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Advice For Indoor Pool Re Salt, Orp Monitoring Etc


petrous

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We are planning to put in an indoor pool ( 10m by3m) and spa and have had conflicting advice from pool installers about sanitation. We are leaning towards a fully tiled concrete pool.

Most pools here in Australia use salt chlorinators but one installer said salt should never be used in an indoor pool and advised a liquid chlorine system (with automation and orp and pH monitoring). Others have said that there is no problem with salt. Does anyone have any opinions or experience in either setup - particularly in regards indoor pools. . Is there any role for ionisers/UV etc. We basically want a minimum maintenance pool (and don't mind paying a bit more for it)

We have also had different advice about whether to get in infloor cleaning system is worth it. A robot is much cheaper and others have said an infloor system is overkill for an indoor pool

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UV is not an EPA approved residual sanitizer in the US and MUST be used with a primary residual sanitizer in the water if you want safe water, The ONLY sanitation that takes place is in the reaction chamber and that allow for uncontrolled bacterial growth in the majority of the pool water..The only real advantage to UV is in an indoor pool because it can be useful in controlling persistent chloramines.

While UV filtration is of some usefulness in RO drinking water systems (where the clean water sits in a holding tank) it is worthless for pools and spa, which are open systems that have a constant introduction from bacteria introduced by bathers.

Also, the OP is in Australia and you are located in Onterio. Geography is against you uneless you also have Australian offices.for your pool company. :rolleyes:

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UV has concerns in that it may contribute to increased disinfection by products when free chlorine is present as some studies have reported. I don't remember though, if this is for both low and medium pressure systems or just medium pressure. I seem to remember both though.

Low pressure only handles bacteria and such while medium pressure systems also can reduce combined chlorine.

For an enclosed residential pool, I agree with waterbear that it really isn't needed. The bather load isn't there.

Scott

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The UV is a supplemental system. It is the chlorine in the water that is the primary disinfection system. The only use for UV in a residential pool is to help control chloramines in an indoor pool since there is no exposure to sunlight. Usually low bather-load pools don't need it, but we've had a small number or reports of some indoor residential pool owners who found it helpful. It is not, however, put in for disinfection, but for chloramine control. [EDIT] For commercial/public pools, it may also be used as a disinfectant to inactivate the protozoan oocyst Cryptosporidium parvum, though it takes multiple turnovers so isn't fast (but it's a lot faster than chlorine since Crypto is very chlorine-resistant). [END-EDIT]

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for all the above replies. I have some some more advice re sanitation -all of it conflicting!

I am getting three quotes from pool builders

The first - probably from the most experienced and well known of the builders is for a combination of a salt chlorinator and an ozone system.

The second uses a salt chlorinator - this builder mentions using magnesium salt instead (not magnapool - juts using a different magnesium salt with a standard salt chlorinator (puresilk))

The third says you shouldn't use salt in an indoor setting and advises a simple (automated) chlorine system (rolachem).

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The ozone has a large profit margin. While ozone is good for commercial outdoor needs, indoors, it can, if not properly sized and the room not properly ventilated, can create serious breathing issues, especially for youths and young adults.

For a well designed residential indoor pool, just a salt cell or the roll-a-chem liquid feeder is usually fine. There is no need for anything to augment it.

The use of magnesium chloride may be harder to test for (not sure if strips work) and is significantly more expensive (and more profit). Plain sodium chloride is suggested. Use a cartridge filter and there isn't any pool water from backwashing needed. Properly sized, I doubt it would need cleaning more than once or twice a year. Being indoors will keep a very large percentage of the dirt a pool normally accumulates out. Your outdoor environment can't be effected by salt water from the pool unless you drain the pool.

Scott

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Talked to a guy who used to work for magnapool but has left the company. He says magnapool would be best for an indoor pool mainly because there is less sodium chloride and that it should be less damaging to the internal environment (apart from feeling "softer" and the claimed health benefits. I did ask about the effects of potassiam chloride and magnesium chloride but he said that given the concentrations of each will be less the effects should be less.

One interesting point he raised was about the salt content of liquid chlorine. He says in an indoor pool when you don't have dilution with rain water and less backwashing if you use liquid chlorine you will be left with a slow accumulation of salt that after a few years will leave you with equivalent of a salt pool.

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An indoor commercial pool like a Y's competition pool or a residential outdoor 16x32, it wouldn't matter much for many. Yes, salt can and does accumulate, but particularly with indoor facilities. Then would be an ideal time to install a salt cell.The important thing is that the salt contains chlorine. Whether its magnesium, potassium, or sodium, all work. The coating on the cell may benefit by being different as I am not sure but I don't think it's lye that is produced as a standard by product when potassium or magnesium salts are used. Therefore, the ruthinium oxide coating on the titanium blades may be useless.

Damages what internals? Cheaply made metal parts? If there are micro-currents in the water, the pool isn't well bonded or chemically unkempt (unlikely) and doesn't have a sacrificial anode or two.

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I suggest you read Magnapool Greenwashing Scam. On this poolspaforum there is this thread and this thread. I also wrote extensively about Magnapool at Pool Genius Network but one needs to be a member to read it.

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