cal hypo vs bleach

[Debbier]

I thought I was getting a handle on some of this but then in reading over various topics, now I have this question:

Is there a difference between calcium hypo and regular bleach? I thought it was the same but evidently it is not. I have an AG pool w/ a vinyl liner, can using the cal hypo hurt my pool?

( I think I bought cal hypo as shock last year (bag of powder) in trying to get away from the trichlor and was ok.. but maybe I am not ok.)

Thanks :?

 

[aussieta]

cal/hypo will increase your calcium hardness as well as chlorinate your pool

 

[bridgman]

Cal hypo is calcium hypochlorite, bleach is sodium hypochlorite. Cal hypo won't hurt your pool if you use it occasionally, but bleach accomplishes the same thing and doesn't result in a buildup of *anything*.

When in doubt, go read Pool School => Pool Chemistry => How to Chlorinate Your Pool again :

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/142-how-to-chlorinate-your-pool

As long as you're still reading and your eyes aren't totally glazed over you probably *are* getting a handle on this

 

[Casey]

High calcium can lead to clouding of the water and if the pH gets too high, along with the calcium from over use, it can put an unsightly scale on your liner and ruin it. Bleach, which has salt (sodium hypochlorate) adds a minimal amount of salt to the water unlike Cal Hypo, Tri Chlor and Di Chlor and is the safest of all because it doesn't have additives that will drive the water parameters out of whack.

 

[Patrick_B]

Without knowing your pool, and fill water CH (calcium hardness) level, it is hard to suggest using Cal-Hypo. That said vinyl pools are much more forgiving in terms of scaling. I would be concerned with both clouding, and scaling if CH is very high, but without the numbers we can't say.

One thing is certain, Bleach won't cause either one of those issues.

 

[Debbier]

I measured my CH on Friday with my new handy dandy T100 test kit and it read at 325.

 

[JamesW]

325 is not super high but could cause excess persistent clouding when using cal hypo. I would avoid using it as much as possible. Liquid chlorine would be a better choice.

 

[Patrick_B]

I agree with James, in time the Cal-Hypo will only increase the CH and eventually lead to higher scaling potential.

 

[Isaac-1]

Cal-Hypo may be safe, or may even be preferred for some people with low CH fill water and high levels of water replacement (rain), if you keep an eye on the secondary effects. Having said that bleach tends to be much better for everyone in that regard, so it is our standard advice.

Ike