There are many options available when it comes to chlorinating your swimming pool and the most common method is the use of chlorine tablets. Simply place a few tablets in your chlorinator each week and let them slowly dissolve while keeping your chlorine at the desired levels which in return keeps your water clear all season long.
If you are planing on using this method, you will need to determine what type of chlorinating device you want to use to allow these tablets to dissolve into your swimming pools water.
In-Line Automatic Chlorinator
An In-line chlorinator will be connecting directly into your swimming pools plumbing pipes.
Excellent Choice For New Pools
This method is best suited for those that are in the process of building or having a new pool installed.
Before making your final plans upon installation you can have one of these chlorinators added before it has been completed making it an easy addition to your new oasis.
Upgrade With A Little Pipe Configuration
Even if you already have your pool installed and are ready to make the jump to one of the best options for chlorinating your pool, with a few adjustments you can have it installed.
This is also a great option for above ground pool owners. If you are using flex PVC pipes for your water flow, you will simply need to adjust it so that you have a standard PVC fitting attached to two ends of the flex pipe and connect it to your new chlorinator.
Take a look at the Hayward In-Line Chlorinator. It is definitely the best option available. There are however, a couple more options you can choose when it comes to chlorinating your pool.
Off-Line Chlorinators
If you want to do little to no plumbing adjustments and already have your swimming pool installed, an In-Line Chlorinator might the best choice for you.
With this type of setup all you must do is place the chlorinator near your filter and pump setup and connect a couple of small hoses from the chlorinator to your PVC pipes.
This will require a drill and precise 3/8″ drill bit (Check manual to confirm size YOU NEED) that you will use to make two holes in your pipes. One will be drilled between your filter and pump and the other past your filter.
Once completed connect the two hoses to the chlorinator and the drilled holes, add chlorine and set your chlorinator to your desired settings.
While this is a great option, I still recommend the In-line version if you are setting up a new pool.
If you however already have your pool installed and doing some major plumbing alterations is out of your comfort zone, check out the Off-Line Hayward Automatic Chlorinator. It is the one I have been using a couple years and it works great!
Floating Chlorinator
The easiest and least expensive option is the floater. There are no installation steps required and it is as simple as adding a puck or two of chlorine and dropping it into your swimming pools water.
It will float along the water surface as it slowly adds chlorine to your water. Most of the floater chlorinators will have an adjustment to increase or decrease the strength of the chlorine based on your pools volume and weather outside.
I used this one for several years and they are just as good as the automatic chlorinators when it comes to sanitizing your water.
There are however, a few drawbacks that you need to consider.
- It is always visible in your pools water, if you remove it from the water for certain activities, the chlorine will no longer be added to the pool.
- Children are attracted to it. While it won’t be difficult to keep your own kids from playing with it as you teach them about the pool, guests and family members kids might be prone to open it, look inside and even remove the tablet dropping it to the bottom of the pool. This could cause a stain.
- Stain liner if in same location for prolonged times. The floater might get stuck in an area such as near a ladder or step. This can cause some fading of a vinyl liner due to extended periods of chlorine being added at the same location.
- Suction will make it get caught in the skimmer. When the pool is on, the suction will cause it to be pulled into and blocking the skimmer. You can tether it with a rope at a particular location to reduce this from happening.
If you have a tight budget, or do not want to make any changes to your existing hoses or plumbing pipes on your pools filtration system, get this Aqua Ace chlorine floater. It will save you some money and you can start chlorinating your water quickly and easily.