linen said:
First, I have to ask, why do you want to use pucks? I think I saw your latest cya result is 50 ppm, right where we recommend. I wouldn't add anymore using pucks.
We do not recommend putting pucks in the skimmer. The advantage of this advice is that you can stop your pump if you need too for maintenance reasons, cost savings, etc without worry of a bolus of high chlorine water with a very low ph going thru your equipment. If you are going to use pucks, put them in a inline chlorinator or a floater. For vinyl pools make sure the floater can not park itself next to the liner in order to prevent damage. Also, as I hope you know, keep a close eye on your cya concentration when using trichlor pucks, otherwise a drain/refill will be in your future.
Hi Linen,
Thanks for your advice. The story here is that we just moved in last year post-pool season and we're still following the previous owners regiment (which was the Trichlor) and using up hundreds of dollars worth of all of their stuff from last July. Until I can prove that I can maintain the pool using the way both the owner and the pool company have been, I don't think I'll get the "buy-in" required at home to take the BBB approach, even if I'm confident it's a better solution.
I have had a few success stories, however - I've stopped using the pool store for testing (yeah TF-100), I've stopped caring about Phosphates since apparently they don't matter anyway, and I'm not wasting money using the pool guy to come do water testing & treatment, which was almost our plan before TFP. And now with this thread, I'll also stop with the pucks in the skimmer and use the Chlorinator only (don't know why everyone wants to use both).
I read a neat thread not too long ago where the poster said that BBB isn't about using specific chemicals, it's just about knowing what the chemistry of your pool is and what the things your adding to it are going to do. I liked that statement and I think it'll be my mantra for the better part of my first summer. Right now I'm doing daily testing of FC, CC, CYA, and pH - if CYA starts to spike (which it hasn't to date using the Trichlor), I'll know that I need to back off.
Thanks again.