Pool seems to just drink up bleach so fast

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ttlkurtis said:
I just added details to my signature :)

Good info about the muriatic acid, I had a little bit that I stored in our casita, but I'll change to storing that outside somewhere, we have a covered patio around the side of the house. I should keep it inside a plastic bin, though?

Yeah it sounds like a SWG is definitely worth consideration. Would love any pointers you can give!
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Signature looks good! (y)

Inside a plastic bin keeps it out of the sun and away from pets, kids, etc.
I get mine in a 4 pack in a plastic carrier. My carrier fits in a small deck box on the east side of my house and away from the pool area.

Since you don't have automation, look into the Circupool RJ series - the RJ45+ or RJ60+. The 60+ would be better suited to your pool size and location.
Others may come along with other options as well.
 
proavia said:
Signature looks good! (y)

Inside a plastic bin keeps it out of the sun and away from pets, kids, etc.
I get mine in a 4 pack in a plastic carrier. My carrier fits in a small deck box on the east side of my house and away from the pool area.

Since you don't have automation, look into the Circupool RJ series - the RJ45+ or RJ60+. The 60+ would be better suited to your pool size and location.
Others may come along with other options as well.
Click to expand...

Such a system would be installed AFTER the heater on the return line to avoid corrosion in the heater, right? Is there any other stuff that has to be changed / converted, or it's a pretty simple afternoon DIY from the looks of it? Would I need any different testing equipment / chemicals beyond the TF-Pro Kit if converting to SWG?
 
You would need to add the 2 salt test reagents (R-0630 and R-0718) or a Taylor K-1766 salt test kit.

Yes, the SWG is the last item before water returns to the pool. With a heater, I'd suggest installing a heater bypass. With the heater bypassed, it would allow running the pump at a lower RPM while still satisfying the SWG flow switch. You would also need a timer for the SWG so that power is removed from it whenefer the pump is porgrammed to be off.

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Heater Bypass - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
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I just converted with the RJ-60 last summer. Physical install for me was very easy - just took some pipe and fittings to route things appropriately. Very quick job.
You can run the pump on very low speed 24/7 making Cl all the while, and potentially saving a lot of electricity cost. BUT - you never want to have the SWCG powered if the pump is off. So it depends on your equipment/timers/automation on how you set that up so it shuts off when the pump goes off. It does come with a flow switch, but that is emergency backup, and not the main way to control it when the pump turns off. Your equipment may be very easy. I had to buy a timer and pay an electrician, but all my stuff is very, very old.
You will need to test for CL periodically (1-2 times per week) - weather/temperature will vary how high/low you need to set the generator during the course of a season. It is meant to be a steady supply, so cannot replace liquid bleach if you need to SLAM. There will be a bit of a pH drift, so you'll need some muriatic acid added periodically, but not big amounts.
I spent about $150 total in chemicals last summer (initial salt, CYA, Acid). It is looking to be <$50 this year, unless I do something stupid and need to do a SLAM.
You'll need the Salt add-on for the TFPro kit, to accurately measure your salt concentration. Over time, all chlorine makes the water salty, so don't assume you have none - you may be pretty far along and not have to add too much additional!
Most big box hardware stores will have the salt and acid. You will likely never have to go into a pool store again, unless they are having a big sale on liquid, and you want to keep a couple of jugs on hand!
 
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+1 on the SWCG recommendation. In the meantime, you live in a great place for liquid chlorine option instead of bleach. My favorite is Walmart for their Pool Essentials 10% chlorinating liquid usually stored inside of their store but with the bbq, pool, lawn stuff. I cant remember if Pinch A Penny pool stores are in SA, but they have refillable 12% containers. Also every Home Depot, Lowes, heck even our local Kroger has 10% chlorinating liquid.
 
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Added enough bleach (supposedly) yesterday to SLAM the pool to 16FC and today it was already at 8.5. Good news is the water looked great lol... Spa still looks a bit meh, so when it told me to add another 1.6 jugs of 10% bleach, I added a bit of it directly to the spa this time.
 

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So this is what my setup looks like... the diameter of the PVC coming from the heater to return to the pool is 2.5"OD and that straight section there is only 10-1/2" long. Looking at one of the SWG manuals, it seems to say that you want 12" of straight pipe before integrating the SWG... so it seems I may need to do some creative re-routing of the return pipe to allow for this?
 

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Just 90 vertical, install the flow switch on the up side, then 90 down with the SWCG in the down side.

Lots of examples in the forum.
 
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Screenshot_20240504_222013_Chrome.jpg


You have simple plumbing / lots of flow. I wouldn't worry about the 12 inch recommendation. My 1st pool had the SWG directly 90'd to the heat pump and worked at 800(?) RPMs (it was a while ago so I'm fuzzy, but it was low). 7 years later when I learned it wasn't best practice, it wasn't broke so I wasn't about to fix it.
 
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You are fighting some algae there esp if you can see it. I installed pentair SWG and it’s pretty well worked perfect going into 8th season now. No green since 2016, pool open may1-oct31 usually. Still when it’s cold and when I’m opening i use bleach and pucks. And still home depot “chlorinating liquid” is the fastest cheapest way to get fc up quickly when needed. -I’ve made every mistake this forum talks about, ppl here a great resource
 
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SLAM is going pretty well so far... water looks great, levels were 19FC this morning at 8am, then by 2pm it went down to 14ppm and I added another half-jug of 10% liquid chlorine from HomeDepot to get it back up. Going to check it again in a little bit and I suspect add another half of a jug. Thankfully right before I began the SLAM process I had been brushing the heck out of the pool every day and had just cleaned the DE filter with a full break-down. So I think I caught this early enough that it's not a total out-of-control train. Fingers crossed.

My dad sometimes struggles to get his pool in good shape and Leslies sells him a bunch of stuff he probably doesn't need, so I told him about this forum. Hopefully he actually signs up and does some reading, this community is fantastic.
 
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SLAM is going well and now I am thinking ahead to summer… if we want to go out of town for like 10 days in the summer, then what? Lol. Do we need a backup stash of chlorine pucks for such an occasion? And also over chlorinate before we leave to a particular level?
 

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