Chlorine lock

[rt]

I have been trying to open my pool up for the last three weeks and when getting my water tested, I am told that I have no available free chlorine. I have shocked so much (over 60 lbs) it has about put me in the poor house. I have been a pool owner for the past 25 years and grew up as a kid with a pool and I have never gone through anything of this magnitude. Anyone have any suggestions? everything thing else in the pool is balanced.

I am thinking that I might move over to a salt generator......any thoughts on this as well?

thanks

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome to the forum :lol:

I can think of a couple of reasons for this to occur but it's only speculation until you can post up some test results. How have you been testing in the past? Do you have current results?

 

[Bama Rambler]

There is no such thing as chlorine lock. It's what the pool stores like to say when something happens to either require a ton of chlorine to clear it or when the CYA is so high that it requires a lot of FC to shock the pool.

As Dave said, post a full set of test results and how you got them.
Also post what all you've put in the pool lately.

 

[rt]

Tested at the local pool store
Free Chlor- 0
total chlor- 1.94
alkalinity- 100 ppm
pH- 7.4
hardness- 196

all the pool store keeps saying is to add shock to break it, this has been with four trips to the store. I did add algicide as well but that is were I stand

thanks

 

[JamesW]

The most important thing you can do is to get your own FAS-DPD test kit.

It is quite possible that whoever is testing your water is using a chlorine test that bleaches out at high levels and they are incorrectly assuming that you do not have any chlorine.

Did they test for cyanuric acid?

 

[rt]

yes........the cyanuric acid is @ 13

thanks

 

[rt]

any suggestions to bring up the free available chlorine off the 0 range.

thanks

 

[Bama Rambler]

Do you have a OTO chlorine test. (it's usually combined with the pH test?
If so test the chlorine with it and post back if it turns yellow.

 

[zea3]

What product have you been using to shock the pool? It is important for us to know that in order to tell you how to proceed.

 

[JasonLion]

I hope you don't get put off by all the questions We are trying to figure out what has been happening, and there are still several possibilities. You might be losing chlorine to sunlight, or to ammonia in the water, or your current chlorine level could be really high and the test might be wrong. With a little more information we should be able to pick one of those three possibilities.

 

[rt]

thanks for the response. tested with the OTO and very yellow. Also I am shocking with Calcium Hypochlorite 68%. using Tri Chlor 3" tabs in chlorinator.

i need all the help I can get...keep the questions coming

 

[rt]

I failed to mention this part and do not know if it means anything but it is the first year I have seen this happen. When I shock the pool it looks like the shock cakes up on the surface and takes a good while to go away

 

[JasonLion]

The simple OTO chlorine test is the most reliable way to tell if there is chlorine in the water or not. The DPD chlorine test, used by many pool stores, will read zero when the chlorine level is too high.

You need to add some CYA to the water. Right now you are losing too much chlorine to sunlight. If you plan to continue using trichlor tablets, I would add 20 ppm, but if you are switching away from trichlor I would add 35 to 40 ppm. That will help you not lose all your chlorine each day it is sunny.

The shock is looking like it is caking or not dissolving because your calcium (CH) level is getting fairly high. If you keep using cal-hypo you will start to get calcium clouding soon and could have calcium scaling.

It would be a big help if you had your own top quality test kit. It would be nice to know how much chlorine you are losing overnight, but that requires a FAS-DPD chlorine test.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Tested with the OTO and very yellow.

That's the very reason I asked you to use the OTO test kit. No matter how high the FC is, it doesn't bleach out.

Now a good test kit is in order. Just click the link in my sig.

 

[renohuskerdu]

... i need all the help I can get...keep the questions coming

Oh if only tech support clients were all so nice as are you about all this!

 

[rt]

The water is starting to cloud up however I can still see the main drain in the deep end. any suggestions in clearing the cloudy water?

thanks for all the help

 

[Bama Rambler]

Just keep the filter running. You could add clarifier, but there's as good a chance of it not working as there is that it will.

 

[rt]

thanks so you are saying that the type of shock used has caused the cloudiness? if so, what type of shock do you suggest? and the filter has been running non stop for over three weeks with new sand (s244t) so I quess I will just need to wait for the filter to clear the pool?

thanks

 

[Bama Rambler]

I suggest using nothing but liquid chlorine (bleach) for shocking when you need it. But remember, if you keep your water balanced you never NEED to shock.

If you've been running the filter for 3 weeks and it's still cloudy then there's something causing it and the cal-hypo could be it.
I'd go ahead and try some clarifier and see if it helps.

 

[renohuskerdu]

I suggest using nothing but liquid chlorine (bleach) for shocking when you need it. But remember, if you keep your water balanced you never NEED to shock.....

Now here, you see where I get such bad advise in France. They say, with no laugh face, that I must shock every few days! Of course they want me to buy there shock product too!