Re: Pool Valve Control

[Mitch <sumcoolgai@xxxxxxxxx>]

Here, it's just the opposite re: chlorination.

Most "high end" pool people will ONLY use the salt systems these days
(and they push the cartridge filters).  I know quite a few people with
them and none have anything negative to say about them.

The primary reasons are:

  - less harsh chemicals around
  - easier on the pool surface (plaster, 3m, pebbletech)
  - much less $ to operate
  - easier to maintain pool chemistry
  - much simpler to adjust

In my last pool we had a chlorinator like Robert describes.  It worked
pretty well, but the salt system is MUCH better.


Mitch

Robert L Bass wrote:
>>Our pools stay warmer here because our nights stay
>>warm and the pool retains the day's heat. In SoCal
>>(where I used to live) nights were cool and the pool
>>lost much of the day's heat...
>
>
> In that regards, south Florida is much like So Cal.  Our days are
> warm and sometimes *hot* but it cools down at night.  My pool
> (~30,000 gallons) has a thermostatic valve controller to regulate
> the temperature.  I set it for around 90ºF and it stays that way
> all day.  At night the temperature may drop 4 or 5º but that's
> still comfortable for a leisurely midnight swim.
>
>
>>I've read about the salt systems but my pool guy
>>thought they were a bit troublesome.  One chlorine
>>tab a week seems to do the trick for us.
>
>
> Same here, except our pool person is a young lady.  She and her
> predecessor both thought the salt systems were more trouble than
> they're worth.  They may have an axe to grind though, since they
> might believe that automation threatens their income.
>
> I could use an automatic valve for two reasons.  First, I tend to
> forget to turn off the sill cock when filling.  More than once
> I've flooded the lanai and water is an expensive, not to mention
> precious resource.  Second, I also travel a lot and it's always a
> concern that evaporation might cause the pump to lose its prime.
> Running dry for a few minutes probably won't hurt a centrifugal
> pump but I think a few weeks would kill it.
>
> BTW, I have an interesting gadget for chlorine dispensing which
> some of you might find useful.  It's a PVC tube long enough to
> hold about 15 chlorine tablets.  On the bottom is a valve to
> control a trickle of water that flows through the tube.  The
> valve regulates the amount of chlorine the pool gets.  During the
> winter when the pool needs very little chlorine we stop it down.
> In the summer we open it up a bit more.  A few days' checking
> each season gave me enough data to determine the proper settings
> for each season.
>
> I can easily imagine some automator designing a servo-operated
> gate valve to do the adjustments based on pH and water
> temperature.  For me the manual adjustment seems to work OK.  I
> keep the pool girl even when we're out of the country for a few
> months just to make sure things are working properly.
>
> Regards,
> Robert L Bass
> www.BassBurglarAlarms.com
>
>
>
> --
>
> Regards,
> Robert L Bass
> http://www.bassburglaralarms.com