Simplified Chemical Control

While commercial pools may vary in size, their needs remain similar. So when a product comes along that offers innovation and ease-of-use for all kinds of pools, professionals notice. The team at Sigura, headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, believes its Pulsar Precision calcium hypochlorite top feeder can provide a water-sanitizing solution that eclipses liquid bleach.

Launched in early 2020, the Pulsar Precision is designed to provide consistent, accurate chlorination, resulting in protective calcium and stabilized pH (via the calcium hypochlorite), all with little maintenance required.

Mike Smith, director of sales for Knorr Systems in Santa Ana, California, has been a Pulsar dealer for 30 years. The company’s first Precision feeder installation was in late 2019.

Smith says the Precision is the best calcium hypochlorite feeder available on the market. “I am impressed with the Precision’s design that efficiently dissolves and feeds Pulsar briquettes with minimum maintenance,” he says. “One of the problems inherent in cal-hypo feeders is the need for frequent cleaning due to a build-up of scale. The Precision is engineered to reduce scaling — and the engineering works.”

Using the company’s own calcium hypochlorite briquettes, David Blanchette, engineering manager for Sigura, says he is proud of the bleach alternative his team has produced. Calcium hypochlorite provides mineral saturation to the water to protect the pool surface and equipment, Blanchette explains. “It provides the best clarity of water possible due to the lower TDS (total dissolved solids) and ability of the calcium carbonate to improve filtration by acting as a filter aid to capture smaller particulates,” he adds.

Blanchette says he is also proud of the features and chemistry that make the Pulsar Precision tick, from limiting booster pump run-time (to reduce carbon footprint) to incorporating a dustless loading feature that provides additional hopper capacity and cal-hypo dust reduction during loading.

“Notably, the Pulsar Precision feeder had the most accurate/precise chlorine output rates of all the feeders we submitted to NSF (National Sanitation Foundation) in my more than 20 years with Sigura, hence the name Precision,” Blanchette says.

Brian Spear, president of Spear Corporation in Roachdale, Indiana, has been selling and installing Pulsar products for more than 25 years. Spear’s team has had its hands on the Pulsar Precision for approximately 18 months.

“The Precision is easier to [clean], and I like the chlorine output for multiple sizes of pools,” Spear says. “One unit can maintain chlorine levels for a wide range of pool sizes in a small footprint. Ease of installation and simple controls also make it a user-friendly product.”

Sigura sites the flexible design as allowing the Pulsar Precision to integrate easily with any size pool. In conjunction with the calcium hypochlorite briquettes, dealers like Spear are seeing a fresh concentrated chlorine solution that could be a new standard in commercial feeders.

Pulsar sales manager Terry Grisham says Sigura’s motivation for creating the Pulsar Precision was to develop a chlorination system that delivers precise levels of sanitation and to provide a low maintenance, high-capacity erosion cal-hypo feeder for the commercial pool market.

“The new technology offers reliable, precise chemical control with rotomolded feeder quality to provide years of solid performance,” Grisham says. “The result is bright, crisp and clear calcium hypochlorite–treated water.”

Smith notes that commercial pool sites his company serves that had previous generations of Pulsars required weekly servicing on those feeders. After installing a Precision Pulsar feeder at these sites, they are going over six months before the feeder needs to be cleaned.

“It has long been acknowledged in the aquatics industry that Pulsar briquettes are the best cal-hypo product available for pools,” Smith says. “With the Precision feeder, the Pulsar line now also has the best feeder available. Knorr Systems’ customers have learned that there is no better way to maintain proper chlorination in their high-load, institutional swimming pools.”