Going Topless - Too Much Chlorine Loss? Should CYA Be Raised? Or Not a Good Idea?

[garrybunk]

I've gotten sick and tired of dealing with my solar cover. It is on it's 4th season. During the 3rd season it ripped into two sections and now it rips whenever I tug on it. Because it is in sections, one section tends to float up over the other, blow to the side (return jet aerating and pushing it across the pool), and never keep my entire pool covered (I'd say it would typically only keep about 1/2 to 1/3 of my pool covered.)

So now I'm experimenting with a topless pool (i.e. no cover). I'm in the "mountains" of western PA where we get a very short swimming season and cool temps often. So far my water is warming up and remaining at a pretty good swimmable temperature (around 76 to 78 degrees often). I am combating a lot of leaves / debris / bugs getting in my water and the need to vacuum more, but I'll accept that in trade for not having the hassle and expense of a new solar cover.

My main issue is that I am losing quite a bit of Chlorine now. I seem to average 3 to 4ppm loss in a 24hr period. My target CYA level was 40 when I opened the pool in early June, but I haven't retested it (I need to). My pool also gets full sun from approximately 10AM to sundown. Should I target a higher CYA level in order to lessen the Chlorine loss? How high? One issue is that if I raise my CYA level and therefore raise my min & max chlorine levels I will have a hard time testing my chlorine with my simple drop test kit which only reads up to 5ppm.

Anyone else go topless on their pools for extended periods of time? Your experience?

Thanks,
Garry

 

[RobbieH]

I wouldn't raise CYA over 40 if I were in your position. Your chlorine loss sounds typical.

What do you target your FC at?

 

[DeeMac]

My pool is topless. I am in the Chicagoland area. My biggest issue is the cotton flying the whole month of June. Have to do alot of skimming, but otherwise my pool stays clean and sparkly. My cya is 30 and I keep my FC at 4. I use 12.5% liquid chlorine and use about a gallon every 3 days. Seems normal to me.

 

[garrybunk]

Thanks for the responses. I'm trying to target my CL levels at a Max of 6 and Min of 3, but if I raise it to 6 and lose 4 then I'm down to 2 which is below my Min level, so I've been raising to 7 lately.

Dee, how much chlorine loss per day do you see on average? Is your pool in direct sun?

Thanks,
Garry

 

[pepsiholic]

I never use a solar cover either. Too heavy for me to get off and on by myself. I've been struggling to get my cya to 40. It must have gotten really low over the winter. Just added another pound, because my reading was only 30. I don't know if it's because it's been a really rainy spring and summer and I've had to drain a lot. The blown hose didn't help matters either. I'm in full sun from 8:00am until about 8:00pm and usually lose about 2.5-3 ppm's daily.

 

[Casey]

I'm in SWPA and just started using my cover again yesterday. I stopped because of a bad shoulder but with the cover off day and night, I was losing around 3-4 ppm with a CYA of 50-60ppm in FULL SUN.

 

[woodyp]

Woohoo!-------Casey has no cover on!

 

[garrybunk]

Hmm . . . So I guess it comes down to me deciding between dealing with more cost in Chlorine (and a greater need to stay on top of it to keep it above my MIN level) and more frequent skimming of debris, or shelling out the money for a new cover and dealing with the hassle of it. I'm undecided which is worse, but I know I won't be buying the new cover this year. Guess I'll see how this year goes. Maybe I can even get an off season discount on a new one come winter. I did a little searching on the forum and see where it's recommended to just stick with the cheaper thinner covers.

EDIT - Sorry, forget to mention that last night I went ahead and put on the largest section of my ripped cover (it's 2/3 of of the original). Will monitor if that reduces my CL consumption. Also, yesterday the pool was used for about 4 hours by 3 young kids and was a fairly sunny but not too hot of a day. My CL loss was 3ppm (surprised it wasn't 4). I have also replaced my return jet with a modified "slotted" one to help increase circulation. This new jet could also be altering my readings. Previously I could test in one spot of the pool and get a CL of 2 and in another spot get 3.

-Garry

 

[DeeMac]

I get sun on my pool from about 10am until about 6pm. I probably lose about 2 to 3 CL per day. My pool does not get as much use as it use to. Kids are getting older and off doing their own thing, so I am usually the only one who is using it. And it hasn't been the warmest summer just yet in the Chicagoland area, so the pool temp is ranging from 76 to 80 lately.

 

[jccams]

I also do not use a cover and am in SE MI, CYA is 45 and I lose 2-3 a day. The pool gets sun from about 9-7.

 

[garrybunk]

Ok, so with the 2/3 size section of cover back on I am now back to a loss of 1 to 2ppm per day (generally only 1ppm). It's been colder around here so no one is swimming meaning I don't have to struggle with the cover much. The 2/3 section of cover actually works out quite well because the area of the pool uncovered is at the return and the path of flow out of the return. That flow isn't pushing my cover all over the place now like it used to (esp. when I had the 1/3 sized section which would just get blown all over the place).