Pool Store opinion on bleach method
- Thread starter Mattyssox
- Start date
On what the pool stores say about the BBB method, they've told me that bleach will cause a build of salt in your pool. That makes no sense when I have 3400 ppm of salt in pool for my SWG. And the same stores sells SWGs!
On maintaining a clean pool with pucks, I grew up in SE Texas and we always had a pool and my father used trichlor pucks exclusively. We never had an algae problem and the pool was always sparkling clear. My bet is that it was because of dilution of the CYA from rain and from backwashing (we had a sand filter). I have a cartridge filter so I went with a SWG.
On maintaining a clean pool with pucks, I grew up in SE Texas and we always had a pool and my father used trichlor pucks exclusively. We never had an algae problem and the pool was always sparkling clear. My bet is that it was because of dilution of the CYA from rain and from backwashing (we had a sand filter). I have a cartridge filter so I went with a SWG.
The reference was primarily to dispute the claim that Liquid Chlorine was illegal in Texas. I think that the 100 gallon minimum is for delivery. I would think that they would allow you to pick up a smaller quantity. If not, they might know where you could get a smaller quantity.texasdad said:
Thanks for the insight. I think it is one of those deals where the grass always seems greener somewhere else. It may look like thier having a good time with thier pool and its clean and easy, but you don't know the $$ or headache associated with getting it to that point.
One can also get lucky having water low in algae nutrients, particular phosphates. Between that and having some chlorine and possibly shocking on occasion, it's enough to prevent algae growth. The pool store where I buy 12.5% chlorinating liquid has a pool service with around 2000 customers (they are large) and they use Trichlor pucks with a chlorine target of 4.5 ppm and do a partial drain/refill when the CYA level hits 100 ppm in the pools. Even so, some pools still get a little algae and need shocking. Not a surprise to us, of course.
I have been looking over the pool school for awhile now and the BBB method. I lucked out this spring when I opened my pool for the first time and I have had water that is crystal clear. Following this method, I hope that I can keep it going and prove the Pool Store lady wrong when she said, "oh you are a first time pool owner? You will get algae at least once for sure, this year".
Anyway I have been a little confused while reading on this site about people using 6% litre size bottles of bleach by the case. Are there just some places that you can't get 12% by the gallon? It seems kind of cost prohibitive to buy it a lower concentration, but I guess if that is all that is available then you have no choice.
Then again you guys can get a Taylor 2006 for $60 as where I have to pay over $130 CDN or more. But it is kind of nice being able to purchase 10 litres of 12% for $6 CDN.
Anyway I have been a little confused while reading on this site about people using 6% litre size bottles of bleach by the case. Are there just some places that you can't get 12% by the gallon? It seems kind of cost prohibitive to buy it a lower concentration, but I guess if that is all that is available then you have no choice.
Then again you guys can get a Taylor 2006 for $60 as where I have to pay over $130 CDN or more. But it is kind of nice being able to purchase 10 litres of 12% for $6 CDN.
ivyleager
LifeTime Supporter
I'm evil incarnant at one of my local pool stores. I go in, get what I need, leave. I was yelled at last year when I politely corrected the lady that "yes, calcium hypochlorite will raise your calcium levels." I think they'd rather sell you 20# of calcium increaser.
And they do not approve of using household bleach, but they have a flat of liquid chlorine front and center this time of year.
As I was checking out today with my sequestrant and skimmer socks, with no prompting she asks: have you shocked yet? SMH
And they do not approve of using household bleach, but they have a flat of liquid chlorine front and center this time of year.
As I was checking out today with my sequestrant and skimmer socks, with no prompting she asks: have you shocked yet? SMH
Mattyssox said:
I live in SE Florida and I always have trichlor pucks in a floater in my pool and use cal-hypo as a source of chlorine regularly. The trichlor pucks help keep my pH down as I have a spa spillover constantly aerating the pool and raising pH. I also have to deal with summer rains here and have frequent drains due to overflow which keeps CH and CYA levels in check. In the winter, I have the opposite problem with evaporation lowering the water level requiring frequent refills which also keep levels in check. They key, as others have mentioned, is understanding what these items do and managing your levels (e.g., if my CH level gets too high, I will abstain from cal-hypo and just use liquid bleach until CH comes down).
See this post for sources of higher concentration chlorinating liquid (bleach) in Canada.NWCanuck said:
Leebo said:
Couldn't have said it any better ... hit the proverbial "Nail on the head"!! :-D
Thinkly
Well-known member
Mattyssox said:
You sound a lot like I did for the last couple years on this board. I followed the forum and used parts of the BBB method to save money, i.e. buying baking soda instead of pool store alk increaser, but I continued to use chlorinated pucks in the form of trichlor and I was shocking with dichlor.
My reasoning? Why not? Everyone else seems to get by with it? And I did to for several years. I also had sparkling clear water and continued to laugh at the notion of the BBB method. After my third season (last year) owning my pool things started to go very badly.
My pool water would not clear up so my solution was to just keep shocking and adding more trichlor. This drove my pH down way below 6.8 and I couldn't get it to stay up because I was continually adding pH decreaser in the form of the dichlor and trichlor.
So why did it work so well for so long and then it quit? I finally reached PEAK CYA, the point of no return. My CYA level finally got high enough that I could no longer add enough chlorine to dissinfect. The attempts at chlorination were driving my pH so low that it started to rust parts in my DE filter. My water started to turn orange/yellow and my walls started to stain.
So long story short, most people can get by with using pucks. My father in law maintains his 88,000 gallon pool with pucks and has for 50 years. He gets by great. He also drains the water every year and has to refill often because it is an old concrete pool that loses quite a lot of water.
My answer is that you don't have to follow the BBB method, but if you never COMPLETELY drain your pool you will reach PEAK CYA someday and things will go bad quickly. It could be this year, it could be five years from now. After 6 seasons without draining (counting previous owner) my CYA levels were so high that it took about 3 days of draining/refilling simultaneously to finally flush it down to 0.
My chlorinator is now in the OFF position and my chorlinated pucks are now hidden in the garage. It's only bottles of bleach and wine for me from here on out.
Thinkly
Well-known member
gboulton said:
I think they keep it at the police station. I'm hoping I never find out.
Me too, sure I will be off the scale tonight. Cold and wet here in southern Italy, which it shouldn't be at this time of year. My CYA levels are very high though, so I should be OK 
Mattyssox said:
In areas where it rains a lot or where the season isnt that long the CYA or calcium probably gets diluted. so those products can actually be good. Also through normal use splashout and backwashing can also replace a lot of water.
In Tucson, it seems like most the pool stores carry liquid chlorine, but you have to ask. They would rather sell you the tabs. However, at Home Depot and Lowes the 10% liquid chlorine is very prominent in their pool sections, and they carry large amounts. Guess a lot of us here use the liquid chlorine!
- Jun 12, 2011
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- 19500
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- Pureline Crystal Pure 60,000
Before I moved to Tucson I used the pucks with no problems. By the time CYA levels got elevated, pool season was over in New England and I had to drain about 1/3 of the pool to get it below the returns for winterizing. Winter snow melt on my mesh cover dilutes the water. By the time I brought the water back up in the spring, CYA was not an issue. So for some people the pucks work just fine.
There's a bunch of "The pucks/pool store method/etc work just fine if ____ and _____ and you live in _______" posts.
That doesn't seem to me, however, to be the point....of course, being the newb, I may well be missing it.
But the whole "BBB" thing isn't really about "You must use bleach, not pucks" is it?
It's more about understanding a couple of very basic things:
1) Chlorine will keep your pool and its users happy and healthy, if correctly used.
2) Water chemistry will dictate how much is needed, when, to do that.
The "delivery method" isn't really the issue, is it?
Understanding that "pucks work fine if these conditions are met", and then knowing if your pool meets them, and if so, using them to maintain appropriate CYA and chlorine levels...well...heck, that's BBB isn't it?
At least imo, the question of "pool store opinion on BBB" focuses not on what products are used, but rather the issue I raised earlier:
Do you want to know what's going on in your pool, understand why, and make an educated assessment of how to handle it? Or do you want to be told what to do?
That doesn't seem to me, however, to be the point....of course, being the newb, I may well be missing it.
But the whole "BBB" thing isn't really about "You must use bleach, not pucks" is it?
It's more about understanding a couple of very basic things:
1) Chlorine will keep your pool and its users happy and healthy, if correctly used.
2) Water chemistry will dictate how much is needed, when, to do that.
The "delivery method" isn't really the issue, is it?
Understanding that "pucks work fine if these conditions are met", and then knowing if your pool meets them, and if so, using them to maintain appropriate CYA and chlorine levels...well...heck, that's BBB isn't it?
At least imo, the question of "pool store opinion on BBB" focuses not on what products are used, but rather the issue I raised earlier:
Do you want to know what's going on in your pool, understand why, and make an educated assessment of how to handle it? Or do you want to be told what to do?