Pool Chalorinator vs Liquid Colorine Drums

Hello All,

Does anyone have any experience with pool chlorinators?

Do they really add valuse by being economical over time compared with adding liquid chlorine?

 

Absolutely . Install one

 

Any recommendations?

Based on online forums and after talking to few -

Zodiac LX40 and Freeflow Onga 35g seems popular

 

Oh there are lots of options out there . I don't know which is best. Im sure every marketing team claims their equipment is best. All I can tell you is that my parents have had a Speck for many years and its worked great. for them. And my home had an older style waterco when we bought it a couple of years back. Still works well... Its nowhere near as modern or configurable as the Speck, but my chlorine levels are just fine. So those are two brands I have first hand experience with that I guess I would buy again if required, given what I have seen of their performance. Davey is also a top brand in pool equipment. My understanding is that Zodiac is a well marketed, cheaper/inferior brand... but I couldn't say for sure. Im sure there are several products that are more than adequate for your needs.

Chloromatic Salt Water Chlorinator I Davey

SPECK CCS SALT WATER CHLORINATOR

https://www.waterco.com.au/pool-spa/chlorination/electrochlor-salt-chlorinators

 

Thank you @euro73 , much appreciated

 

Stay away form the Zodiac's and Daveys, plastic rubbish. If you look close at a lot of them they are generics re badged. I've had two Davey's and a Zodiac, all seemed to me to be overpriced rubbish and all failed prematurely.

This time I've gone for an Australian made one, so far only had it 9 months so can't comment on longevity, but build quality is WAY better than the others I've had and they are at the end of phone for tech queries. I phoned them with question about installing it and they were happy to put me on to one of their techs who helped me out.

Saltmate Australia

Edited to add - I got mine from Direct Pool Supplies. You can also get spares for them if something does fail.

Pool and Spa Supplies in Newcastle. Call 1800 648 363

Cheers.

 

Hi @Propagate

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I will check out saltmate and also will ask the pool and spa warehouse and direct pool supplies too.

My understanding is that they recommended Freeflo Onga 35g (low.salt) based on pool size and no heating in the pool.

 

..also, in terms of cost, I've no idea which way is more cost effective. Salt is cheap, chlorinaters and replacement cells are expensive. Chlorine is relatively cheap. I'd hazard a guess that at the rate I've gone through chlorinaters themselves over the years (due to aforementioned lumps of plastic crap that they were), I'd probably have been way better off financially just dosing liquid chlorine.

BUT I'm a lazy so and so, so the fact the chlorinator looks after itself more or less and my pool water stays reasonably clean with little to no input form me for 95% of the year is worth the cost of the chlorinator in my eyes.

 

A quality locally made salt water chlorinator is the way to go. Bugger all to do and the pool will always be much more hygienic and water quality far superior compared to messing around with adding chlorine manually. Only time I did that was whilst I was waiting for a replacement chlorinator when the previous cheap rubbish died. PITA messing around with liquid chlorine and trying to get the water chemistry correct for safety / hygiene etc.

This is the chlorinator we have. Not cheap but highly recommended by professionals and Will way outlast and be more reliable than the cheap rubbish:

AUTOCHLOR CLASSIC AC SERIES - AIS Water

 

Local popular shop (reliable based on customer reviews) suggested :

Pentair Freeflo 35RP Pool Chlorinator w/Timer & Dual Output - 5Y Warranty

Will ask them about AutoChlor tomorrow.

 

We have a chlorinator at the place were renting, the pool maintenance guys swear by them.

Trouble is you've got electricity costs on top of the chemicals (salt) and chlorinator parts, the parts have a good lifespan according to the maintenance guy.

However, they just dump a bag in every now and then, they do it more often with swimming season coming up and that's it..