Posted on 05/01/2021 4:58:33 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A shortage of chlorine could have a significant impact on public and private pools this summer. The shortage comes amid a surge in demand for chlorine tablets as homeowners and municipalities begin to prepare their pools for the warm summer months.
“It’s probably going to be in short supply this summer,” Pat Allman, general manager of Tampa-based Odyssey Manufacturing, told the Miami Herald. “You’re going to go to your local pool store, and they’re going to be out for a day or two. It’s not going to be all gloom and doom. You just might not shock or clean or kill all of the algae as much as you want to.”
Odyssey Manufacturing makes more than 40 percent of liquid chlorine sold in Florida.
The shortage was exasperated last summer after a chemical plant was destroyed in a fire caused by Hurricane Laura. Louisiana-based BioLab was one of just three companies that manufactures trichlor tablets, which are used to keep pool water clean and sanitized. The company said it hopes to resume operations in 2022, leaving just two factories to handle the demand.
Since the fire, the cost of the tablets has doubled.
Another issue contributing to the shortage is the large number of newly built pools. When the coronavirus pandemic forced public pools to close last year, many homeowners invested in new pools, increasing the demand for chlorine.
According to NBC News, there are more than five million residential inground pools and 255,000 commercial pools, and that between 60% to 70% use chlorine tablets to keep the water clean.
Several pool maintenance companies told CNBC, they are stockpiling chlorine over concerns the supply may run out.
“We started buying early, way early, and stockpiled as much as we could,” said Allan Curtis, whose business, Ask the Pool Guy, services about 1,000 customers in Michigan. “We won’t last more than probably mid-May, or late May, and we’ll be out of chlorine.”
Curtis said there are other options for people to sanitize their pool, but he expects those products to be in short supply as well.
″[I expect pool owners] will have to go from tablets to powdered chlorine, from powdered chlorine to liquid chlorine, from liquid chlorine to nonchlorinated shocks and things,” Curtis said. “And I do believe that all of those are going to literally run out.”
“I call it ‘Poolmageddon.’ It’s a chlorine crisis,” he added. “A lot of people are not going to be able to find the chlorine tablets they need this season.”
Well good !
HydrogenPeroxide is much safer and the byproducts after disinfection are water and oxygen.
Pool RX. Never buy algaecide again and cut your chlorine use by 2/3rds. Or prolong the life of your saltwater chlorinator.
Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) is not compatible for swimming pool use to control algae, etc.
The cheap little bottle of first aide grade peroxide is not a good reference point for the $$$ used for pool disinfection. First of all, the peroxide concentration in that little bottle is pretty low. It would take a whole pile of bottles to get enough peroxide into a swimming pool volume of water. Expensive.
Peroxide is also a very hazardous material when you go to higher concentrations to reduce the volume of liquid needed for a task. High level PPE and expensive storage provisions are needed. Shipping is expensive at higher concentrations as peroxide’s are a DOT hazardous material thus entail lots of shipping restrictions plus a hazardous cargo endorsement to the basic CDL.
So, hydrogen peroxide is not a compatible choice for pool disinfection.
A salt water pool is a valid option but it’s not a free ride running one. Salt water pools take their own variety of daily monitoring and fussing with water chemistry balancing. That said, if I were putting in a new pool or investing in upgrading an existing pool, I’d probably go with a salt water pool.
I run a mostly liquid chlorine pool and 2020 was awful. I had to go back to tablets for last year. This season is shaping up to be “normal” for my pool needs.
I sell pool chemicals.
Stick with non stabilized chlorine.
Add stabilizer when needed. Approx 30ppm.
Keep your pH approx 7.6
The pools I maintain stay crystal clear.
Pools are a real PITA!
I’ve been dealing with mine when we bought this house back in ‘05. It was in bad shape as the bank let the pool go with the house being in foreclosure.
My instincts were to have it properly deconstructed no matter the cost. Nope, the bride decided it was best for the family to have it. I’ve been literally paying for in every way it ever since.
Are you talking about CCH tablets or liquid chlorine (I know both are non-stabilized chlorine).
CCH are non stabilized used in special feeders. Liquid chlorine is just bleach, sodium hypochlorite. Dry chlorine is calcium hypochlorite.
The price of tablets are up 35%. Granular about 10%
I’d never use the tablets anyway. Too much CYA.
Amen to that my FRiend.
Appreciate the schooling. I’ve used 35% H2O2 with a UV filter in the hot tub for years and am not yet dead but getting closer.
Been a while since I’ve read up on it and see it’s not as accepted as before.
Still not a fan of chlorine.
Will read more on salt water
Thx
Yep. When I lived in the metro plex, I burried mine. What a PITA! Slip and slides are more fun.
Screw chlorine
I used To give these away for free with the new solar system
Www.floatron.com The FLOATRON !
Glad I just bought a bucket of bromine tablets for my spa. Should be enough to get through the Summer.
We use liquid chlorine and I have enough to last the summer.
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