Leslie's claim of 1% CYA in pucks?

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M

Mesamav

0
Jul 16, 2011
190
Mesa Arizona
I was at Leslie's the other day getting some liquid chlorine and they asked me AGAIN why I wasn't using the pucks and as usual, I said it was because of the CYA in them. The lady behind the counter said they have revamped how they make the pucks and they now have only 1% CYA in them but there is no documentation to prove that.
I'm just wondering if that's true and if so, at 1% CYA, how much each puck would raise my CYA in a 25,000 gallon pool.
Just curious.
I use the pucks occasionally to RAISE my CYA because I am in the Phoenix area and we get a LOT of dust in our pools and with a sand filter, it gets clogged up fairly regularly, hence the need to backwash often.
Thanks.
 
Labeling of active chlorine is common, labeling of CYA is almost nonexistent.

Look at the name of the chemical they contain, if they are either trichloro-s-triazinetrione or trichloroisocyanuric acid or any of the other similar variations, then it contains CYA just like usual.

None of them actually contain cyanuric acid as a separate ingredient. It is chemically bound up with the chlorine in a specific way which makes it slow dissolving.
 
trichlor is trichlor, it all behaves exactly the same. The only way to have a tablet that is only 1% CYA is if there is only 3% trichlor and 97% inactive ingredients. If it was anything else it wouldn't be trichlor. It would either be cal-hypo, lithium-hypo, or something brand new. If the later there should be documentation and huge fanfare because Leslie's has changed the world of pool maintenance!
 
Okay, let's end the speculation and go to the source.

Leslie’s 3” Chlorine Tabs feature:

  • 99% Trichloro-s-triazinetrione
    8 oz. individually-wrapped tablets
    No fillers, binders, or lubricants
    Very slow-dissolving tablets

  • What is the chemical make-up of Leslie’s 3-inch chlorine tabs?

Leslie’s 3-inch chlorine tabs are made up of 99% trichloro-s-triazinetrione, which provides 90% available chlorine, the highest available chlorine of any chlorine compound. Our tabs are also stabilized with cyanuric acid.
Click to expand...

So yes, it's just trichlor. The 1% claim is bupkis. As with all trichlor, it will add 0.6 PPM CYA for each 1 PPM FC (see chem geek's post for more detail).

And to answer your question, check http://www.poolcalculator.com/
In a 25,000 gallon pool, 8oz of trichlor will:
* raise FC by 2.2
* raise CYA by 1.3
* lower pH by 0.12
* raise salt by 1.8
 
Well, Leslie's is at it again. They brought in a new manager two days ago and he is telling people anything to get thier wallet out.
Quick story. Last week I had family over from California and we spent a LOT of time at and in the pool. I knew I would be using a little more chlorine so I prepared for that. I do use pucks VERY sparingly because I have to backwash so often to keep my calcium in line but I keep things topped off and balanced with liquid chlorine. I almost always buy my chlorine from Leslie's because there just isn't cheap chlorine around here and I figured Leslie's would always have fresh chlorine. Well, after my family left, my water started getting slimey. Not green but the walls were getting slimey and slightly discolored so I kept adding more and more chlorine figuring that would get rid of it. Unfortunately it was just getting worse. I added more pucks and that was preventing it from becoming a full blown algae outbreak but only for so long. I couldn't figure out what the problem was.
To make a long story shorter, I finally tested the chlorine right out of the bottle and guess what? Nothing, so I took the empties and one partial bottle back to Leslie's and explained my story. I opened a bottle and told him to take a snif but he wouldn't. He said the chlorine was good. They had been selling off that pallet for a week or two. Then he said something that just plain angered me. He looked me in the eye and said "CHLORINE HAS NO SMELL". Obviously I got in his face and called him out on that.
I made him test it and he said that you can't test full strength (10%) chlorine. What an ***. I said "fine, dilute it as much as you like". He did and guess what. He finally admitted that this chlorine was bad. He wouldn't give me my money back so I settled for two more bottles but I said I wanted them tested first. Again, NO CHLORINE even in the new bottles. He STILL wouldn't give my money back. I had to settle for two bags of "shock".... I did use one of them even though I didn't want to but it did clear up my pool in just a couple of hours.
I was third in line while I was in Leslie's. This new "manager" is telling the first customer that he needs to completely drain his pool, refill then add new salt because his desolved solids were too high. I thought I heard him say something about 3500 PPM but I can't be sure but that tells me they are including the salt in there. I almost said something right there.
He then sells his next customer a clarifier, some shock because he tells the guy that he needs to shock his pool once a week and then he tops it all off by selling him some **** that is supposed to deal with phosphates. I almost couldn't contain myself but I didn't feel it was my place but when he told me that chlorine has no smell, I almost lost it. I said "don't patronize me. I'm not one of your typical customers that doesn't have any knowledge of how a pool works. Chlorine will knock you off your feet if you're not careful".
Anyone know how I can get hold of the regional manager for the Phoenix area? I want to give someone an earful this time.
Where do they get these guys? Is that how they train them or do these people deceive people just because they can?
I'm guessing that is how they train people for one reason. To sell more chemicals and take advantage of unknowledgable people. Personally, I think some attention should be brought up on this subject on a national scale. Pool owners are getting screwed everywhere and nothing is being done about it.
Hey, it could happnen.........
Thank you TFP for giving me the knowledge.
 
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He was right, you can not test the chlorine out of the bottle ... the FC ppm is SOOOO high that it will beach out any test and appear as 0ppm FC.

Sounds like you would be best served by stop going there and buy you bleach at Walmart or Home Depot/Lowes. Actually since you are in PHX, go to the HASA website and find one of the local pool stores (avoid the Leslie's chain) that sells the 12.5% in bulk ... that is your cheapest option.
 
tim5055 said:
My guess would be that if you call him out to the regional manager he will just get a cash bonus;)

You have described normal practice at that chain.
Click to expand...

It is their normal practice to sell H2O in bottles labeled "liquid chlorine 10%"?? And they are still in business not jail?

I have heard of getting "pool stored" but stolen from is a little different. Getting sold phosphate remover and pucks is different than filling chlorine bottles with anything less than 10% chlorine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I feel the same way. If they are purposely deceiving thier customers, they should be driven out of the industry but that apparently isn't how the pool industry works.
Can someone answer me this? What is the yellow coloring in pool bleach? Is that put in there or is chlorine normally that color? I'm asking because the chlorine still had that coloration. It still looked like it should yet there was NO chlorine. It wasn't just weak, there was absolutely no chlorine in these bottles at all yet the color was there. Was this chlorine purposefully made that way? In other words, was Leslie's purposefully not adding chlorine so that our pools would turn green and they could sell us all kinds of chemicals that they make more money on?????
What do you guys think???????
 
I would be more inclined to think that the testing of the chlorine strength was done incorrectly and thus made the test look like zero than that there was no chlorine in it.

How did they test the strength? There are a few threads on the forum about how to do this and it is not very easy as you need massive amounts of dilution.
 
Mesamav said:
I feel the same way. If they are purposely deceiving thier customers, they should be driven out of the industry but that apparently isn't how the pool industry works.
Can someone answer me this? What is the yellow coloring in pool bleach? Is that put in there or is chlorine normally that color? I'm asking because the chlorine still had that coloration. It still looked like it should yet there was NO chlorine. It wasn't just weak, there was absolutely no chlorine in these bottles at all yet the color was there. Was this chlorine purposefully made that way? In other words, was Leslie's purposefully not adding chlorine so that our pools would turn green and they could sell us all kinds of chemicals that they make more money on?????
What do you guys think???????
Click to expand...

How do you think Leslie's paid for that beautiful huge new headquarters on Indian School in Phoenix?(huge...it's literally in an old Sam's club)

Please find an NPS pool store, they are a newer chain in Phoenix based out of Vegas, I have had pretty good luck with them and they haven't tried to "Pool Store" me yet. I have been to several locations and they all seem to share the same low pressure philosophy. I buy the LC and MA and they never pressure me to buy anything else, although I sometimes do because I know they don't make jack on the LC and MA.
They have had 10% LC for $4.95 x 2 gal. for months now and it's very fresh. They also have acid for $6.95 x 2 gallons. Their other prices aren't bad either.
 

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