Changing pool over to salt chlorination?

Grimspoon

Grimspoon

Executive Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2006
Messages
8,855
Reaction score
37
Location
Skyrim
Anyone done this before? I am getting fed up with chlorine and green pool syndrome after some leaves fall into the pool.

Is this an expensive exercise? Pros and cons? Would really appreciate some feedback!
 
Not done salt but I can vouch for blu52, and a poolskim device for getting the leaves out...
 
Sinbad said:
Not done salt but I can vouch for blu52, and a poolskim device for getting the leaves out...
Click to expand...

As can I...

I have a small pool.. give it maybe 30 minutes of attention every 2 weeks.. and it stays crystal.
 
Sinbad said:
Not done salt but I can vouch for blu52, and a poolskim device for getting the leaves out...
Click to expand...

I am using Blu52 but find its not as great as made out to be. I find it doesn't last till the next week, pool starts to go green. Do you put yours in the pool or the weir?
 
Grimspoon said:
Anyone done this before? I am getting fed up with chlorine and green pool syndrome after some leaves fall into the pool.

Is this an expensive exercise? Pros and cons? Would really appreciate some feedback!
Click to expand...

I used to be an expert in pools :) ( used to work part time at HTH in my younger days) and looked after my dads pool for years. we had a chlorinator and it was fine, of course since no one looked after the thing after i moved out its not working anymore.

So heres the basic, salt chlorinator (Sodium Chloride) and regualr granular chlorine (calcium hypochlorite) do exactly the same thing, treat your water with chlorine by runing electric curent through salt and spliting the soium frm the chlorine or using the sun and water to remove the calcium in granular - you still need to monitor your PH level and regulate with acid and add excess chlorine to the pool at specific times (after rain, very hot day or after use - these increas chances of pool turning green - if pool is hit by lightening that will turn the pool green almost instantly :) )by adding 3 cups of granular or the so called shock treatment or pressing the button on the chlorinator to increas chlorine content.

as for pros and cons.
well salt chlorinator first of all the bigest expense of buying the machine and installing it , runing costs, maintance wise you would need to clean the diodes every few months with pool acid which is cheap and depending on usage throw 2 or 3 bags of salt twice a year which is also very cheap. So con is initial cost, Pro the machine prety much regualtes themsleves but as mentioned above there are times you need to increase output and mainatnce is cheap

as for leaves get one of those pool skim there is a nother one i cant recall the name was a verimark or glomail thing was cheaper but used thin socks that needed replacing quite often

and oh about Blu52 its a peroxide based product so instead of treating the water with chlorine you use peroxide - if bored mix blu 52 and hth in a pool and watch the choas
 
i considered salt chlorination but couldnt justify R8k for a chlorinator and the added maintenance.
Changed my filter medium from sand to Zeolite ( what they use in industrial water processing.
Balanced my water a couple of kg of bicarb.
now i use 1 cup of hth a week and 5g of copper sulphate in a bucket of water around the edge of the pool every second week.
use a metal remover every 6 months.

havent had a water discolouration in 4 years.
 
Grimspoon said:
Anyone done this before? I am getting fed up with chlorine and green pool syndrome after some leaves fall into the pool.

Is this an expensive exercise? Pros and cons? Would really appreciate some feedback!
Click to expand...

We changed over to salt some years ago. I think it cost us like R3k (maybe, could be less) in total. I throw in 15kg of salt (20kl pool) once every 3 months and that's it. The creepy does its part and I clean the filters as usual. The pool hasn't gone green/mirky since (and this is after 5-6y now maybe)
 
isie said:
I used to be an expert in pools :) ( used to work part time at HTH in my younger days) and looked after my dads pool for years. we had a chlorinator and it was fine, of course since no one looked after the thing after i moved out its not working anymore.

So heres the basic, salt chlorinator (Sodium Chloride) and regualr granular chlorine (calcium hypochlorite) do exactly the same thing, treat your water with chlorine by runing electric curent through salt and spliting the soium frm the chlorine or using the sun and water to remove the calcium in granular - you still need to monitor your PH level and regulate with acid and add excess chlorine to the pool at specific times (after rain, very hot day or after use - these increas chances of pool turning green - if pool is hit by lightening that will turn the pool green almost instantly :) )by adding 3 cups of granular or the so called shock treatment or pressing the button on the chlorinator to increas chlorine content.

as for pros and cons.
well salt chlorinator first of all the bigest expense of buying the machine and installing it , runing costs, maintance wise you would need to clean the diodes every few months with pool acid which is cheap and depending on usage throw 2 or 3 bags of salt twice a year which is also very cheap. So con is initial cost, Pro the machine prety much regualtes themsleves but as mentioned above there are times you need to increase output and mainatnce is cheap

as for leaves get one of those pool skim there is a nother one i cant recall the name was a verimark or glomail thing was cheaper but used thin socks that needed replacing quite often

and oh about Blu52 its a peroxide based product so instead of treating the water with chlorine you use peroxide - if bored mix blu 52 and hth in a pool and watch the choas
Click to expand...


Thanks for that comprehensive post, post of the week for me :D

I am not to worried about the initial cost, I am looking at the long run and the amount of money I am throwing at HTH and blu52 is nuts. A colleague has a salt chlorination and says he does not touch his pool and it stays blue. What are the rough costs of having a salt chlorinator installed?

I have one of those pool skimmers and it works wonders.

What is the issue of mixing blu52 and chlorine? I have done this before, last week in fact. Put the blu52 into the weir and added 2 cups of HTH. The pool went blue so didn't think there was an issue? Should you not mix the two at all? What chaos is this you speak of?
 
froot said:
We changed over to salt some years ago. I think it cost us like R3k (maybe, could be less) in total. I throw in 15kg of salt (20kl pool) once every 3 months and that's it. The creepy does its part and I clean the filters as usual. The pool hasn't gone green/mirky since (and this is after 5-6y now maybe)
Click to expand...

Thanks froot. Sounds exactly what I am looking for.
 
isie said:
and oh about Blu52 its a peroxide based product so instead of treating the water with chlorine you use peroxide - if bored mix blu 52 and hth in a pool and watch the choas
Click to expand...
Sure about that? I use HTH sometimes to boost it when my oak tree dumps pollen into the pool... Pretty sure Blu52 is a sodium hypochlorite product...


Grimspoon said:
I am using Blu52 but find its not as great as made out to be. I find it doesn't last till the next week, pool starts to go green. Do you put yours in the pool or the weir?
Click to expand...


Into the weir as instructed. How big is your pool? In winter, mine lasts 3 weeks. Summer, a week easily, sometimes 2.

Maybe have your water tested to check alkalinity, pH etc...
 
Grimspoon said:
Thanks for that comprehensive post, post of the week for me :D

I am not to worried about the initial cost, I am looking at the long run and the amount of money I am throwing at HTH and blu52 is nuts. A colleague has a salt chlorination and says he does not touch his pool and it stays blue. What are the rough costs of having a salt chlorinator installed?

I have one of those pool skimmers and it works wonders.

What is the issue of mixing blu52 and chlorine? I have done this before, last week in fact. Put the blu52 into the weir and added 2 cups of HTH. The pool went blue so didn't think there was an issue? Should you not mix the two at all? What chaos is this you speak of?
Click to expand...

looking at about 3 to 4K

oh and chaos it gets very foamy but wont damage the pool (AFAIK) think we mixed the 2 directly in the pool when we tried
 
isie said:
could be my memory is bad it was either hydrogen peroxide, or a zinc/coper mixture that it contained.
no pool anymore :D
Click to expand...



you talking about the maintenance or the booster?
 
Sinbad said:
Sure about that? I use HTH sometimes to boost it when my oak tree dumps pollen into the pool... Pretty sure Blu52 is a sodium hypochlorite product...





Into the weir as instructed. How big is your pool? In winter, mine lasts 3 weeks. Summer, a week easily, sometimes 2.

Maybe have your water tested to check alkalinity, pH etc...
Click to expand...

Not 100% sure but pretty big, probably about 60 000L.

isie said:
looking at about 3 to 4K

oh and chaos it gets very foamy but wont damage the pool (AFAIK) think we mixed the 2 directly in the pool when we tried
Click to expand...

That is not to bad, I think I would go for it. It sounds like it is a lot less admin with a salt chlorinator.

Hmm I mixed HTH and Blu52 and didn't see those effects and pool went blue.
 
I think it's rated for a 50kl pool with the standard dosing. You get the bigger tubs for bigger pools - try that perhaps?
 
Sinbad said:
you talking about the maintenance or the booster?
Click to expand...

Grimspoon said:
Not 100% sure but pretty big, probably about 60 000L.

That is not to bad, I think I would go for it. It sounds like it is a lot less admin with a salt chlorinator.

Hmm I mixed HTH and Blu52 and didn't see those effects and pool went blue.
Click to expand...

answer to both not sure we were teenagers bored, heard you not suposed to mix the 2 so just bought some blu52 (not sure if booster) and hth and dumped in budies pool and it foamed, so A -there was some other crap in the pool or B - ingrediants at the time were diferent
that casued the foam.

and yes less admin on salt chlorinator
 
Best **** to turn a pool clear blue in a hurry - TWO10. Amazing, been using it for years whenever the pool needs to go from green to blue in a hurry.
 
The Zodiac is a brilliant unit.
It reverses the current on the elements everytime the pump is activated. That way you never have to clean the element :)
Biggest cost is the unit itself and the installation. You will never look back, ever again.

I put in a single cup of HTH once a month, just for a bit of shock treatment.
Other than that, just keep the filter clean and the PH correct.

P.S. Make sure there is NO iron in the water. That will eat up the element in no time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X