Like Swimming In Battery Acid

[MrPlum]

My community pool is nice enough. I enjoy a daily swim. Trouble is the amount of Chlorine being used is stripping the lining from my nose.

Is this a common problem?

[Super Joe]

Is it that little culde-sac area with the pool in the middle ?

SJ

[crazy88]

Get the residents to chip in and convert to saltwater ,If it is already saltwater then the guys looking after it have not got a scooby about doing so .Jimmy or Chris at GDL will give good advice .

Crazy 88

[Super Joe]

Sound advice, it needs to be salt water.
Jimmy's left (been forced out) now and is in Chiang Mai.

SJ

[dtaai-maai]

Not heard anything about saltwater pools, but I like the idea, as I think I've developed an allergy to chlorine. Is this widely used? How is it recirculated/topped up?

[Super Joe]

The chlorine is produced from a bag of salt basically, small amounts introduced into the water daily, no pouring in masses of chlorine.
Yes it's widely used on new pools, old pools should convert really.

SJ

[crazy88]

Other than some of the older condos and resorts I do not know of anywhere in Hua Hin that does not have SW system .I put a bag of salt (55thb) in once a month and a chlorine pellet (25thb) every now and again .Works fine .Need to top up in dry season and a few more additions during rainy season .100 thb to clean if I am out of town .Takes 30 mins a week if not .12x4m pool including the spa thingy .

Crazy 88

[Super Joe]

Takes 30 mins a week if not. 12x4m pool including the spa thingy

And 25 minutes of that is peeling his Y-fronts of the side of the spa thingy.

SJ

[MrPlum]

Other than some of the older condos and resorts I do not know of anywhere in Hua Hin that does not have SW system .I put a bag of salt (55thb) in once a month and a chlorine pellet (25thb) every now and again .Works fine .Need to top up in dry season and a few more additions during rainy season .100 thb to clean if I am out of town .Takes 30 mins a week if not .12x4m pool including the spa thingy .

Crazy 88

In Portugal, lazy pool maintainers could overdose a pool with liquid chlorine, say, on a Monday and by Friday the Sun would have burned it off. So for two days you couldn't swim and for another two days there was no Chlorine left at all. During winters dropping a bunch of tablets into the deep end would mean no visits were required for weeks. Easy money.

Not sure if the pool I use here is Salt water but I do notice from time to time a clump of white powder on the bottom which coincides with high chlorine levels. I take it these are partially dissolved tablets. There are days when it's fine to swim, otherwise I wouldn't go at all.

Not sure how the chlorine output is regulated with a SW system. Maybe the maintainer is just over-egging the pudding and putting in too many tablets?

[Nereus]

The chlorine is produced from a bag of salt basically, small amounts introduced into the water daily, no pouring in masses of chlorine.
Yes it's widely used on new pools, old pools should convert really.

SJ

I think that you are oversimplifying these systems a bit. The heart of a saltwater system is the electronic "chlorinator".

Quote: "A small amount of natural salt is dissolved into the pool water. The chlorinator's electrolytic cell is plumbed directly in-line with the pool equipment. The power control unit is wired to the pool timer so it sanitizes the water when the pump is running. As the water flows through the electrolytic cell, electrolysis separates the salt water into its basic components, sodium and chloride. Pure chlorine gas is produced by this process and goes to work in the pool to oxidize bacteria and sanitize the pool water. Following this process the chloride and sodium re-bond and become natural salt again". Unquote.

The pH of the water should still be checked on a regular basis, as these systems are by no means "set and forget".

[Super Joe]

I think that you are oversimplifying these systems a bit

Yeah I was being flippant about it coming from a bag of salt.
Thanks for putting up the explanation, that sums it up nicely for the layman, I had no clue how they worked until I came to Hua Hin.

The better systems have a control panel that lets you know when the salt is low and more needs adding.
I read that the pool water has approx. 15% the salt content of sea water!?

Cheers,
SJ

[Nereus]

[
I read that the pool water has approx. 15% the salt content of sea water!? Cheers, SJ

There is some good FAQ info here.

http://www.autochlor.com.au/faq.asp