pool not holding chlorine

Jump to latest Follow Reply
J

jodyliebing

0
LifeTime Supporter
Jun 14, 2012
246
Auburn Indiana
HELP!!!!!Ok here we go.. here is a recap of the past few weeks. Pool was not holding chlorine, pool store said phosfates were 10000.00 do a phos floc. Didnt work. Next they said chlorine lock up. Do Bioguard Burnout. Didnt work. Next they said do 50 pounds of burnout. thats where I put the brakes on!! During both the phosfate fix and the burnout I have had to adjust my ph because it messed with it. I have just been adding 2 gallons of bleach (10%) a day to hold chlorine untill I decide what to do. This morning as a last ditch attemp I added 10 gallons of bleach. Not sure what to do. Pool looks crystal clear and all readings except CYA and chlorine look good. I know my CYA levels are too high at 100. Do I need need to drain half of the water or is there any other way to fix? Was planning on draining half at the beginning of the season nexy year due to CYA so that I can do the BBB method. I also turned off my auto chlorinator that feeds the pucks. I also rum the pump 24/7. Here is info on my pool and what the readings are..
16x32 inground vinyl liner1 year old
Chlorine 0
PH 7.2
TA 135
CYA 106
Hardness 212
Phosfates 500
 
jodyliebing said:
I know my CYA levels are too high at 100. Do I need need to drain half of the water or is there any other way to fix?
Click to expand...
No other way to fix high CYA - a drain & refill is the only way to lower it. You will need to drain/refill about 55-60% of your water to get CYA to within the ideal range.
jodyliebing said:
I also turned off my auto chlorinator that feeds the pucks.
Click to expand...
Good move! The pucks are what caused the CYA to get this high. Would switch to plain unscented liquid bleach as the chlorine source.

jodyliebing said:
...pool store said phosfates were 10000.00 do a phos floc. Didnt work. Next they said chlorine lock up. Do Bioguard Burnout. Didnt work. Next they said do 50 pounds of burnout.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't worry about phosphates. This pool store "advice" is a classic case of what we call being "Pool Stored".

The root cause of the problem you are having is low chlorine combined with high CYA. If your pool is having trouble maintaining chlorine, there is something in there that is consuming it - very likely the early stages of algae which is not yet visible. I would first do the partial drain & refill to get your CYA within the recommended range and then start The SLAM Process.

BTW, if you are not familiar with it, check out the Pool Calculator. It will help you determine the proper dosing amounts.
 
The 10 gallons will do something, but a single large addition of chlorine won't fix most problems. That's why there is the SLAM process. Instead of taking the chlorine level to potentially unsafe levels for a short period of time we take it to the maximum safe swimmable level for as long as it takes to rid everything from the pool that is causing chlorine loss.

You can drain down to about 1 foot in the shallow end, this will leave enough water to keep your liner from shifting. You will probably have to do this twice to get it down enough, assuming the numbers you are working on are correct. Not an assumption I am comfortable making though. After you finish that you need to retest all of your numbers and get prepared to SLAM.
 
yeah they have been about 100 all season, I was holding chlorine then so decided not to drain, I guess that was a mistake. I dont understand, my friend has the same setup as me, has had her pool for 15 years and only had problems twice!! has always done exactly what the pool store advised her to do. How does that happen???? Ive only had mine 1 year. :rant:
 
We can never guess how a neighbor or anyone else manages their pool....we have absolutely no frame of reference whatsoever. You could try simply following her pattern of pool management and see if it works for you.

We do have a frame of reference for your pool and we can suggest some steps to get your pool clear, but if you don't follow what we teach, we can be of little help
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
right I am totally convinced of that now. i guess this season I have tried to incorporate the BBB system while still taking advise from the pool store, well I know now the 2 dont mix. The pool store repeatedly told me that the CYA level had nothing to do with my issues and the forum says it has EVERYTHING to do with it. My bad.
 
jodyliebing said:
How does that happen????
Click to expand...
Luck and hundreds of dollars. Believe me when I say that after you give in 100% to the methods here (I know we don't change our ways of thinking overnight) your pool will look better than your friend's. You will notice a little more shimmer in your water. Your skin will feel better when you get out of your pool than hers. You will start to notice a slight smell from her pool that you didn't notice until it was gone from your pool. You will spend 1/5th as much over a season for it as well.

Then one summer a big heat wave will hit, or a big rain storm will hit, and everybody will be going to the pool store with cloudy water and buying pallets of stuff to clear up their water. Your water will look just fine because unlike everyone else your water wasn't overstabilized and on the edge of an algae bloom. And when your friend is complaining that her pool just won't clear up while your water looks fine you can try really hard not to be smug about it.

You are starting to see, you will gain more faith as the SLAM works and you see first hand why we are adamant about our philosophy!
 
thats a funny statement about the heat wave and the rain. Her pool got a algae bloom last year during the heat and mine this year with the rain. It really does make sense.The posts are very encouraging!! I am totally ready to start the BBB. I will be getting new water within a week. We have well water so I will have it delivered via tanker truck. Is there anything I should be worried about as far as the quality of the water he is bringing in?
 
It sometimes takes a while to understand that pool stores don't understand the CYA/Chlorine relationship like we do here. The PS methods address the symptoms (algae) of the pool while here we address the cause (low FC activity/High CYA/the balance between the two). The Pool Store focus is different. They sell more product (chemicals) if you address the phophates using chemicals but if you address the FC and CYA, you need less chemicals (mainly just chlorine and MA, for me) and the pool store less. That is not good $$$ for the business, even if it's good for your pool.
 
You could consider a salt-water chlorine generator (SWG) or a pump that would inject the liquid chlorine directly in to the pool. SWG users are well represented on the board, but there are some who have had trouble with them. They are expensive initially but with care the cost over the years isn't too much more than using liquid chlorine. A pump injection system is more of a hands-on system that is typically installed by the pool owner. Less expensive than an SWG but you still have to buy liquid chlorine. Really any system has it's pros and cons, if there were a perfect one we would all be using it :wink:
 
So I dont even really need one?? Also I was generally adding shock once a week, with the BBB system it seems like I would not necesarally add as much at a time but maybe more often? I always tested with the strips once or twice a day but according to the pool store as long as my reading was between 1 and 3 I was fine. I now know that is WAY WAY too low for my CYA, I believe that is what started this whole mess. I think now that I have read many posts, I have just been on the edge of an algae bloom all season.
 
jodyliebing said:
on the subject of chlorine, I will NEVER risk using the chlorine pucks in my chlorinator anymore. Is there any alternative to a slow release of chlorine or should I just be using bleach and not worry about it
Click to expand...
That is a little over-reactionary. Once you know what the tablet add to the pool, they are perfectly acceptable to use. For example, if you KNOW you need to add some CYA and already own the tablets, they are perfectly safe to use ... just use the poolcalculator to tell you how many you can use and then stop.

As far as automating adding chlorine there are only 3 options:
-SWG
-Liquidator
-Peristaltic Pump
 
Yep, you're getting it.
1-3 FC is also way too low for the level of CYA your are trying to get to by draining.

I had an algae bloom this year as well because I only did the BBB a little and mixed it with pool store advice. Big mistake.
I'm off the pool store and 100% into BBB and my water really has never looked better.

I had to SLAM for two weeks to get it that way so you will need patients to get your pool in line but it is worth it.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply