First Time Pool Owner Confused About Free Chlorine level

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pennjersey83

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Jul 27, 2012
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Hi guys,

This is my first time owning a pool. I went to Leslies Pool Supplies and bought some "dichlor" Chlorine granules. It is stabilized chlorine. On the bucket itself, it tells me to maintain a free chlorine level of 1-3 ppm, by adding 3 ounces of the chlorine per 10,000 gallons every other day.

However, this is stabilized chlorine, and my CYA level is 60. I went to poolcalculator.com and it recommends a free chlorine level of 5-9 ppm based on my CYA level. My question is why would the bucket of chlorine tell me to stay at 1-3 ppm if they made it and know it's stabilized chlorine and the CYA level will rise? Should I listen to the instructions on the bucket or the poolcalculator.com website?

Thanks very much for your help
 
Hi Penn,

A lot of people even in the industry don't understand how CYA really works. The traditional method is just to keep your FC at 1-3 ppm and ignore the CYA. In my experience you will get much better results following the poolcalculator.
 
Christian said:
Hi Penn,

A lot of people even in the industry don't understand how CYA really works. The traditional method is just to keep your FC at 1-3 ppm and ignore the CYA. In my experience you will get much better results following the poolcalculator.
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Thanks for the response Christian. I am just afraid of burning myself using so much chlorine and I don't want an unpleasant experience. My water has been crystal clear and doesn't smell like chlorine following the instructions on the bucket and maintaining 1-3 ppm, but this poolcalculator.com has got me thinking I should listen to it to prevent future problems. Like I said I just don't want to put too much chlorine in the pool
 
"Too much chlorine" would be something in the neighborhood of 20 ppm. Which might fade your swimsuit but probably wouldn't do much to you unless you have sensitive skin.

What you don't want is too much CYA. And you will have that if you use that whole bucket of dichlor.

I suggest you do a bit of reading in Pool School. Or peruse the threads here. You'll find a pretty good correlation between threads with "cloudy water" or "Won't clear" or "Green pool" and high CYA levels.
 
First off stop using stabilised chlorine, you are already above recommended levels, keep it for use when your CYA levels needs topped up due to backwashing, and switch to either Sodium Hypo (bleach) or Calcium Hypo, depending on your needs, read about the pros and cons of both in pool school, generally though for residential pools it's Sodium you should plump for.

Higher chlorine levels 3-20ppm are not any concern in residential pools.

Regards
Stuart
 
Richard320 said:
"Too much chlorine" would be something in the neighborhood of 20 ppm. Which might fade your swimsuit but probably wouldn't do much to you unless you have sensitive skin.

What you don't want is too much CYA. And you will have that if you use that whole bucket of dichlor.

I suggest you do a bit of reading in Pool School. Or peruse the threads here. You'll find a pretty good correlation between threads with "cloudy water" or "Won't clear" or "Green pool" and high CYA levels.
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Christian said:
Yeah it may be clear now but it won't stay that way if your CYA gets out of control. And remember that the CYA buffers the chlorine from the water so what may seem like a high level is actually perfectly normal.
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linen said:
Welcome to tfp, pennjersey83 :wave:

Good news is your cya is not too high yet, though our recommended range is 30-50 ppm (assuming you do not have a saltwater chlorine generator (swg)), you can manage at 60 ppm. Definitely do not use anymore dichlor. Take a look at this pool school article: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/types_chlorine_pool

How does your water look?
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Sounds good I'll read pool school and buy non-stabilized chlorine. My water looks great and I want to keep it that way. All my readings are good except the CYA at 60. Thanks guys I appreciate your help
 

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