FAQ’s About The Puripool Process

Our mobile filtration trailer utilizes Reverse Osmosis (RO) to lower Calcium Hardness, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), salts, phosphates, Cyanuric Acid (CYA), waterborne diseases, and other contaminants from the swimming pool. The trailers are completely self-contained and run on their own power. Two hoses come from the trailer and one is attached to a pump that takes water from your swimming pool into the mobile filtration trailer. The water is pre-treated before it contacts the RO membranes and then pure water is returned to the swimming pool. Depending on the initial TDS reading, we can predict how long the process will take to lower the TDS and calcium levels to below what can be obtained from your cities tap. There is no downtime during the process and the interior finish of the swimming pool is never exposed.

Currently, we are able to treat 40,000-gallons a day, to drinking water levels! Obviously, the size of your pool is the deciding factor on how long it will take based on this level. However, most residential swimming pools will take between 16 and 20 hours to complete and commercial pools take longer.

Absolutely! In fact, you can actually swim in the pool during the filtration process! There are no power cords or electricity in or near your pool, nor are they laying around for someone to trip on. An inch and a half hose with a Virginia Graeme Baker Act (VGBA) compliant fitting are placed in one end of the pool to draw the water back to the trailer for treatment and another inch and a half hose returns the clean (drinkable!) water back to your pool. That’s it! We are 100% self-contained and do not need to inconvenience you for electricity or extension cords or an outlet. All we need from you is a fresh water supply to replenish the small amount of water, approximately 15 – 20%, that is lost during the process. With that said, if you choose to swim it is completely safe!

The trailer has a touchscreen control that also has a web server built-in. We can log in and see the TDS level of the water coming into the trailer and out, the pressure of the water arriving at the 10micron prefilter and coming out of it, and the pressure into and out of the RO membranes.  We can start and stop the system, and speed up or slow down the pumps.

1. Water from the pool is pulled in through the suction line to the trailer where it first encounters the
2. UV purification system. This kills off harmful bacteria that might be present in the water.  Then the water moves on to the
3. Pre-filter bag that keeps dirt and other larger suspended solids from going through the Reverse Osmosis membranes.
4. The water then goes through a large motor that pressurizes the water to 200 psi for the Reverse Osmosis (RO) membranes.
5. The water is squeezed through the RO membranes.  This is the step that removes the dissolved solids.
6. The purified water that makes it through the membranes is returned to the pool immediately. The impurities that were rejected by the membranes are sent down the sewer.
7. The water that is sent down the sewer is replaced with a standard hose connection to the trailer, or through auto-fill if the pool is so equipped.

If scaling has occurred that is the best way to know your water is hard but it isn’t always visible to the naked eye. Your best chance of seeing it is if you turn on the lights for your swimming pool at night. Typically, at night you can see them floating around your pool! Trust us when we say if you haven’t changed out the water in your swimming pool in two or more years, it’s there!

Pool equipment (heaters and pumps) will not honor the equipment warranty if your water has too high of calcium content.  Many manufacturers consider just 400 ppm (parts per million) as too high.  Most tap water in Southern California is well over 200 ppm.  The water in the pool will eventually evaporate- leaving behind the calcium.  Every time you refill your pool water, you are just adding more calcium.

How bad can calcium really be?  Limestone- a sedimentary rock is made of calcium.  Hard water is really just a measure of how much calcium is dissolved in your water.  This is a very hard mineral deposit and it can-and does-affect your pool equipment. Once this Calcium Carbonate builds up in the heat exchanger, the heater cannot efficiently heat the water, and it takes longer and consumes more gas than it should. Over time, the heat exchanger will fail and the heater becomes useless. New heaters are very expensive!

A Calcium buildup in your pool pump will eventually cause your pump to fail as well. Did you know that swimming pool pump manufacturers do not warranty pumps (or heaters, for that matter) that have failed due to hard water deposits? Pumps, while not to the extent of heaters, are also very expensive to replace.

Does your plaster look like it has a disease? That is the scale or hard water build-up, and it is not only unsightly but also detrimental to the plaster itself. Calcium builds on itself and blotchy “stains” appear. Some may even look like small stalagmites growing up and out of your pool floor and walls (which is exactly what they are) This scale can also deposit itself in your pool plumbing lines and inside your filter.

You may not be able to see it in the water, but you can see the effects in other areas.  Calcium deposits form on the waterline tile and on the pool surface itself.  Do you have weird, white growths on your pool walls and bottom?  They are probably calcium deposits.  Calcium is the ingredient that makes limestone, and although it is not the hardest rock around, it is still a rock that forms from calcium deposits.  This is why pool equipment manufacturers will often void their warranty if your pool water contains over 400 ppm (parts per million) of calcium.

In the past, the water was dumped down the drain! If the average pool has 20,000 gallons of water and if only 1,000 pool owners (out of the tens of thousands in our area!) dump their water a year, that means 20,000,000 gallons of water is wasted!