I was in the local Bunnings (Brisbane) for something else and saw this pool salt reduced from about $17 to $8 (cheaper than the cheap & cheerful Sunray salt).
The sale tag said (QLD & NSW) and had a date of 30/06/23, so I don't know if that means those states only and the expiry of the deal is 30/06/23 ?
Stock check (may not be accurate)
It has Aluminium Sulphate 10043-01-3 1%.
Switched our pool over to chlorine tablets during the period nobody had any salt. Pool has a cover and uses about 1 tablet every 7-10 days in the summer and 1 ever 2-3 weeks in the winter. Certainly been cheaper than adding salt every time it rains.
Plus less electricity to run the salt chlorinator. I'm back to chlorine.
Yes, and less equipment to replace… our chlorinator was 12 years old and I’ve already repaired it once.
Sorry, do mean that you just add a chlorine tablet once a week and then dont have to add any salt? Still run the pump for 6-8 hours/day?
@Deal finder: Chlorine tablet in floating dispenser, pump only needs to run enough time to turn over the water as needed. No salt needed as not using the chlorinator anymore.
Originally I considered getting an inline tablet feeder, but never had the need. The floating one was <$10 in Bunnings, which is where I get the tablets from too.
The 'directions for use' claim I would need 5 tablets a week, perhaps if I did not have a cover on it would. Just test the water and adjust as needed.
How much power is your Chlorinator using? :O
More than most people realise in these times of power price gouging.
@maxwellian: Dunno exactly. But it ain't free, especially at 38c/kWh.
And the pump needs to be running to chlorinate.
Do you mean the whole pool pump setup? Can you run only chlorinator withpout the pump or vice versa?
@Deal finder: A chlorinator uses about 0.15 - 0.2kW/hr and an average 1kW pump will obviously use 1kW, so the pump is the biggest user by far. The pump run time is determined by the circulation/fitration required, not the chlorination (unless you have a pathetic tiny chlorinator), so dropping off the chlorinator doesn't reduce the pump run time.
In Brisbane I run for 4hrs/day, so the chlorinator costs me about 0.5kWh per day or $0.13/day, and I use 1-2 bags of salt per year at $8/bag, so my pool "chlorine" costs me around $60/yr.
The Bunnings Hy-clor tablets cost $33 for 10 tablets. The instructions say to use 1 tablet/week/10,000L, which sounds like far too much, but even if I used 1 tablet per week on average, it would still cost me over $200/year on tablets.
The savings come in of course with not having to buy new chlorinators every 6-8 years, but I reckon that in my case the chlorinator + salt is still cheaper than buying stabilised chlorine - $140/yr x 7 years = $1,000, and my current chlorinator cost me $700 from memory.
@Andy01: Oh we were way over 1-2 bags a year, every major storm would be a couple of bags of salt as the pool would overflow. I'd of stuck with salt too given your numbers.
@Andy01: A new chlorinator every 7-8 years, do you mean only the cell or the whole chlorinator?
Sorry I'm just trying to understand the different components.
@Deal finder: Hard to say exactly. My first chlorinator in this pool (21 years ago) needed a new cell after about 3-4 years (it wasn't the self cleaning type that reversed polarity every start), and when the second one went after about 7 years, I was struggling to find one so I bought a new Zodiac complete unit. I think that one last about 6 years (I think) and I bought a new cell, then a few years later the timer started going bad so a bought a new Zodiac and bodgied it up to work with the old cell (they were different models). That cell died last year and I installed the cell that came with the new unit.
So I guess in 20 years (up to last year) I have had 2 units + 2 cells - all from memory as I haven't kept records.
My pool doesn't have a cover and I am in Brisbane.
Salt consumption is weird - my mate lives in a unit complex with a pool that is maintained by a "pool guy". My mate sees all of the invoices because he is the Treasurer and he reckons that the pool guy puts in at least 1, usually 2 bags of salt every fortnight (probably 40 bags a year) into a 50,000L pool. My 35,000L in the same suburb gets about 1.5 bags per year. I smell a rat !
What tablets are you using? Last time I compared costs adding chlorine all the time was way more expensive than salt + electricity, not too mention the hassle of remembering or getting somebody to do it when you're away. I do live in QLD though, very hot + humid in summer so need high levels of chlorine to prevent a green pool.
The ones Bunnings sell. Original switch was when I could not get salt and reading the packets the tablets came in I thought I was going to need 5 a week but only needed a fraction of that in reality. Obviously I only found that out through testing. It's been well over a year, including 1 QLD summer, and not had any blooms or issues yet.
Cheers, will have a look. Yeah I was going by recommended dose, worked out ~$25/week for my large pool
@LoungeLizard: Our's is covered during the swimming season, at this time of the year it's sometimes covered and sometimes not.
Was charged 9.50 at my store. Not sure if it was a misprice cause im sure i saw 8 on tag. Couldnt be bothered to go back in for a buck fifty.
![[QLD, NSW] Hy-Clor 20kg Ultra Premium Pool Salt $8 (Was $17) in Select Stores Only @ Bunnings Warehouse](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/06/784606.jpg?h=d5c0d841)
If used for table salt, this is quite cheap!
:-p