Chlorinator help needed!

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ineedwellhelp

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I just bought a home with a Rainsoft system that also has a chlorinator and am trying to come to grips with well systems for the first time.

There's a separate tank which both the previous owner and the Rainsoft service company said to put pool chlorine tablets in.

I added some 1" pool chlorine tablets and the system seems to be working fine as the sulfur smell is gone but now I'm reading that pool chlorine isn't safe for drinking. What should I be using instead?

Rainsoft service company said the chlorinator is a Stenner but I'm not sure if that's correct or not.

Is it possible to add too much chlorine to the tank? What's the best way to verify it's enough but not too much?

When should the water should be pumping into the chlorine tank? Is it every time the pump is running or only during the regeneration of the Rainsoft system? Thanks in advance for any help or advice - I have 2 small children so I want to make sure I get this stuff right!
 
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Mialynette2003

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Chlorinators can be controlled in 1 of 2 ways. It can be connected to the well pressure switch. Anytime the well pumps come on, the chlorinator will also come on. It can be connected to a flow switch so when water is used in the home, the chlorinator will come on. A Stenner is a peristaltic that has rollers that pinch a rubber tubing to inject chlorine into the water stream. You should get a chlorine test kit and test the water after the injection point but before any filtration equipment to insure you have the right amount of chlorine (1 ppm is good whereas 5 ppm is too much). I do not recommend tablets even though they will work.
 

ditttohead

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If it is a Stenner ( a picture would help us a lot), you would need to know the injection ratio and you would add household Clorox bleach to the tank in a specific dilution ratio to achieve the proper ppm of chlorine. If it just to chlorinate the water, 1ppm is ideal. If it is to oxidize iron, manganese, hydrogen sulfide, tannins, etc, then we would need a lot more information. System type, detailed water testing, etc.



All Math below is approximates.
Clorox Bleach is 5.25% or 52,500 ppm in a gallon. This should be fed into your system according to the manufacturers recommendations based on the system type and water quality. The pump will have a dilution ratio, and your storage tank will also act as further dilution. Example: 1 gallon of bleach = 52,500 ppm, diluted in the storage tank with 40 gallons of water = 1300 ppm, Stenner pump delivers 17 gallons per day, with the well pump running at 5 GPM = approximately 3 ppm. Someone please correct my math if I am wrong, I dont do these calcs often enough.

What type of system do you have? Softener? Iron removal? H2S, tannin, etc?
 

Mialynette2003

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I use liquid chlorine usually from a pool supply place which is 10.5% strenght. The calulation Ditto used are correct even though I never use them. I simply add a gallon of chlorine to 5 gallons of water and run system until I am able to take a measurement. If it is too high, I add water until I get it to where I can measure about 1 ppm. If it's too low, I add chlorine to adjust then I know the ratio either way. Math scares me, so do clowns. LOL
 

ineedwellhelp

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I use liquid chlorine usually from a pool supply place which is 10.5% strenght. The calulation Ditto used are correct even though I never use them. I simply add a gallon of chlorine to 5 gallons of water and run system until I am able to take a measurement. If it is too high, I add water until I get it to where I can measure about 1 ppm. If it's too low, I add chlorine to adjust then I know the ratio either way. Math scares me, so do clowns. LOL

Thank you for this info. Are you measuring 1 ppm after the chlorinator but before your softener? How often do you have to refill your chlorine solution? I'm trying to get an idea of what I should be expecting for maintenance.
 

ditttohead

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In order to answer that question, we need to know why you are chlorinating and what type of equipment and your water test report. Can you provide this information?

Some system designs can handle high doses of chlorine without a problem. Carbon tanks will eat chlorine in large doses for a long time and are cheap to maintain. Softeners can be easily damaged by overdosing chlorine for extended periods of time. Other system designs require careful dosing to ensure proper water treatmetn and you dont want to feed over 3-4 PPm to the house. I prefer to keep it around .5 ppm or less going to the house.

Post some pictures and your water test results.

And I am not a fan of Clowns either,
shakesclown.jpg
 
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Mialynette2003

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There are a lot of varibles so I can not say how often you would have to refill the tank. When I set up systems for my customers, I try to make it last as long as possible. Chlorine in it's nature state is a gas so the longer it sits in the solution tank, the weaker it becomes. If you have a retention tank, you want to measure after it and before any filtration equipment. If the injection is before the pressure tank, allow the chlorine to sit in the pressure tank for about 5 minutes before testing.
 

ditttohead

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Chlorine has a short life, I recommend no longer than 2 weeks to a month max of diluted liquid make-up. With the right testing equipment, you will definetly notice a change in the chlorine concentration (PPM) from day 1 to day 30.
 
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