Salt pool woes

[frexpt]

We have a salt pool with a Sterilor electrolyseur, which I don’t think is working properly.  The elements are about eight years old and have been pretty much abused by the various maintenance people we used whilst we lived in the UK and the property was rented out as a gite.  We also have a problem with the filter unit, which will probably have to be replaced. If we were not trying to sell the house at present, I would be tempted to scrap the entire installation and perhaps switch to a chlore system.  I would prefer for a purchaser to decide whether to persist with the salt system, but the price of the property will reflect the shortcomings in the present setup.

In the meantime, I am wondering whether, in theory, it would be possible to add chlorine directly to the pool to arrive at a more appropriate balance.  We were always told by the company that installed the system that we only had to rely on the LED display on the Sterilor box to tell us whether the pool was in balance or not.  Unfortunately that never moves above the first yellow LED at the “facile” end of the scale and although the pH is easily maintained at around 7.4, we are getting a recurring algae problem.

All in all, a bit of a mess and I would appreciate any constructive advice. 

If, at the end of the day, the better course of action is to renew the defective units, then so be it.  However, I have no faith in the local pool companies who simply appear to view the situation as a licence to print money and flog whatever they see as the “flavour of the month”.

[Poolguy]

OK so you are selling, you must decide if you want to sell with a functioning and appropriate pool system or the a 'cot case' which is struggling through.

I would have thought that the former would be a more attractive proposition for a new buyer rather than the offer 'buy the property then decide to spend more to get the pool working'.

Incidentally, its illegal to use a salt system with a gite complex as there is no norm in the DDASS regs for that.

The main reason is that a salt chlorination system cannot produce enough chlorine to keep the pool water sterile at all times and so you ARE OBLIGED to manually dose it with chlore gallets irrespective if the salt unit works or not.

I suggest that you scrap it all together and go manual dosing for the time being or if you want to offer your buyer 'the best' then there are auto dosing systems available.

Changing the filter media to ZEOLITE will also improve your chances of a sale producing transparent clear water.

Its the same with many pools in France and the solution by and large, is the same. If you get it right first time then a pool will become a great asset - get it wrong and you own a genuine nightmare.

Andrew

 

[Théière]

Sorry to hear of your problems, in short yes you can add chlorine to produce the same results. If you could publish some details of your pool water and the size of the pool I can give you estimates of the quantities required. Nothing could be more off putting during a property sale than a green pool but we can fix that.

Got to do some work now but will be back later.

[frexpt]

[quote user="Poolguy"]

Its the same with many pools in France and the solution by and large, is the same. If you get it right first time then a pool will become a great asset - get it wrong and you own a genuine nightmare.

[/quote]

Thanks for the reply.  The salt system was sold as the "bees-knees" in 2001/2002 and to be be fair, the pool has done its job over the years, so far as making the house more rentable during the season.  The mechanical components are probably near the end of their servicable lives and this happens to coincide with when we want to sell.    I will PM you with a little more detail.

[frexpt]

[quote user="Théière"]

 If you could publish some details of your pool water and the size of the pool I can give you estimates of the quantities required. 

[/quote]

That would be very helpful as well, thank you.  I have just taken a couple of samples, but can't get a chlorine reading at all.  The pH today is 7.2 or just below, but I'm going out to buy another test kit and will reply again later.

Cheers

[frexpt]

Oh, by the way, the pool is not large, about 45m3.........

[Théière]

With a green pool I am not surprised you cannot get a chlorine level. Not sure if you need another test kit but you do need a 20litre javel biddon from a brico now.

You need to add about 3.5litres of javel initially and keep adding javel to maintain the free chlorine level at around 8ppm. The chlorine will get used up pretty quickly at first but as the algae dies (turning blue grey) you will need less. Can't say how long it will take but a few days definitely. You also need to brush the sides and bottom.

Have you added any cyanuric acid (CYA)?

If not then I recommend you buy some multi action gallets too as they will add this to your pool, you will only need about 7 of them though, as you do not want to overdose the CYA.

[frexpt]

[quote user="Théière"]

With a green pool I am not surprised you cannot get a chlorine level. Not sure if you need another test kit but you do need a 20litre javel biddon from a brico now.

 

Have you added any cyanuric acid (CYA)?

If not then I recommend you buy some multi action gallets too as they will add this to your pool, you will only need about 7 of them though, as you do not want to overdose the CYA.

[/quote]

Thanks once again.  No, I haven't added CYA per se, but I Chlor-shocked it in the last few days and then added a 5 litre bidon of 35% Hydrogen Peroxide.  The pool is not crystal clear yet, but we are getting there with repeated vacuuming, because, as I said above, the filter is not up to much just now.  However, I know that the system as it is just now will not be able to prevent the recurrance of the problem.

Given what I have just said about the chlor choc and H2O2, are you still happy with your suggested dosages?

If I can establish a better control method for the balance and address the issue of the dodgy filter, then that will be a good start.

[Théière]

No, do not add javel as you have hydrogen peroxide (where did that suggestion come from, the pool shop?) now your pool is incompatible with anything else for a while and you are forced to use the most expensive way of chocing your pool. Hydrogen peroxide will oxidise the chlorine out of your pool.

What is dodgy about your filter?

[frexpt]

[quote user="Théière"]

What is dodgy about your filter?

[/quote]

I have PM'd you

[Théière]

Answered