Does CYA always leave in winter?

[doc8404]

Here's why. Currently at 50 or so.
I have leftover Bioguard Silk Smart Sticks and I figure this would be the time of year to get rid of them due to low to soon-to-be no bather load. Also have a few bags of their shock.

I figured using them now would help me get rid of them and be an ideal time since I know will add CYA but should be gone by the spring or at least lower.

And one last question. Do I truly need to remove the spider gasket? I didn't last year

 

[duraleigh]

CYA does not disappear as a rule. Most times, it stays in the pool. You are better off to wait 'til Spring and see where you are then.

I am not a closer type guy....too far South. I see no need to remove the spider gasket.

 

[singingpond]

No, CYA is by no means guaranteed to disappear over the winter. It sometimes happens, more often doesn't.

Just read a post earlier today where someone bought a house with a pool neglected for 4 years, looked like a total black swamp, and still had CYA over 100.

 

[doc8404]

Thanks guys. Will do what I did last year and open to a clear pool (I hope)

 

[jrguzmanr]

My CYA "disappears" every year. The first year of owning a pool, I opened to 100 CYA, by closing time it was 80 and the next spring it was 0 and is 0 every spring thereafter. I agree to close it as is and see where it is next spring.

 

[ship of fools]

Mine disappears every winter also. I am in the same general area as the OP so maybe it's a northern exposure thing?

 

[JoeSelf]

I only lose a little over the winter in S NJ.

 

[camueller]

I wish mine disappeared in the winter. Then I wouldn't have had to drain half of my pool at start up earlier this year.

 

[blue pool]

It all depend how you close/winterize your pool. In the North we had a mesh cover where the rain and snow melted and diluted the CYA and in the spring mine would be 0. My neighbor had a automatic cover and never lost any CYA. It varies from one pool to the next.

 

[camueller]

CYA doesn't dilute. Ammonia and heat are the only two things I've read around here that will cause CYA to disappear. Heat does it slowly, and you don't want/shouldn't have ammonia in your pool. Otherwise you lose CYA from draining the pool or losing water. I would assume you lost water when it get displaced by the melted snow.

My water was 160ppm CYA after opening it this summer...and that was after having drained it down about a foot at close, getting several large rains over the winter and having to pump out more on multiple occasions so the pool didn't overflow. With all that water I sent down the drain, I was pretty amazed my CYA was still 160, and scared to think what it must have been before that.

 

[pabeader]

camueller- Actually, ammonia comes from CYA under very specific circumstances. So far we haven't been able to nail down the specific things that are required.

CYA can dilute if there is a large enough amount of water and overflow. It's much more effective if the CYA laden water is removed first.

 

[ship of fools]

camueller- Actually, ammonia comes from CYA under very specific circumstances. So far we haven't been able to nail down the specific things that are required.

CYA can dilute if there is a large enough amount of water and overflow. It's much more effective if the CYA laden water is removed first.

There must be more to it. I have had my pool 7 or 8 years now and NEVER have any CYA when i open and i have never had ammonia. There isn't any water exchanged since i pump it down a bit when i close and then let the rain and snow raise the water level since everything is winterized.

Every year i have to bring my stabilizer level back up. I do keep it fairly low (30-40) during the summer so maybe that has something to do with it.

 

[pooldv]

There are several steps in the nitrification process. If there are sufficient levels of the right bacteria in the pool then it won't stop at ammonia. The first stage is ammonia then nitrite and then nitrate.