Free Chlorine Usually at ZERO/Vinyl Wrinkles -- Help!

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D

Dborgill

0
Jul 9, 2013
25
Hello all,

Brand new to TFP. Looks like an amazing site so far! Thanks in advance.

Here are my pool details before I address my issues:

Location: Northern Utah
Size: 20x40 Rectangle / 24,000 Gallons / 3 foot down to 9 feet
Filter: Hayward Sand Filter / Auto chlorinator / Hayward Heater (off)
Pool type: In ground/vinyl
Age: 3 years
Test Strips: HTH 6 Way Test Strips
Cover: 20x40 High Grade Crystal Clear Solar Cover

So we bought a home with a custom pool. I have most things figured out except the two issues mentioned in the title subject:

1 - Besides putting gallons of 10% Hypochlorite liquid into my pool every few days, my Free Chlorine usually tests at zero. The other night, it was measuring a little under ideal but this morning, without even using the pool, it's completely at zero again. Any tips? Lots of Clorox bleach? All other levels are perfect! PH, Cy Acid, Alkalinity, etc. I just can't keep my chlorine at any decent level for more than a day.

2 - When we bought the home two months ago, there were two small wrinkles in the vinyl towards the deep end. The owners said that was from when they laid the vinyl themselves. Well, all of a sudden, we have probably 8 more wrinkles ranging from a few inches to a few feet long. It's very frustrating.

Thanks in advance!
 
Welcome to TFP.

I'm going to go ahead and get the test kit thing out of the way. :) You need one and you should get it now! Enough said.

Do you know how high the water table is where you are?

If it's truly a 20x40 3 to 9 deep you have about 30,000 gallons of water.

In order to be of much help we need a set of test results. Especially pH & CYA.

How was the pool being chlorinated in the past?
Is this a new fill?
 
Hey Bama,

Thanks for your response. I will look into the good test kit.

I apologize on the size, it's more like a 18x38 so I will get the exact measurements. The previous owners told me 24,000 gallons.

No idea on water table. We have a rambler with a full basement so I don't think the water table is too high.

The previous owners opened the pool in March to sell the home. When I did my first test back in May, the PH was sky high and FC was zero. We've filled the pool here and there with hose water (house water).
 
Wrinkles are usually caused by high water table floating the liner and it not settling back exactly into place. They're usually cosmetic unless there's some underlying problem that causes them.

How have you been adjusting the pH?

Do you know what they used to chlorinate it before you got it?

Is bleach all you've used to chlorinate it since you've been there?
 
For pH, I've been using muriatic acid and its worked great.

The only thing the owners ever mentioned was 3" chlorine tabs in the auto chlorinator. I put more tabs on yesterday and the filter runs for 8 hours each night. FC was zero this morning.

I have only used liquid chlorine from Leslie's and a local pool place. I only read about Clorox today.
 
I dilute the m acid in a bucket of water and pour it into the pool, mostly the deep end, while the filter is running.

The tabs, I put 4-6 of them in the chlorinator and close it back up.
 
Good. You really should pour the acid in front of a running return, but by diluting it and then leaving the pump running you're not likely to damage anything.

Do you have any idea what the CYA level in the pool is?
 
The problem with the strips is that they are so inaccurate that we really can't depend on them.

I suspect that your CYA is really high and that you have a nascent algae bloom. Unfortunately you can't get rid of it without some good test results and you don't have a good test kit in order to get them.
 

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You most likely won't be able to "pick one up" as very few pool stores have one of the recommended kits. They will however have a lesser kit that they will tell you is the same and sell that to you. It must have the FAS-DPD chlorine test with powder and liquid and not just the DPD chlorine test. We have many members get sold the lesser kit because the pool store told them it was the same.
 
I highly recommend you reconsider the TF-100. I know it seems like a lot of money but you'll spend more on refills for one of the other kits than the difference.

Having said that, if you have to pick one of the two kits you mentioned, go for the TF-50.
 
How many full tests, approx, will a TF-100 do? After shipping, that is a chunk of change.

Also, in the mean time, could I post a full water test from Leslie's in store test to help determine chlorine issues?
 
I don't know exactly how many test it will do of each parameter but my kit will easily last me two years or more.

If you have to SLAM your pool (you need to now) you use more of the FAS-DPD reagents, but it will still likely last an entire season and it will be the only refill you'll have to buy.

It would be fine to post a set of test results from the pool store.
 

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