I have a 30K gallon pool, and if I add a large bottle of 6% bleach (Target has them at 187 ounce I think) the chlorine level will increase an additional 3 ppm.

I'll use 5 ppm in my example as the standard desired chlorine level in summertime. Having said that, I have a few questions:
#1. Is it better to add a little bleach every few days or so such that the chlorine ppm level is fairly stable (i.e. try to keep the level at or near 5 ppm)?

#2. Or is it safe to add a full bottle of bleach that will raise the level to 8 ppm, and then add another bottle once the level comes back down to 5 ppm?

Option #2 is less maintenance obviously, and requires less preciseness in measuring bleach, etc. Any feedback is welcomed. What would you do?

-Gorilla

I get the three jug packs at Costco, but my pool is covered (and inside).

I'd rather see a peristaltic pump installed over the "liquidator" any day. Chlorine is an oxidizer and I wouldn't want liquid chlorine going through my heat exchanger constantly.

As many pool guys know, float valves can and do fail.

The is no not a high concentration of CL distributed by the LQ. The design of the LQ delivers a low concentration of CL any time the pool pump is running. Bleach is heavier that water and the LQ houses 8 gallons of bleach and probably an additional 16 gallons of pool water. Bleach settles to the bottom of the LQ and the water that is returned to the pool comes from the very top of the LQ. So it does not deliver a straight dose of CL. And certainly floats could fail, but a float valve is a much more simple mechanical device that a pump and less likely to fail IMO. I am not knocking pumps for CL distribution as I have never tried one. But I have to say that the LQ has worked flawlessly for me for a few seasons now and at $130ish was a great value.

One bad aspect of the LQ is that HASA's customer support is very poor. It you are interested in pictures and more info, Troublefree pool has a forum dedicated to chemical automation here:
http://www.troublefreepool.com/chemical-automation-and-the-liquidator- f81.html

And HASA's site is here: http://www.hasapool.com/
They do list one reseller of the LQ.

Tablet feeder manufacturers learned that long ago.

There is a big difference between tablet PH and liquid chlorine PH. Tri-Chlor tablets have very low PH which tends to be corrosive to metal. Even though mixed with water, the PH tends to be quite low and would cause corrosion in the heater. This also why pools run on Tri-Chlor tend to have lower PH.

However, bleach aka liquid chlorine, has a high PH. Mixed with water in the liquidator, the PH is slightly higher than the incoming water but is not corrosive and won't damange the heater. However, it might cause scaling if the PH, TA and CH are not kept in check.

It is why salt cells are still set after the heater, usually with a check valve preceding it.

I use 10%, it costs me more but is well worth it. During the summer if the weather is really hot I'll use 20% so I don't go through as much.
I have a very large pool and everybody always comments on how clear the water is, most especially at night when the pool lamps are on.
When you have a large body of water (50000 gallons plus) micro filtration and a very soluble sanitizer is a must.
I use 3 60sq/ft DE filters with filtered bleach and have no problems. Household bleach is good but isn't as well filtered.

Gorilla,

I'll attempt to answer your questions.

quote" #1. Is it better to add a little bleach every few days or so such that the chlorine ppm level is fairly stable (i.e. try to keep the level at or near 5 ppm)? "quote

Add a little daily to maintain your desired level. You'll get a feel of how much you need as you work your pool chemistry over a month or two.

quote" #2. Or is it safe to add a full bottle of bleach that will raise the level to 8 ppm, and then add another bottle once the level comes back down to 5 ppm? "quote

You can do this but it isn't my favorite way to deal with a pool during swim season.
BUT, and this is a big but; I do this all winter long when the pool isn't being swam in. I back my hours down to 12 hours twice daily in the week. I saves me the electricity of running what is essentially 3 pools of average homeowners because of the multiple equipment sets.

I'm curious what do you attempt to keep your stabilizer level at?

I strive for 50 (+- 10). It seems to help hold my chlorine level on the very very hot sunny Texas summer days, and does really well the balance of the year. I also strive to keep my alkalinity as close to 100 (+-20) and my ph as near to 7.5 (+-.2) as possible.

See ya,
Kelly

Where do you get 10% or 20% filtered bleach in the Houston area?

Kelly:
My stabilizer is now at 50 ppm. The PB started me off at 20 ppm in July 2008, and it was as high as 60 ppm in early Feb 2009 by using the 3" stabilized tablets. So I drained the pool a bit while simultaneously feeding in fresh water to get the ppm down to 50 ppm. I was using a lot of chlorine since the pool hits 89 in summer (unscreened pool) and I had an algae problem. So I keep chlorine at 5 ppm in summertime.

TA is currently 120 ppm, but I usually have it at 100 ppm. I keep PH at 7.5. And I'll keep stabilizer at 50ppm +/- 10 ppm.

-Gorilla