New endless pool user water treatment

[PoolDoc]

The answers to your questions are long and complex.

The whole "I'm allergic to chlorine" issue comes up regularly, if not frequently, so I'm writing a pretty extended response that we can reuse for the rest of the season, but I'll make some quick comments:

1. Baquacil itself (PHMB, biguanide) is harmless to pools, but the hydrogen peroxide shock WILL damage polycarbonate (ie, clear plastic) components. You either have to replace those components with a resistant plastic, like PVC, or stop using the Baquacil system.

2. Clear Choice is bogus. I'll cover that in detail in the longer response.

3. If your water company is North Coast County Water district, and you take showers in their water, you do not have a chlorine allergy . . . or even much of a chlorine sensitivity. They report shipping water with 2ppm of monochloramine, which is fairly irritating -- FAR more irritating than 2ppm free chlorine.

I'm not saying you're not reacting to SOMETHING -- I'm just saying, whatever it is, it's not simple chlorine. You may want to look at this page, from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology: Chlorine Allergy - Reality or Myth?

Your options really come down to these 4:

1. You continue to use Baquacil, but replace the vulnerable components. We don't support PHMB use, here. We're not opposed to it -- we just don't provide support.

2. You could do a UV + peroxide + polyquat system. You'd get fabulous water quality. But it would be expensive, high maintenance, and you'd STILL have to replace the clear plastic. I'm the only person I know who's done such a system; I know other people have as well, but I don't know who they are. So, you can count on them being hard to find, and expensive.

3. You use chlorine correctly (NOT the way most dealers teach). You will likely discover that whatever was causing the problem, is not present in a CORRECTLY maintained chlorine pool.
We CAN support you then; that's what we do here.

4. You can use one of the copper / silver mineral products with monopersulfate. So long as ONLY your family uses the pool, AND none of them have a transmissible disease that could infect the rest of the family, AND no one has blond hair . . . you'll probably be OK. Those systems can prevent most pathogens from GROWING in pool or spa water. But they do not act quickly enough to protect you against pathogens that enter the water in, or on, the body of another swimmer, which is how MOST disease transmission in pools and spas occur. We definitely do not provide support for the use of those products.