dlsdo said:
Hi Dlsdo,
I sure am glad the letter -s is far away from the other letter, the one which could turn a person red with embarrassment in case of a typo in your name
Most of us here never had a pool. We mostly got into this hobby by choice and I bet we were all pretty nervous at the beginning. But it really is a piece of cake. Like the tag line says: Five minutes a day. And you do not have to be a chemist as my friend moaned just before she switched to Baquacil, and you should hear her moan now!
dlsdo said:
I use both, the chlorinator and BBB. I have the chlorinator set to deliver 1/4 of its full capacity and I do that to keep feeding CYA into the water. When I open in the Spring there's zero CYA even though I normally close to 50 ppm. When I open, I add enough to bring the level to 25 - 30. By the end of the season the dissolving trichlor will have brought the CYA to between 50 - 60. I open as soon as all the ice is thawed, about the middle of April, and I close the first week of November. I have a lot of water loss because of the three German Shepherds who swim several times daily and drag out a lot of water, as well as backwashing/rinse ops. So between rain and refilling the CYA stays at acceptable levels when fed in the way I do it.
Because at 1/4 strength the chlorinator doesn't put in enough chlorine and because I'm your basic control freak and like to manage my pool my way, I use BBB to effect and maintain sanitation, pH, and alkalinity. I test the water daily with a Taylor reagent kit for FC, TC, and pH, and I add BBB as needed. When I have to be gone for a long weekend or even up to a week, I up the chlorinator to 3/4 feed capacity. My pump is on a timer and runs 7 hours at night. I have a PoolSkim for large debris, of which I have little other than dog hair since there are few trees nearby, and I use a skimmer sock for the fine stuff.
dlsdo said:
I had the algae problem because I turned the pump/filter off and went on vacation for 5 weeks. I did this knowingly, after agonizing here on the board about alternatives. I finally decided that I could deal with a green pool a whole lot easier than I could with a burnt out pump. I left the pool at something like 15 ppm of FC, my best guess since I had no way to test it. I had also added several oz of Polyquat 60. I put the solar cover on, blew it a kiss, got in the truck and drove away. Temps around here were in the mid-80 nearly the entire time I was gone and though I thought of the pool occasionally, I never once worried about it like I would have if I had left the filter running.
So, yes, the FC dropped to zero while I was gone but the chlorinator wasn't running.
There are the purists who eschew an autochlorinator and feel maintenance should be strictly BBB. I don't disagree with that philosophy at all. My life style is such that I'm not always home and I don't have any nearest neighbours or F&F to babysit the pool when I'm gone, and for those times, the chlorinator saves my butt. It has, as mentioned above, also done a good job for my pool and my conditions to keep an acceptable CYA level. I tend to have some minor issues with pH and TA at the beginning of the season but I work them out with B and B.
You asked some valid and interesting questions and I hope my replies helped you. If not, pound on me and I'll type at ya some more.
Anna
