also concerned that we might be getting ripped off on the price of the SWG. We were quoted $1700 for the system and startup salt.
You can get the unit itself or a comparable one for between $600-$1000, the salt and CYA should be about $60 or so. If they are installing it you have to figure in labor.
Thanks in advance!
-
If you are draining and refilling your spa every 3-4 months as is commonly recommeded it is unlikely that you have too much bromide in your water. I would look to other causes.
-
Spa repair guy,
I understand exactly what you are talking about. We have customers that come in needing replacement parts or equipment, or have major water chemisty problems and we take a lot of time to help find solutions. We even tell them that we will match any price they find locally on equipment. Many of them then just leave and when they come in again we find that they have ordered equipment on the net and expect us to help them install it or that they have gone to Walmart to buy the chems we told them were needed (or just ignore what we say and come back in and wonder why they still have water problems). Luckily, there are the minority of our customers. It seems that some people just don't care about service because in today's society it has become the exception rather than the rule.
-
Thanks, I was clear on everything except for the sodium bromide. I thought I had read on another post that if you had shocked with chlorine and then waited for it to get down to about 3ppm then you could just add the bromine tablets with the floater.
I'll get the sodium bromide and get it started.
You need the sodium bromide to put the 'bromide bank' in the water so the chlorine or MPS can convert it into active bromine sanitizer, hypobromous acid. It would literally take weeks for enough of the tablets to dissolve to do this if you didn't add the sodium bromide first.
-
What would be the easiest way to convert over to Bromine after I have had my spa set up with the chlorine method? Right now my water tests are perfect and have been for about a month. I have the bromine tablets from leisure time and a floater so do I just put it in the water without using sodium bromide or do I need to add it even though there is chlorine(I use bleach) present? Right now my chlorine level has just hit about 0ppm after I added 3oz to it last night after we used the spa.
To convert to bromine you just need to add the sodium bromide to the water to create the bromine reserve, shock with bleach (yes, bleach! use 3/4 cups of ultra or 1 cup of regular for each 250 gallons water), let your bromine level drop to between 4-6 ppm and put in the floater with the tabs and ajust it to maintain the bromine level. Shock weekly with the chlorine bleach and keep the cover off and the circulation going until the bromine level drops back down. Drain and refill every 3-4 months. You can use MPS to shock instead of bleach but you will find that it tends to lower your pH and TA faster (the bromine tabs are acidic and they also lower the pH and TA).
-
Hi I have read your posts with interest.
Here is a Digimeter tester I am thinking of ordering in the UK - any comments would be appreciated.
http://www.poolstore.co.uk/ishop/691/shopscr414.html
The is the PoolCheck Exact meter. It is not EPA compliant in the US. LaMotte has similar handheld meters as does Palintest. Bottom line is you get what you pay for. Personally I would stick with a drop based test kit.
ALSO
anyone heard of this plastic basket metsals dispenser 'POOL WIZARD'- any good for residential chlorine pools?
IMHO, ionizers of all types are USELESS in all pools! For proper sanitation you stil need a 2 ppm residual free chlorine. Silver has very slow kill times and copper is merely an algaecide. Both metals can cause staining of both pools and people.
Dave
-
Hi waterbear, I left the cover off for around 15min with the jets on when shocking. I did not test after adding the shock, but like you said it should have been high enough to reach the breakpoint. The spa is under a roof and does not get any sunlight. I guess I will try leaving the cover off longer. Should the pumps be on during this shock?
Yes, have your circulation going when you shock and level the cover off until the chlorine level drops to normal. Shock at night and try to leave the cover off for most of the next day and see if you killed the Combined Chlorine.
-
pH up is sodium carbonate, it will raise both pH and TA! That is the problem. First get your TA in line by adding acid then raise your pH without affecting the TA by aerating the water. This will outgas carbon dixoide (carbonic acid) and your pH will rise. For more info read this.
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=191
TA will move with pH. That is also part of the problem. You can also raise your pH with minimal impact on TA by using borax (the 20 mule team stuff in the green box at the grocery store). Use twice the amount that you would use for pH up. If you are worried about adding borax to your pool, don't be! Several companies sell it as a 'water enhancer' for a lot of money under such names as Supreme, Enhance, and Optimizer!
-
If you still have combined chlorine after shocking then you haven't reached 'breakpoint'. Are you keeping the cover off when you shock and is the spa exposed to sunlight? Both of those are important to break down the combined chlorine. How high are you raising the free chlorine when you shock. Try raising it to 20 or 25 ppm with the cover off in the evening and leave it uncovered all night and day. Check your chlorine the next evening. 2.5 cups of bleach should raise your free chlorine about 25 ppm. MPS will not break down combined chlorine as effectively as chlorine can and will test as combined chlorine in your water unless you get the special reagent from Taylor to remove the interferance.
-
Thanks for the detailed feedback so far.
I have found that one of the concerns in our area (Texas Gulf Coast, south of Houston) is the source of rock and/or flagstone used around pools. Evidently, the salt water levels when a salt water generator is used have been shown to erode the rock. This problem is not so evident in other areas of the country where the decorative rock is not as porous.
To create a "soft water" feel without the use of a SWG, one manufacturer is using "Borax" as an additive. Then they use a ozone generator and the automatic chlorine dispenser. I was told that this combination works so effectively that there is minimal need to ever shock the water.
Borates in a 30-50 ppm concentration will reduce santizer demand (you still need to maintain the same residual) by acting as an algaestat. They also help to stabilze pH. It is not necesary to use the expensive pool store products to to this. You can use borax from the grocery store. They are both sodium tetraborate. The only differenece between the pentahydrate form you buy from the pool store and the decahydrate from sold in the grocery store is the number of water molecues attached so you would need slightly more of the decahydrate to achieve the same 30-50 ppm level. If it were my pool I would investigate other decking material instead of natural stone and go with the SWG AND add the borates!
It sounds like this debate is currently quite polarizing to the pool manufacturing community.
David
Hope this is helpful.
-
Ozone distroys chlorine and chlorine destroys ozone. It is important to maintain a minumun of 2 ppm free chlorine in the water at all times. You chlorine usage with ozone might actually be higher than without to maintain this minumum level. Also, ozone leads to the increased formation of chlorates in water sanitized with chlorine (and to bromate formation in bromine sanitized water) Chlorates and bromates are considered to be harmful disinfection byproducts (bromates are a suspected carcinogen). Residual santizer is necesary in pool water and ozone had no residual (nor should it in a properly operating system since it is toxic.) As far as a tablet feeder---you would be using trichlor which is stabilized chlorine. What type of filter are you considering? Trichlor is not a good option with a cartridge filter, especially in any areas of the country with an extended swim season because your cyuauric acid levels will rise too high quickly and you will have to drain and refill to lower them. Even with a sand or DE filter this does occur but not as quickly. A salt water generator is the way I would go. The salt level does not have to be ajusted very often. Most of the units on the market run at about 3000-3500 ppm which is barely perceptible but it does increase the comfort of the water considerably since it is closer to the isoelectric point of the human body.Biggest drawback to a SWG is increased acid usage but that can be minimized by 'tweaking' your water balance.
There have been some instances of corrosion reported with SWGs when cheaper materials are used in the pool construction. If you pool is constucted to withstand a seaside environment then there should be no problems. Certain decking and coping materials such as limestone do need to be properly sealed. There is actually more risk of plaster damage from high levels of cyanuric acid in the water than from salt. With a SWG the cyanuric acid is added to the proper level and does not continue to rise as it will with trichlor.
SWGs maintain an even chlorine level in the pool with minimal user intervention and the majority of pools with SWGs rarely develop any combined chloramines and therefore do not need to be shocked. You do not need to keep adding salt to produce chlorine unless water is lost from the pool by filter backwashing, spashout, or a leak. Ditto for the cyanuric acid.
IMHO, there is no advantage to putting an ozone unit on a residential pool and it may actually complicate your pool maintenance. If you are looking at one of the units that says it can be used with lower free chlorine levels than without that is rubbish. The minimum residual chlorine of 2 ppm is NECESSARY to properly sanitize the water.
-
What about Baqua??? I haven't seen any posts related to a peroxide system.
Baqua is a birguanide based system. The peroxide is NOT your sanitizer, it is merely the oxidizer or 'shock'. The biguanide (or PHMB) is your santizer. Peroxide is NOT a sanitizer for pools and spas. It would have to be dosed at levels that would cause discomfort or even harm to the bathers to use it as a sanitizer. For most people the disadvantages of biguanide far outweight any advantages, which is why it is not that popular.
-
If you do a standard 3 step bromine system (sodium bromide added to the water on each fill, bromine tablets in floater to maintain 4.6 ppm bromine, shock weekly) then you would use 1 1/4 cups of ultra bleach (6%) or 1 1/3 cups regular bleach (5.25%) to shock your 450 gallon spa (assuming you actually have 450 gallons of water in it!) Wait until your bromine levels drop below 10 ppm after shocking before going into the spa.
Also, each ounce by weight of baking soda will raise your spa's TA by about 10 ppm.
Use dry acid to lower pH and borax (the stuff in the green box in the laundry aisle of the grocery) to raise pH without impacting TA. Stay away from pH increaser (sodium carbonate, soda ash-- same things as washing soda or sal soda from the laundry aisle of the grocery) since it increases pH and TA at the same time. If you maintain your spa properly you should never have very low pH and very low TA together. Be aware that bromine tablets and MPS shock are acidic and will cause your pH to lower and use up your TA over time so you will need to replenish it. Bleach has minimal impact on the pH of the spa water. It is slighly alkaline but it has an acidic reaction when it oxidized the bromide so it is essentially pH neutral on it's impact to your water.
IF your TA is around 100 ppm then about 1/2 ounce by weight of dry acid will lower your pH by about .2 and
about 2/3 ounce by weight of borax will raise it by about .2 based on 450 gallons of water in the spa. (This is NOT exact and will be affected by where your TA is when you add these chemicals! The best method is to add about half the amount you think you need, wait about 20 minutes with the fitration circulating, and test. If it's not where it needs to be add half of the amount left, wait, and test again. If it's still not there add the rest, wait, and test again. If the pH is still not where it needs to be add it in the amount of the last dose and repeat that amount, waiting, and testing until the pH is correct. You will soon learn the proper amounts you need for your spa and won't have to go through all this!
One final thing. Ditch the strips. They are fine for a daily water check before getting in the spa to make sure your bromine level is ok but they are useless for water balancing. Get a GOOD test kit. I would recommend the Taylor K-2106 for bromine. It costs about $60 which really isn't a lot of money when you consider the thousands you spent on your spa! It will test your bromine using the FAS-DPD test, which is the most accurate and easiest to read and will also test pH with acid and base demand (so you know how much dry acid to add to lower pH...to figure out how much borax to add to raise pH you need about twice the amount of what the test says you need for soda ash), total alkalinity test, and calcium hardness test. These are the water parameters you should be testing on a weekly basis BEFORE you shock the spa. (High sanitizer levels can bleach out the TA test and give false high readings on the pH test. Test before you shock and make sure your bromine level is below 10ppm before testing pH or TA!)
-
Brilliance is a bromine bases system that is totally chlorine free. (Most bromine tablets do contain chlorine). Brilliance uses only MPS (postassium monopersulfate aka non chlorine shock) to oxidize the bromide in your water into hypobromous acid (the active bromine sanitizer).
IMHO, there is no advantage to it but it's a great marketing gimmick!
I do see some disadvantages to using MPS as an oxidizer for bromine. It is acidic and will lower pH and TA and it adds sulfates to your water which might require more freqent draining and refilling. It is also much more expensive than chlorine.
Just my 2 cents.
-
I just joined the forum and it is really cool, I have learned that I can use baking soda to raise my alkalinity and bleach to shock/maintain my tub. But can you tell me at how much baking soda to use and can I use bleach in a bromine enviroment.
Thanks a lot for any help.
How many gallons is your spa? How are you testing the ALK (not with strips I hope). What sanitizer are you using (I assume bromine but are you using a 2-step or 3 step system and are you using tabs and/ or MPS (non chlorine shock) since they all will have an impact on where you should run your ALK. If you provide that info I can give you an idea of how much baking soda you might need.
As far as using bleach to shock a bromine spa, not only CAN you use it, IMHO it is the best oxidizer to use in a bromine spa for several reasons (no dissolve time, minimal impact on pH, does not add sulfates to the water, inexpensive and readily available). As to how much you need, once again more info about your spa would be helpful.
-
average age of the goldline cells we sell replacements for is about 5 years.(we can get replacements for most of the cells on the market where I work.) My cell is over 3 years old now and still going strong. The zodiac cells have lasted about 3 years. Cell life depends on several factors. First and formost is how big is the pool and at what percentage will the cell have to run to produce enough chlorine. Second, is how well the pool water is maintained. I have seen just too many pools with SWGs that have the pH constanly at 8.0 or higher, CYA down at 30 ppm, and salt levels kept very low. These are the things that will cause premature cell failure! They just create a condition in which the cell has to overwork to genterate enough chlorine and that leads to cell failure quickly.I'm talking about cells, not the power supplies. General impression i've got from studying american and canadian market - Goldline's cells don't last long.
-
Pentair's Intellichlors and Goldline's Aquarites don't last very long.
I'd go for either AutoChlor (SM range) or Zodiac's LM2
Most salt cells will last for about 5 years IF they are properly cared for and IF you don't let your pH keep going up! Otherwise you will get scaling in the cell which can shorten it's life. The Goldine units are much better than the Zodaic, IMHO, and I sell Zodaic and NOT Goldline. The Pool Pilot digital is probably the best unit on the market right now, in my opinion. I have a Goldline PS-8 on my pool.
-
If the iron had precipitated out of the water as stain then you would test negative for metal. Try holding a vitamin c tablet on the stain. If it disappears in about 15-30 seconds where the tablet is you can easily remove the stain with ascorbic acid powder. Post your results with the vitamin c tablet and if it removed the stain I will post the procedure for you.
-
Theres a digital tester coming out soon. its called the Color Q
Nothing new. It't just a colorimeter for reading the colors of the test. LaMotte (and Palintest and Hach) have had colorimeters for pool water testing for a long time now. The expensive ones work well. Teh inexpensive ones I have seen have been dreadful! I will wait and see how this one is and how much it costs. With test equipment like this it really is a case of "You get what you pay for". I am not very impressed with LaMotte's Tracer and Pocket tester line. They do not keep calibaration very long. The Lamotte Waterlab and Waterlink testers are excellent but very expensive. I will wait and see but I am not holding my breath! I use the Waterlink at work for water testing, btw, but use Taylor kits at home (can't afford the waterlink!) and I have compared my test results on my own pool ans spa. The waterlink and the Taylor give me practially identical results!
-
IMHO, it is a NECESSARY CHEMICAL in ANY pool or hot tub. Personally I love the stuff. I even put it into my bathtub!
ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Try this link for a discussion of DHMO that happened on another pool forum for some insight!
Electronic Chemica Dispensers?
in Hot Tub Water Chemistry
Posted
If you are using chlorine the K-2005 (DPD test for chlorine, uses a color comparator and can bleach out at high sanitizer levels) is ok but the K-2006 (FAS-DPD titration test for chlorine) is much better. Easier to read and much more accurate! (all other tests in the two kits are identical) For Bromine I would get the K-2106 FAS-DPD kit. (same tests as in the chlorine kit except it does not include the CYA test which is not needed with bromine and ,of course, tests bromine levels instead of chlorine)