Three Letters Re: An Alternative to Calcium Hypochlorite, by TLS

HJL,

Great article on the Pentair Intellichlor. A couple of things I gleaned from the Amazon listing attached to the article:

“…I’ve been told the power unit is simply a fancy transformer that reduces the voltage from 120V down to 12V…”

So, perhaps the unit can be run, grid-down, without the need for an (energy consuming) inverter? (directly from a battery bank?) And:

“It won’t generate chlorine if the water temperature is too cold. The water temp needs to be at least 52 degrees.”

Good to be aware of this limiting factor. – Best, P.R.

o o o

Hugh,

We all thought we’d hit a home run by storing up pool shock. Now my mind leans toward getting my prep team involved in building a 12V powered, portable “chlorinated solution generator” using one of the smaller IntelliChlor cells. What a barter resource. – DD in CO

o o o

Hugh,

A quick tip regarding the comment on stocking salt. Morton pool salt used for salt water swimming pools is 100% NaCl. I called them regarding its potential use for human consumption, and they replied that it is not approved by the FDA but it is pure. The pool salt sells in 50 pound bags for about $5. I can’t speak for any other brand.

Also, regarding the article “Obsoleting Sodium Hypochlorite”: This is an insightful and honest article on what seems to be a good product. One thing to add regarding your warning about cryptosporidium (warning 3): sunlight breaks down sodium hypochlorite (Editors note: Actually, UV radiation rapidly converts the free chlorine, which does the work of sanitization, into chloride, which is useless). If you are going to drink the water immediately, this is not a problem, and in fact, it may be a benefit. However, if the water will be stored at all, maintaining the recommended 1 ppm will likely require another addition after sun exposure.