Am I using a lot of chlorine?

[electrikkoolaid]

I have a 15 foot (4000 gal.) Walmart pool. This is my first pool.

The CYA is 40. The Borates are 30. I try to keep the FC at 5-7 per the pool calculator. Ph is 7.2

It is in full sun, there are 2 adults, 2 kids that use it about once a day. It is in the mid-90s here. No rain this week.

The water is crystal clear, and there does not seem to be any biological issues I can see.

Yesterday I raised FC to 7, and by the next day it was 1.5 again. I have been consuming about 40-46oz of 6% bleach per day over the past week.

Questions:

1. Can I go higher than FC 7 at night, since that is when we swim usually?
2. Does the fall to FC 1.5 represent a safety problem, as the CYA/FC ratio should be 4? No?
3. Is it normal to use 5-5.5ppm FC daily in a lightly-used pool or do I need to look for a problem?

Thanks.

 

[woodyp]

What is your CYA level? Should be 30 to 50. OOPS!........... didn't see it. Sounds like you need to shock it.

 

[frogabog]

Have you tested for total chlorine? Simplest answer is there's combined chlorine in the pool and you need to shock because it's eating up your reserve as well as the active chlorine in daily botched murder attempts. But without knowing total chlorine it's impossible to tell.

What test kit are you using?

 

[JasonLion]

1) Yes. With CYA at 40, swimming is alright with FC up to 14.
2) With CYA at 40 you want to keep FC at 3 or higher. Going down to 1.5 for a couple of hours isn't a big deal, but you don't want to spend very long with FC that low.
3) No, that isn't normal unless a number of people were swimming for hours.

 

[electrikkoolaid]

1) Yes. With CYA at 40, swimming is alright with FC up to 14.
2) With CYA at 40 you want to keep FC at 3 or higher. Going down to 1.5 for a couple of hours isn't a big deal, but you don't want to spend very long with FC that low.
3) No, that isn't normal unless a number of people were swimming for hours.

Thank you. I had asked the local pool store about the chlorine use, and they wanted to sell me a $400 salt-water generator. They also told me I needed to use Bio-Gard because the bleach is "poor quality chlorine".

I don't know how these places sleep at night. Without knowing any better, I would have been very gullible and been taken advantage of easily.

Thanks for everyone who contributes to the site -- it's been a lot of reading, but I feel much more comfortable with doing this now.

 

[ncpool]

"Poor quality chlorine"?! Do they find ex-used car salesmen to work in these places or something?

 

[electrikkoolaid]

They also told me about adding calcium to keep my pool walls from eroding.

I mentioned again it was a vinyl Walmart pool, but TWO of the salesmen concurred that it was still important.

It was a real challenge to not burst out laughing. Needless to say, I won't be back.


Question:

What kind of FC PPM use would be "normal" (yes, I know this is variable, but what do others typically use daily?)

 

[frogabog]

Use the pool calculator, put current level of CYA into the now column. You will see it tell you that your minimum is 3, target is 7, and shock is 15. At the end of the day, dose the pool to 7. Wake, swim... test with OTO... maybe you see 4ppm. Dose back to 7. Simple.

When in doubt, check pool calc.

 

[electrikkoolaid]

Hi again...

I am still using 4 to 5 PPM of chlorine daily now 2 weeks later.

• 4300 gal intex metal frame
  1600 gph sand filter
  using BBB method with walmart bleach
  Pool is in full sun in Raleigh, NC.

Today's morning readings:

• fc= 5.0
  cc= 0.0
  tc= 5.0
  ta= 100
  ch= 0
  cya = 50-55
  ph= 7.4
  borates = 50

I bring fc back to 9.0 each night with 30-40 oz. of bleach (varies by daily kid load).
I raised the CYA some to see if I could use less bleach.

I did a 24 hour shock of fc=20 last week, and have no issues with water clarity or slipperiness.

However it seems like I'm using too much chlorine, and the OCD part of me, even with a beautiful-looking pool, is bothered by this.

So is 4-5 ppm of daily chlorine use too much? What do other people typically find?

 

[frogabog]

4.5ppm is half of 9ppm. Which would be absolutely normal.

Sounds about right to me... especially w/full sun all day long.

A "half" sunny day around here, I loose almost half every day. Cloudy days, it's around 1/4. Sunny days... half. <shrug>

 

[Butterfly]

heehee, too cute :lol:

Now, where are you located - City and State?

Is your pool in full sun all day?

The avg daily FC loss is 2.5 ish - I think.

 

[electrikkoolaid]

Raleigh, NC with full sun.