Chlorine Prices In 2023
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Are chlorine prices going to go up in 2023? Swimming pool owners are wising up to the fact that year after year they are experiencing increases in chlorine prices. Throughout the early stages of the pandemic the cost of chlorine related products started to rise and multiple compounding factors such as distribution backlogs and a major chlorine manufacturer experiencing a serious fire at their main manufacturing location caused the price increases to keep on coming. So has the worst of the cost increases already happened? Will chlorine prices go back down for the 2023 swimming season?
Uh, bad news you guys. I think that I can say with a fair degree of confidence that chlorine prices are not going to go back down in 2023. I think at best you can hope for no nationwide shortages. As of this writing in mid-November 2022 I have already received two chlorine price increase notices for next season. One of which indicated a 30% increase in cost. For context, it would be normal to experience anywhere from nothing up to perhaps 5% or so as a price increase from a manufacturer or supplier. So right away a single price increase of 30% is extremely concerning to me as this already will require price adjustments throughout the service and maintenance industry to account for this increase. People will switch types of chlorine that they use in pursuit of cost savings, and this will further strain supply chains and cause periodic shortages. I think this is going to be another year where we hear a lot about chlorine, the lack of it and the ever-increasing costs associated with buying and using in your pool. Perhaps things will pull back by the start of next season, but I suspect not. Once prices go up they tend to stay up, at least in my experience.
So how can a forward thinking swimming pool owner deal with these constant price increases for chlorine? Unfortunately you are at a little bit of a disadvantage since you definitely need chlorine in your pool. Alternatives where you use no chlorine sanitizer at all are few and far in between, so generally I advise pool owners that you should attempt to make efficiency improvements to your pool chemistry and your pool maintenance in order to stretch your chlorine dollars to the maximum degree. Further, you also have the option to divorce from your dependence on chlorine products by installing hardware such as a salt chlorine generator. These are extremely common and not all that expensive to boot. In addition to this mainstream approach to hardware upgrades there are also less common but equally viable chlorine generation systems available for pools, and perhaps now is the time for you to look into options like this more seriously.
Ways to reduce chlorine usage in swimming pools - There are a host of efficiency improvements that you could make right away with your swimming pool starting with installing an outdoor shower near to the pool for rinsing before jumping in the water. There is a reason why they have people do this at public pools before swimming and if you want to use less chlorine this is just low hanging fruit for you to grab. So is the use of a pool cover when the pool is not in use. Using a solar cover on the pool can reduce the evaporation by more than 90% which is going to have an appreciable effect on the chlorine that you use. If you have to keep filling your pool with fresh water and then treating that with chlorine this is going to add up. Remember that one inch of water loss in a 20x40' pool is equal to 500 gallons of water! So refilling your pool a few extra inches of water per week absolutely will add up to greater chlorine costs. If you want to maximize your chlorine use then it would be a good idea to also explore the use of borates in your pool at 30 to 50 parts per million. Many pool industry specialists have made this change to reduce on chlorine costs for thousands of swimming pools on their service routes, and generally the results have been more steady pH control, reduction in chlorine demand in the water, and pool owners comment that the water feels softer, like a salt water pool. Definitely something worth exploring if you are a pool owner looking to spend less on chlorine in the upcoming year.
With price increases already arriving for the 2023 swimming season I feel confident that we will see more before the swing of next year has hit. I hope this does not come off as a doom and gloom attitude, but instead hope my readers appreciate the heads up on what is very likely to be the case come the start of next year. It is better to be prepared and there are a lot of options on the table for pool owners. The number one thing I would endorse pool owners to do, aside from installing a chlorine generation system, would be to supplement the chlorine sanitizer with either a germicidal UV unit or an AOP generation system. Both of these options can help reduce on the chlorine that you need in your pool to maintain a safe swimming environment. They do represent an investment in your water quality, but I think over the next few years you will find this investment may pay for itself with ever-increasing chlorine costs to maintain your pool water.
Tips for reducing much chlorine you use
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Swimming Pool Steve is an award winning, second generation swimming pool and spa specialist from Ontario Canada. With over 10,000,000 views on the Swimming Pool Steve YouTube Channel, winner of the 2018 Pool & Spa Industry Leadership award and author of hundreds of pool and spa articles both online and in print Steve is committed to helping pool and spa owners as well as pool and spa industry workers learn more about the technical side of building, renovating, repairing and maintaining all types of swimming pools and spas. Follow Swimming Pool Steve on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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