R-0013 go bad?

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Noggin

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Mar 14, 2010
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When I first received my TF100 test kit back around March or so, my CYA measured at about 70 to 80 PPM. I ended up draining a few inches of water from the pool in maybe April or May while vacuuming and refilled. My CYA tested at about 55 to 60 after that. A couple of months ago I measured my CYA at about 40. Just now, I did the CYA test twice and both times the water in the tube was crystal clear.

Last week, we had a nasty rain storm come through and as a result, my pump died. It took me 8 days to get a replacement pump and get everything plumbed in, so my pool was quite green. My pH has also been sitting a bit on the high side due to my lazyness for the last two months, maybe 7.8 or so.

Which would be more likely? 40ppm CYA gone in two months (with a week of no chlorine/circulation) and a water temperature of 90 deg F, or a bad reagent? The reagent has been stored in my kitchen on top of my refrigerator.

I'm reluctant to add CYA, but if it really is that low, then I guess I can finally use that 40 lb bucket of hockey pucks I bought less than a week before I found this site.
 
Of course, I will be answering with a little prejudice but to this point (knock on wood), the R-0013 reagent seems to be pretty dependable stuff. The current bottle I am using is 2 years old and, to my knowledge, we have no reports of it having gone "bad" with anyone to date.

Do you have an autofill that could be keeping your pool level up compensating for a leak? That is a stretch but would explain it. Splashout and normal refills would also explain quite a bit of it but certainly not going to zero like yours has apparently done.

Can you confirm your test with a pool store (don't even bother if they use strips) or can you test a neighbors pool with a known quantity of existing CYA?
 
I don't trust my pool stores. The last time I went to a pool store to get my water tested, I went to all 3 stores in the area with a single water sample. The first store told me it was 80, the second said 65, and the third said it was 30. I don't know anyone personally that has an actual test kit. Do you think a pool store would carry the CYA reagent? I don't have an auto fill, and not a lot of water is splashed out. We probably only use the pool for an hour a week on average. I do have to add about an inch of water every week or two, but I think that is due to evaporation and not a leak.

Edit: And none of my pool-neighbors I know about test their stuff on a regular basis. I suppose that I don't care what their CYA level is, I just want to know if the reagent I have is capable of measuring CYA since it was crystal clear when I did mine.
 
I just finished a 16oz. bottle of R-0013. It's actually 3 1/2 years old. It's given me pretty much the exact results I would expect all along. (I use pucks when I travel, but this year I was never gone long enough to bother.) It has been stored under fairly ideal conditions, but for this user, it seems very stable.
 
Well if you say you store it on top of your fridge, I believe the top of the fridge does get a little warm so the extra heat maybe could have made it go bad. This could be a stretch as well. Also depending on how much light is shining in, it could be getting hit by direct sunlight? From what I have read, it should be stored in a dark cool place.
 
I just bought a 2oz CR0013 refill locally from my Krevco (pool store) for $13, just buy another bottle to confirm its accuracy...its the only one I run out of so if yours is OK you will have spare. Too cheap to replace to guess on a proper reading considering the consequences of adding more CYA and inadvertantly doubling your levels.
 
Ok, I'll check my local pool shop after work today. Hopefully they'll have some. I'm going on vacation in about a week, so having no CYA would be a GOOD thing so that I can use my pucks guilt free :) I'd LOVE to find out that I have no CYA (so long as it stops going away)

And the top of the fridge does get a bit warm, but only by a couple of degrees. And no direct sunlight can reach it there either, we don't have many windows on the house.

Thanks guys, I'll have an answer on the CYA shortly I hope.
 
Noggin said:
I don't trust my pool stores. The last time I went to a pool store to get my water tested, I went to all 3 stores in the area with a single water sample. The first store told me it was 80, the second said 65, and the third said it was 30. I don't know anyone personally that has an actual test kit. Do you think a pool store would carry the CYA reagent? I don't have an auto fill, and not a lot of water is splashed out. We probably only use the pool for an hour a week on average. I do have to add about an inch of water every week or two, but I think that is due to evaporation and not a leak.

Edit: And none of my pool-neighbors I know about test their stuff on a regular basis. I suppose that I don't care what their CYA level is, I just want to know if the reagent I have is capable of measuring CYA since it was crystal clear when I did mine.
Click to expand...

You could always order a bottle of the 50ppm standard Dave carries to double check the accuracy of your CYA testing.
 

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I picked 0.75 oz of Taylor R0013 from the pool store today, enough to do a test with a bit left over. Water was perfectly clear again, I think I lost 80ppm CYA since March. Are there any other things that can throw the CYA test off? Water temp is 88 deg F, pH is a bit high still (about to go adjust it). I think I'll go to the pool store after work and pick up a gallon of that milky stuff to get the stabilizer up. I'll mix a drop of that with with some pool water and run the test on it before I add the whole thing though.

dmanb2b said:
You could always order a bottle of the 50ppm standard Dave carries to double check the accuracy of your CYA testing.
Click to expand...
Cool, didn't realize that was an option. I might do that for the one test that I've never been able to get a reading with on my pool. Supposed to turn blue or something, but it never does it just gets more and more clear as I add more and more chemical. Don't remember which test it was though.
 
I added a bottle of liquid stabilizer (looks milky) that is supposed to raise 10,000 gallons of water by 30ppm CYA. My pool is about 15,000 gallons, and CYA now tests at 20ppm
 
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