testing chlorine strength using 10,000:1

[soundguy]

Just to be sure I'm reading this correct.

I mixed 1ml chlorine in 100ml distilled h2o then mixed 1ml of that in another 100ml distilled h2o.

I took 10 ml of the final solution (10,000:1) and tested it using the FAS-DPD method.

It took 11 drops make it clear.

So, does that mean the chlorine % is 5.5?

Thanks.

 

[ping]

Makes since to me, but what do I know. Using the Pool Calculator, it calculates to use 1 gallon of 5.4% chlorine to raise the FC level from 0 to 5.5ppm in 10,000 gallons of water.

 

[chem geek]

Yes, your chlorine is 5.5% Available Chlorine. That is equivalent to 5.8% sodium hypochlorite so slightly less than what is called 6% bleach (which has 5.7% Available Chlorine). It's well within your experimental error which I would assume is at least 5% if not 10%, mostly in the accuracy of your 1 ml water sample size (unless you used a small calibrated pipette). Remember that the test kit itself is +/- 1 drop (so 0.5 ppm) or 10% (so 0.55 ppm) whichever is greater.

 

[soundguy]

That's good news.

A friend who has a power washing business gave me a 55 gal drum that is over 3/4 full.
When he purchases the drums, they are listed as 12%.

I've seen the chart that has the concentration curves.

I'm thinking about purchasing a 55 gal drum for my g/f's pool at the beginning of next season.
We just fired her pool guy because, for one, he has killed the liner by letting the calcium and chlorine levels get too high. He used cal-hypo.
In his defense though, he was only paid to come out every 2 weeks.
That is just no way to keep a pool in good order.
So, I'm going to teach my g/f and she will tend to it next season.

I was thinking about building an enclosure to house/shelter the 55 gal drum of chlorine from the sun and set it about 10' from the pump/filter pad.


I would rather keep the drum of chlorine in the garage.
Will the drum out gas and corrode everything that is in the garage?

Thanks

eta:

I used a calibrated pipette to measure the chlorine and beakers to measure the water.
The beaker is a 150ml that is out of a 7 piece set I bought online.
Hopefully I kept it within 5% error. And/or the beaker is that close to correct. :-D

 

[chem geek]

He must be storing those drums in a warm climate since it lost over half its strength. The chart at the bottom of this link shows the half-life for chlorinating liquid. It could have lost half its strength in around 3 months at close to 90ºF but I bet that the quality of this chlorinating liquid isn't great and has some trace metals in it which is why it is degrading faster than high-quality product.

Average day/night temperatures in Gulf Shores, AL is 79ªF in Jun, 82ºF in Jul, 81ºF in Aug so perhaps the barrel was kept in the sun and got hotter than the typical 90's during the day.

After looking closely at a map of Alabama near the gulf coast, it's awfully strange how Florida was able to "steal" lots of shoreline (for the "pan handle") that any rational person drawing boundaries on a map would have clearly given to Alabama! Well at least you got somethin'.

 

[soundguy]

The barrel has been exposed to direct sunlight several hours a day for probably 3 weeks now.
Most likely the temp of the liquid has risen above 90 degrees.


On another note...

The polaris (3900) had not been working properly. The drive chain would constantly come off and it didn't have enough power to climb the walls and turn.
I noticed bubbles in the line so I checked out the pump. It was sucking a lot of air. The return line is the black flexible tubing that has 3/4 ght threads. I tried to tighten the fittings and immediately it started leaking water. I unscrewed the line, and inside the connector was this white rubbery buildup. There was probably only a little more than 1/4 inch hole for the water to flow. I have no idea what this rubbery build up was. Too bad I didn't take a pic of it. I tried to break it away from the rubber washer with my fingers but it was too hard so I took a uni bit and carved it away. After I got the buildup off the washer, I put everything back together and the fitting snapped in half as I was tightening it. So I piped it with 3/4 pvc.
The difference that made was amazing. The polaris works really well now.

So, all of that to say this...
The pool guy that we just fired chlorinated the pool by pouring cal-hypo directly into one of the skimmers. There are white deposits all around and inside this skimmer. He did this for years.


Could that be what caused the rubbery buildup in the booster pump?
What was the buildup?