- Sep 20, 2011
- 2
Hydrochloric. At least I hope that’s what HCL means. I've been at battle with my 28,000 litre tiled pool for about 4 years now and have just managed a reasonable connection to the internet which is helping a lot.
In Bali (That Indonesia for you old colonial friends) information here is as transparent as the CIA and MI5. There’s a couple of pool chemical suppliers nearby but when I mention the chemical name of a product I am interested in they look at me as though I am from the planet Pluto.
After spending some time on the internet trying to find out what was in the container (labeled Nalco 8103) with no success, I returned to the shop only to be told the containers were not original and just used to store the chemicals. They have sodium and HCL was the information I managed to extract from them later. Yes Sodium What? (Like having a tooth extracted) Not having my interplanetary dictionary with me I was unable to take the matter much further, but my Hindu Balinese wife managed to find out which was sodium (Bleach) and which was HCL, but alas to no avail as when I asked for a container of each, the guy who loaded them said the names were the other way round. The dark blue container was HCL and the transparent one was sodium hypochlorite (beach) I think! When opened I think the guy was correct as the chemical in the blue container (HCL)? seemed capable of burning my lungs out a lot quicker that the other chemical (bleach)? in the transparent container should I decide to consume that instead of scotch.
This forum seems pretty good but being a Yorkshire man I do not like computers to be ‘user friendly’ I like them to be ‘easy to use’ lets call a spade a spade.
I put soda ash in my pool to lift the PH (Potential/ percentage hydrogen) I think? and tried shocking with Caborate, (calcium hypochlorite) or called ‘Kaborate’ out here, and for the last couple of weeks have been swimming in ‘CLOUD’ cuckoo land, hence wanting a product to lower the PH. Hence HCL and the search for a non calcium based chlorine, but asking the secret service based at the pool supply shops in Bali for the different chemicals (Lithium for example) I came to a stand still, then I discovered that the bleach (sodium hypochlorite) hopefully 10% + chlorine, they sell works out about Rp 4,500 a litre (Rp 9,000 to the $ today) so the cost of about 3 litres in my pool each week (Rp14,000) is about double that of caborate at about Rp 7,000 for 300/ 400 grams each week so out here is affordable. About 40 years ago the UK joined the common market and everything went metric, so I tend to think in litres (UK Spell-check) about 4 ½ litres to the gallon. But as I assume this website is from the old colonies, you have a different version of the gallon, 3 litres or something to the gallon, but as I am also familiar with the old pound / ounces I struggle through.
Ques 1. How long do I have to wait for the PH to come down after I have put HCL in the pool? I have tried sending my satpan (security guard) in but his skin is still attached to his body although I'm sure like Michael Jackson he seems to be changing colour. Maybe I should call him 'Honky' now
Ques 2. Apart from a presumed accelerated chlorine loss from the HCL, does putting the HCL in the pool in the daytime have the same affect of lowering the PH as it does if you put it in at night time?
Ques 4 Does the reference to gallons in this web site refer to US gallons and not imperial gallons?
Ques 5 What percentage chlorine does HCL have in it?
Ques 6 PPM (parts per million) and the numbers on the testing kit tubes? Any relation? When it says add so much chemical to lower or lift a point here or there, not sure what the points are. I am sure in the US you can get an unlimited amount of kits for anything, but out here in darkest Bali, it is quite difficult, and don’t come up with order and post as Indonesia is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, the only advantage of this is that it keeps prices down, and acts as a deterrent to any potential bankster who may think of doing business here.
Money saving tip, apologies if you know already, but it seems to be costing me a fortune in the testing kit refills, although I have just found one shop which sells them at Rp 35,000 and not Rp 50,000 for one red or yellow 22 ½ ml bottle. The test kit as I assume you all know has 5 red and yellow boxes each side of the tubes to check the recommended levels. As you put 5 drops of the tester in each tube, try filling the tubes up to the level of say 2 or three boxes, and just put 2 or 3 drops of the tester in as appropriate. An instant saving of 40 or 60%, to check if it works you just fill 1 tube full and the other one up to the second box and put 5 and 2 drops of the tester in to compare.
Kind regards
ExpatInIndo (Time for a banana)
PS. How do they get the milk into coconuts?
In Bali (That Indonesia for you old colonial friends) information here is as transparent as the CIA and MI5. There’s a couple of pool chemical suppliers nearby but when I mention the chemical name of a product I am interested in they look at me as though I am from the planet Pluto.
After spending some time on the internet trying to find out what was in the container (labeled Nalco 8103) with no success, I returned to the shop only to be told the containers were not original and just used to store the chemicals. They have sodium and HCL was the information I managed to extract from them later. Yes Sodium What? (Like having a tooth extracted) Not having my interplanetary dictionary with me I was unable to take the matter much further, but my Hindu Balinese wife managed to find out which was sodium (Bleach) and which was HCL, but alas to no avail as when I asked for a container of each, the guy who loaded them said the names were the other way round. The dark blue container was HCL and the transparent one was sodium hypochlorite (beach) I think! When opened I think the guy was correct as the chemical in the blue container (HCL)? seemed capable of burning my lungs out a lot quicker that the other chemical (bleach)? in the transparent container should I decide to consume that instead of scotch.
This forum seems pretty good but being a Yorkshire man I do not like computers to be ‘user friendly’ I like them to be ‘easy to use’ lets call a spade a spade.
I put soda ash in my pool to lift the PH (Potential/ percentage hydrogen) I think? and tried shocking with Caborate, (calcium hypochlorite) or called ‘Kaborate’ out here, and for the last couple of weeks have been swimming in ‘CLOUD’ cuckoo land, hence wanting a product to lower the PH. Hence HCL and the search for a non calcium based chlorine, but asking the secret service based at the pool supply shops in Bali for the different chemicals (Lithium for example) I came to a stand still, then I discovered that the bleach (sodium hypochlorite) hopefully 10% + chlorine, they sell works out about Rp 4,500 a litre (Rp 9,000 to the $ today) so the cost of about 3 litres in my pool each week (Rp14,000) is about double that of caborate at about Rp 7,000 for 300/ 400 grams each week so out here is affordable. About 40 years ago the UK joined the common market and everything went metric, so I tend to think in litres (UK Spell-check) about 4 ½ litres to the gallon. But as I assume this website is from the old colonies, you have a different version of the gallon, 3 litres or something to the gallon, but as I am also familiar with the old pound / ounces I struggle through.
Ques 1. How long do I have to wait for the PH to come down after I have put HCL in the pool? I have tried sending my satpan (security guard) in but his skin is still attached to his body although I'm sure like Michael Jackson he seems to be changing colour. Maybe I should call him 'Honky' now
Ques 2. Apart from a presumed accelerated chlorine loss from the HCL, does putting the HCL in the pool in the daytime have the same affect of lowering the PH as it does if you put it in at night time?
Ques 4 Does the reference to gallons in this web site refer to US gallons and not imperial gallons?
Ques 5 What percentage chlorine does HCL have in it?
Ques 6 PPM (parts per million) and the numbers on the testing kit tubes? Any relation? When it says add so much chemical to lower or lift a point here or there, not sure what the points are. I am sure in the US you can get an unlimited amount of kits for anything, but out here in darkest Bali, it is quite difficult, and don’t come up with order and post as Indonesia is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, the only advantage of this is that it keeps prices down, and acts as a deterrent to any potential bankster who may think of doing business here.
Money saving tip, apologies if you know already, but it seems to be costing me a fortune in the testing kit refills, although I have just found one shop which sells them at Rp 35,000 and not Rp 50,000 for one red or yellow 22 ½ ml bottle. The test kit as I assume you all know has 5 red and yellow boxes each side of the tubes to check the recommended levels. As you put 5 drops of the tester in each tube, try filling the tubes up to the level of say 2 or three boxes, and just put 2 or 3 drops of the tester in as appropriate. An instant saving of 40 or 60%, to check if it works you just fill 1 tube full and the other one up to the second box and put 5 and 2 drops of the tester in to compare.
Kind regards
ExpatInIndo (Time for a banana)
PS. How do they get the milk into coconuts?