Pentair 320 Chlorinator vs "manually" adding chlorine vs going to SWG?

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Gilligan8

Well-known member
Nov 30, 2023
68
South Louisiana
Pool Size
11000
Surface
Fiberglass
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
Basically a new pool owner here, parents had one (I was too young to know what was up), in-laws had one and my wife did help maintain and understood it.... but this was decades ago.

So... now I have a 11,000G in ground pool with Hayward Variflo XL on the sand filter, Pintair Challenger pump, and the Pentair 320 Chlorinator.

The chlorinator SEEMS like a cool thing but I decided to research before putting money (into tablets) and time in to "dialing it in". I came across some post here that say they aren't good and build up CYA... not sure how that works, I got more learning to do there. ;)

So... is it just not worth fooling with at all? Do I just start sprinkling in chlorine by hand... into the skimmer? When needed?

Should I just spend the money and install a SWG and be done with all of this and start dialing it in?

As of now, we had the pool covered for winter and it's all pretty clear still (just removed the cover). Chlorine is HIGH right now, but I'm assuming because I followed my brother's advice and shocked it really good before shutting it down for the winter and being covered it didn't "cook off" any chlorine. IF I remember right my other levels (via Clorox test strips) were

Hardness = very high
Total Chlorine = very high
Free Chlorine = very high
PH = Low
Alkalinity = Low (I think)
Stabilizer = on the low end of "OK"

Not sure if these have anything to do with my question but seemed like giving you guys more information than less was better. :)

OH... some environmental details... couple of oak trees hanging RIGHT around us from South and West in the neighbor's property. Pine Trees on the other side of my house. So I'm gonna be seeing a LOT of oak pollen in the pool and probably a fair amount of pine!

Look forward to the advice in this forum!
 
If you have a heater, you should not use it.
Otherwise, read the article. Trichlor can be used. It takes diligent testing, make up with liquid chlorine as needed, and draining half to 2/3rds of the pool volume when the CYA reaches 60 ppm.
 
A salt water chlorine generator is an expensive upfront cost but you are basically buying all of your chlorine for years to come. So when you look at it that way, it’s a huge savings. And it makes pool care easy. Believe me, if you have to test and dose your pool every single day, it’s going to quickly become a chore and not something fun. When installed properly and with the correct water balance, an SWG makes pool care boring … which is exactly what you want.
 
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mknauss said:
If you have a heater, you should not use it.
Otherwise, read the article. Trichlor can be used. It takes diligent testing, make up with liquid chlorine as needed, and draining half to 2/3rds of the pool volume when the CYA reaches 60 ppm.
Click to expand...
I apologize... I thought that was a quote of my post condensed. I didn't realize it was a link to an article.

Thank you!
 
Gilligan8 said:
hould I just spend the money and install a SWG and be done with all of this and start dialing it in?
Click to expand...
Yes. TLDR: LC and SWCG are the only two sustainable ways to chlorinate. SWCG is significantly cheaper, easier, and convenient. I wouldn't consider having a pool without a SWCG.
 
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