tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34083187.post4166477028620411617..comments2021-08-30T20:28:51.334-07:00Comments on The Pool Biz: Call Me Crazy: Zinc Balls & High Current FlowThe Pool Guyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12904496518630518958noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34083187.post-46495195038895930272013-11-10T08:20:48.188-08:002013-11-10T08:20:48.188-08:00PS to Bjorn,
Don't know much about Eco Smarte...PS to Bjorn,<br /><br />Don't know much about Eco Smarte, but Lew Akins does. He's a builder in the Hill Country and he started using Eco Smarte systems after he got burned replacing Limestone coping and decks on warranty when he got suckered into selling salt systems when they first came back around this time.<br /><br />Check him out at lewakins dot dom.<br /><br />And yes, I like pebble tech. It's a rougher surface that's more prone to algae. But if you brush your pool every week in the swimming season, and maintain your water chemistry properly, you'll like it too.The Pool Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12904496518630518958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34083187.post-82094461087647302452013-11-10T08:16:52.863-08:002013-11-10T08:16:52.863-08:00Hi Bjorn,
If your pool is fifteen years old, then...Hi Bjorn,<br /><br />If your pool is fifteen years old, then the main thing to look for before you install that salt system is how much metal you have in your filtration stream. If you have a stainless steel filter tank, then it's a No Go. It'll rust through that tank in less than a year. <br /><br />If you have a heater, then it's a Maybe. The salt will age your heater about three times faster than normal. So a heater that would normally last about 10 or 15 years will last about 3 to 5 years before salt damage starts showing up in failed components; like hi limit switches, pressure switches, or the whole heat exchanger. That's why companies like Hayward changed their whole heater line over to cupro nickel from copper to stave off salt damage and the flood of warranty claims on their heaters when they also became the number one company pushing salt systems on everybody.<br /><br />The next thing to look at is your hardscape; what type of rock or concrete you have around your pool. If you have old concrete bullnose coping or brick coping and some type of concrete decking, then you probably won't notice much difference. If you have high end limestone, or any of the sandstone type flagstone - like Oklahoma flagstone - then you'll definitely see damage begin to occur the first swimming season, as the splashout evaporates and the salt penetrates the hardscape, eventually recrystallizing and causing damage to the stone from the inside out.<br /><br />Finally, there's the environmental aspect. You're creating a reservoir of brackish water in your back yard. If you have to drain and refill just once on a 20,000 gallon pool, it will take 256,000 additional gallons of zero salinity water to dilute your discharge down to the EPA mandated level of taste (250 ppm). Here in Texas, whenever our reservoirs start to get low during drought seasons, one of the first problems they have is that the salinity level of the reservoirs starts to climb as the saline heavy treated discharge that replenishes them drives it up. Less water to dilute the effects.<br /><br />But you'll have really soft skin and your eyes won't burn. So, by all means, blow all your money repairing your pool from the ravages of salt and destroy the environment while you're at it.The Pool Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12904496518630518958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34083187.post-72627634144712777972013-11-10T01:24:35.734-08:002013-11-10T01:24:35.734-08:00Hi Steven,
I was about to install a saltwater gene...Hi Steven,<br />I was about to install a saltwater generator next summer in my 15 years old pool until I read all your warnings and information. I am a ships engineer and should know all about salt water and corrosion and do agree with you. Ships have Zinc mounted all around the hull to avoid corrosion. I live in north Dallas with a 25K gallon pool, maintained with a DE filter and chlorine, Uses muritic acid for PH control and my pool looks great with super clear water.Water is hard in Denton county and expensive to soften and why I also saw ECOsmarte Pool Systems that uses glass media in filter instead of sand. Do you have any experience with those? Are they great or just another scam and expense. They also say you do not need any chlorine to maintain the pool. I will re-surface my pool in January due to plaster start getting worn out and was thinking about pebbles instead of the regular plaster. What do you think about that?<br />Appreciate and enjoy your blog and never seen so much facts any other places. Thank you for your time Bjorn Johnsen Highland VillageAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09856688428476776830noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34083187.post-20528447522816259202013-08-17T17:45:16.408-07:002013-08-17T17:45:16.408-07:00I didn't mean that grounding won't shunt s...I didn't mean that grounding won't shunt stray currents, but my point is that you cannot conclude that the reason that zinc sacrificial anodes are needed is that an SWG is producing stray currents. The zinc sacrificial anode is useful to reduce corrosion rates even when all that has happened is that the pool water has a higher level of salt so has higher conductivity and chloride — no extra stray currents because there is no SWG.<br /><br />Zinc sacrificial anodes are used in marine environments to prevent corrosion not so much from active stray currents as from dissimilar metals for galvanic corrosion or from direct corrosion of a single metal (such as steel) in the conductive salty ocean environment.<br /><br />http://www.cathodicme.com/sacp.htmlchem geekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02870738681307386526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34083187.post-18090089270947096202013-08-17T17:07:02.672-07:002013-08-17T17:07:02.672-07:00I don't know why I find your posts so annoying...I don't know why I find your posts so annoying. After all these years, you'd think I'd be used to you knowing just absolutely everything about everything with Absolute Certainty. I bet you sit in the first pew at church.<br /><br />But I never do get used to it. I think it's the way you say SUPPOSED to, and NOTHING - as in, sacrificial anodes have NOTHING to do with shunting stray current corrosion.<br /><br />Do me a favor. You live near the ocean. Go find a marine electrician and ask him if what you posit here is true. Then come on back. Your Humble Pie will be waiting for you.The Pool Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12904496518630518958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34083187.post-24485773753401647762013-08-17T12:21:47.175-07:002013-08-17T12:21:47.175-07:00Adding a sacrificial zinc anode to the skimmer bas...Adding a sacrificial zinc anode to the skimmer basket is absolutely pointless and only results in zinc getting oxidized by chlorine into zinc ions in the pool that could potentially stain. The proper use of a sacrificial anode is to ELECTRICALLY connect it to the metal you are trying to protect and to GROUND the anode usually by placing it in moist soil. What this does is to put a small negative voltage onto the metal you are trying to protect. This reduces the rate of corrosion of that metal.<br /><br />So you are SUPPOSED to connect the zinc sacrificial anode to the bonding wire if you are trying to protect all metal that is in contact with the pool (which, of course is all supposed to be connected to the bonding wire). This has NOTHING to do with stray currents. Just having the higher salt level in the pool even without any saltwater chlorine generator would be enough to increase metal corrosion rates due to the higher conductivity. Also, specifically for stainless steel, higher chloride levels directly interfere with the reformation of the passivity layer which leads to faster corrosion of the underlying steel (iron).chem geekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02870738681307386526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34083187.post-38575450580180850642012-10-15T14:42:49.376-07:002012-10-15T14:42:49.376-07:00Yes, Larry. You can e-mail me at thepoolguy11 at a...Yes, Larry. You can e-mail me at thepoolguy11 at aol dot com. I do it that way so the spambots don't mass e-mail me.The Pool Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12904496518630518958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34083187.post-30132900367304349892012-10-15T10:12:05.561-07:002012-10-15T10:12:05.561-07:00Hello Steven,
Is there a way I can contact / emai...Hello Steven,<br /><br />Is there a way I can contact / email you in a non-public way? It is about salt pool problems.<br /><br />Thank you!<br /><br />Russell<br />rcrcrcguy (at) yahoo.comA Man in the Woodshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18354042908986968135noreply@blogger.com