Hayward CL200 and CL220

Hayward's CL series is a tablet chlorinator in two sizes and two layouts. The CL200 and CL220 hold 9 pounds of tablets, and the CL100 and CL110 hold 4.2. The CL200 and CL100 go inline, glued or threaded into the return pipe. The CL220 and CL110 sit beside it, fed through two tubes. How tablet chlorinators work covers where any feeder goes and why. This page is about Hayward's: what the letters on the end of the model number mean, what the dial really does, and which part numbers have changed since the manual was printed.

Reading the model number

• EF — the same feeder with English and French instructions, per Hayward Support. A CL200EF is a CL200.
• 2S — the CL2002S is the CL200 with 2-inch slip ports instead of 1½-inch female threads.
• ABG — the above-ground versions, the CL110ABG and CL220ABG.
• BR — the CL220BR brominator, which has its own manual and takes bromine tablets. Hayward Support says it's the only brominator Hayward makes.

The inline feeders ship without connectors. Asked whether the CL200 comes with threaded connectors, Hayward Support said it does not. Socket unions are SP1500UNPAK2, which Support says are PVC and glue on with normal PVC cement, and male thread unions are SP1500UNMPAK1.

What goes in it

Both manuals open with a DANGER notice. Use only slow-dissolving trichlor tablets, never fast-dissolving ones, and never mix trichlor with calcium hypochlorite or any other concentrated chlorine. Hayward says fire or explosion may result. Its NSF testing used 3-inch trichlor tablets with 90% available chlorine.

Two things owners ask about that the manual doesn't cover:

• Unstabilized tablets. Asked about the CL2002S, Hayward Support said you cannot use them, and that Hayward has no chlorinator that can.
• Bromine in a chlorine feeder. Hayward Support says no. You need the CL220BR, and the CL220BR's own manual allows only slow-dissolving bromine tablets.

The manual also warns never to add other chlorine, pH adjusters, shock or algaecide through the skimmer. They go directly into the pool.

What the dial does

Hayward's specification table rates the CL200 at 2.30 pounds of chlorine a day fully open on a pool, and 0.63 at 50%. So halfway on the dial gives a little over a quarter of full output. The CL220BR's own table gives 2.45 pounds of bromine a day fully open and 0.66 at half.

The manual doesn't give a setting. It says to start with water balanced and holding about 1.0 to 1.5 ppm, check daily, and find the setting by experiment. On the CL100, Hayward Support says turning the knob right gives more chlorine and left gives less.

When you vacuum, close the valve so sediment doesn't get past it and clog it. Before anything stops the flow, a backwash included, the manual says to set the dial to zero. Keep backwashes short, and keep swimmers out until full flow is back.

Where it goes

The manual says to install the feeder after the heater, or after the filter if there's no heater, because concentrated chlorine flowing through them can damage both. Hayward's feeder chart says the same thing more broadly: on the return line, after the last heating appliance. For the inline models, the manual says an inline positive-seal, corrosion-resistant check valve should go in to reduce backflow of chlorine gas when the system shuts off. Never put either type into copper plumbing.

For the offline models, the manual takes the inlet after the pump and before the filter, and the outlet after the heater. You drill a 3/8-inch hole at each point and clamp a saddle fitting over it. The saddles fit 1½ or 2-inch pipe. Hayward Support says Hayward doesn't make a clamp for 3-inch pipe, and that one can be found at a hardware or marine store. The check valve threads into the feeder's outlet port.

Hayward's parts lookup also lists fittings with a 1/4-inch tap for the offline feeders: SPX1480BTC, a union end, and two above-ground adapters, SPX1091Z7TC and SPX1105Z4TC.

Refilling, and a lid that sticks

The manual's order is pump and timers off, feeder valve to OFF, check that the return to the pool is open, then wait a minute for the pressure to bleed off before taking the cover off. It warns that the feeder may be under pressure and not to breathe the fumes. If the feeder sits below water level, close the valves that isolate it first.

Several owners on Hayward's product pages ask about a lid that won't unscrew. Hayward Support's answer is to make sure there's no pressure on it, then lube the O-ring with a silicone lubricant such as Jack's 327 so it comes off easier next time. The manual says never to use a petroleum lubricant on it.

Changing the CLX200K O-ring means taking the cover apart. Pry off the logo cap, unscrew the retaining screw, and the cover slips free of the cover cap. It goes back with a slip washer on the stem inside and another under the screw head.

Winter

Where it freezes, the manual says to drain the feeder, pull the drain plug on an inline unit, take out every tablet and every piece of tablet, rinse it out, and put the cover and plug back.

On the CL220ABG's product page, an owner describes a CL220 that went off with a bang when they tried to open it, a few weeks after closing the pool with some half-dissolved tablets left inside. Hayward Support agreed that chlorine gas had built up and pressurized the canister because it had no outlet.

Part numbers that have changed

The manual still prints several numbers that Hayward's parts lookup and its own site have since replaced. If a counter can't find one, try the other:

• CLX220CV check valve and CLX220D inlet adapter are now one assembly, CLX220EA
• CLX220H compression nuts are sold as a set of four, CLX220HPAK4
• CLX200E logo cap, CLX200G screw and CLX200W slip washers are sold as the CLX200EGA cover kit
• SPX1700FA drain plug on the CL200 table is SPX1700FGV in the lookup, the same plug the manual lists for the CL100
• SPX1500UNPAK unions in the CL200 table are SP1500UNPAK2 in the manual's own text and the lookup
• SP032712 Jack's Lube is SPX0327 on Hayward's site and on its feeder chart
• CLX100C cover in the CL110 table is CLX110C in the lookup and on the site

Two covers need care. The manual's CL220 table gives the cover cap as CLX200C2. Hayward's parts lookup calls that the bromine feeder's cap, and says to add a 2 to the cover and cap numbers for a bromine feeder, which makes CLX200C the chlorine one. The CL220BR's own manual lists the plain CLX200B and CLX200C. The two disagree, so check with the counter before ordering a cover for a brominator.

The feeder tube appears as CLX200H in the manual, for some models, and as CLX200DA, a feeder tube and boot, in the lookup. Both have product pages.