You need to be a member of Pool Genius Network to add comments!
If you are a member of the "pool industry" community, you have found your home.
This is a network of pool builders, service professionals, retailers, and pool sales reps,…
Swimming pools are often associated with luxury, relaxation, and endless summer fun. But there's more than just the allure of crystal-clear water that leads a…
The Journal of the Swimming Pool and Spa Industry is coming back! JSPSI, a peer-reviewed technical journal, began in 1995 as a subscription-supported print-based publication. It contained articles at a technical…
All pool plaster finishes should last 20 years or more. However, some last only 5 to 7 years, and some less than a year before the plaster surface deteriorates, discolors, and looks terrible.
Why the difference? Very often, plaster…
For 50 years, the pool industry has considered pool water within an LSI of -0.3 and +0.5 to be acceptable and balanced. But recently, and without providing any supporting science or research, the NPC is trying to convince the industry that any…
There are two important issues involved when trying to achieve quality colored pool plaster that will remain durable, attractive, and the proper shade for many years.
The first issue is to utilize superior workmanship practices to achieve…
Replies
The lowering of the actual pH would drive the ORP reading up even though the Chlorine would be getting used up. Therefore the controller would not get an accurate interpretation of the chlorine and might think there is more in the water than there actually is and not feed.
Typical in controllers and I love them in spite of this. If it did feed then the chlorine would then contribute even more to the pH drop our rugby players are causing. Although the acid would be feeding it might not keep up with the demand from both players and chlorine and could get worse. In this case the acid continues to feed and will knock down the Alkalinity much more than it has to. Such is the need for proper sizing and proportional control.
The flip side I find is people adjusting the Alkalinity too much at once with the controllers still online. pH rises too much which drops the ORP reading. So you have chlorine feeding when its not needed and acid feeding to beat the band again trying to compensate for both the Alkalinity and the extra chlorine. The famous spin cycle that will drive many nuts.
Thanks and I will no doubt drop you a private message soon.
In your scenario above, the chlorine demand created by the rugby team would result in repeated feed cycles which would not only drive up the orp, but would also counter any temporary decrease in pH. Our controller is capable of feeding acid and chlorine at the same time which prevent the seesaw effect that can occur in your scenario. I'd be happy to answer any other questions you might have about our products at your convenience.
I'm a big IPS fan. The 2nd ORP outlet is all about options. It allows you to use a salt generator as your primary, and if it gets overwhelmed, the liquid chlorine pump will kick in.
If you use a really big ozone system as your primary, the 2nd ORP can be connected to a chlorine system for back up & algae control & the ozone can be controlled by ORP 1 to keep from over generating ozone.
I have compared prices on systems and I don;t think you pay a premium for the 2nd ORP feature. Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to use it,
As far as a "false" ORP reading, I'm not sure what you mean. ORP is the measurement of the actual sanitizer activity in the water. When pH goes down, ORP goes up, the chlorine, ozone, or bromine is more active, thus a higher ORP reading. If the sanitizer is ACTUALLY depleted, the ORP will drop & the primary sanitizer supply will be activated by the system.
I don't consider any system that reads ORP & pH & dispenses chemicals accordingly to be "dumb". A peristaltic pump or salt generator that operates on a timer or output percentage is "dumb" because it only does what the timer tells it to do, it doesn't respond to real time water conditions. But sense & dispense systems vary wildly in cost, reliability, ease of use, & maintenance requirements.
Rick Larson said:
I like to use Rola-Chem controllers as a low cost alternative and find they work well, not "dumb" at all. They lack a few good points such as data recording and communication options but they are often not really required. Some controllers have the ability to give me a wake up call in the morning and turn on my coffee. Thats often not in the specs either.
Back to 2 x ORP outputs. Scenario is a small body of water, possibly a Hot Tub. The local Rugby teams finishes a game a jumps in. Of course the Chlorine disappears and the chemical system needs to make it up fast. Either a well sized system or a dual ORP system can by kicking in a second pump and/or tank? Seems a bit costly to have redundant pumps etc?
Bigger problem might be the Acid from the teams bodies will drop the pH. On a controller this will have the effect of falsely driving up the ORP reading. The controller may think there is no extra demand at all! You can get a very expensive controller to measure both free and total Chlorine and then Super-chlorinate or Shock, but realistically you can't do that with bathers in the water.
Not knocking the IPS controllers, they look nice. I just don't see how they are "smart" and Rola-Chem or others would be "dumb".
I just saw your question!
Chuck, the owner is a great source of info, and the system is well priced compared to the competition.
The setup is a breeze, and overall the system seems to be pretty stable.
For a little more than the price of SWG (about $650 more) you can have a full pH/ORP system which fully automates all the clients chemical feeding needs.
We are installing another one on an all glass tile spa this week. We are using small 3 gallon chem tanks, which don't take up much room at the equipment pad...
It is a way to really offer the client perfect water all the time. With most other chem feed systems ( stand alone Roll A Chem; SWG; Tab feeder) you have a "dumb" system which must be constantly adjusted based on the anticipated bather load; weather; water temp.......... But with the IPS system it maintains a consistent ORP level in the pool, and adjusts the amount of chemicals fed to match the actual needs of the water.
As far as the going green aspect, reduce the chlorine usage with an ionizer or ozone.
http://www.poolgeniusnetwork.com/forum/topics/anyone-talking-uv?com...
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next