Draining The Pool - 3 Reasons

[Noggin]

I have 3 reasons for draining the pool... salty, salty, salty water.

Two seasons ago, the water tasted slightly salty but not enough for me to be certain whether or not it was my imagination. Last season, it was salty enough that the neighbor's kid mentioned it. It is definitely worse this year. I'm planning on draining the pool, maybe as early as this weekend. I also have a staining issue that I think was caused by letting the PH get too high during the off season. I have NOT verified whether or not it is organic or metal, but I suspect it is metal. I'll do the hockey puck / vit c test tonight. Vitamin c only works on Iron stains, right? If neither helps, I'm not sure how to get rid of it other than an acid wash, which I'll need to do when I drain the pool.

I have a couple of questions...

If the vit C tablet reduces the stain, then I think I need to do an ascorbic / citric acid treatment to eliminate the stains. Should this be done before or after the refill?
If the hockey puck reduces it, how do I get rid of the stain? I shocked the **** out of the pool after being on vacation for a week and the pumps not running. The stain didn't reduce.
I'm hesitant to drain the pool because of fears of the pool floating up. We're in a drought, but have had some rain in the last few weeks. Is fear actually warranted?
I have an 8 gallon liquidator. It collects salt in the bottom, as is expected. When I add chlorine to it, I pour it quickly and my liquidator gets really, really cloudy. Am I correct in assuming that this is probably where my salty water is coming from? I never considered that to be the issue until recently. If this is the problem, then wouldn't salty water be an issue for anyone that uses liquid chlorine after just a few seasons?
Also... F black algae. Thought I got rid of it before I went on vacation. Came back to it having a party.

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

There isn't any salt in any of the bleach I've seen. What exactly are you using for liquid chlorine ??

Have you tested or had the water tested for salt to find out what level it's at ??

 

[timerguy]

Not listed on the contents im sure. Nevertheless, effect of adding bleach indicates adding salt as well as fc. Actually, more ppm salt than fc.

 

[freqz]

Chlorine decomposes into salt as it's used up. This is why SWCGs work without having to top the salt up constantly.

That said, however, it takes a VERY LONG time to get enough salt to be noticeable from chlorine usage.

I'd check your fill water for salt (or have it checked). If you're on city water test results are probably available online. Salt is one of those things that doesn't go away with evaporation...

No reason you can't do partial drains/refills just like you would to lower CYA or calcium.

I'll leave the stain questions to people who have dealt with that before

 

[Noggin]

There isn't any salt in any of the bleach I've seen. What exactly are you using for liquid chlorine ??

Have you tested or had the water tested for salt to find out what level it's at ??

I use Shock for my chlorine source. And I can say that too, cause that is the products name! Right on the bottle, it says, "Shock!" Its 10% chlorine from the pool store. I've not had the water tested for salt content. My TF-100 kit doesn't test for it, and I don't trust the bozos at the pool stores here to run my credit card properly, much less test water.

 

[timerguy]

Liquid chlorine is liquid chlorine all the same stuff just, different concentrations.

 

[Noggin]

That said, however, it takes a VERY LONG time to get enough salt to be noticeable from chlorine usage.

That makes sense, otherwise I'd expect it to be a common topic here. Even if I have a layer of salt in the bottom of my liquidator and it gets mixed up and part of it ends up in the pool, it still really can't be any worse than someone who just pours the liquid chlorine into the pool. They'd get ALL of the salt, I only get some of it.

I'd check your fill water for salt (or have it checked). If you're on city water test results are probably available online. Salt is one of those things that doesn't go away with evaporation...

I might get the pool store flunkies to check it out, but I would have a hard time trusting them. I went to all three in the area about 4 years ago and got completely different numbers from all of them. One place even told me I had negative chlorine in the pool.

No reason you can't do partial drains/refills just like you would to lower CYA or calcium.

Off the subject, but my CYA has been zero at the start of every season for the last three or four years. I even repurchased the reactants for CYA testing to be sure it wasn't my test that was messed up. As for calcium, I have NO idea how high it is. In the youtube video below, the water sample turns blue after a few drops. I've put in over 120 drops and the water is still pinkish, so either my calcium is over 1200, something is keeping it from reacting properly, or I'm incompetent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icawkIa8jtg&list=UUNFkPFCkt9Y_YYNAeLtUr1g

I'd rather do a full drain (or at least 90%) instead of several drains and refills due to the cost of water. Water is painfully expensive here in Austin right now due to the multi-year drought.

 

[timerguy]

Yeah! I wouldn't trust any pool store with a salt or cya level. I did once and they (2 stores) weren't even close to one another much less to what I had already put in my pool--l they were way under. BTW, why do you feel you need to get rid of salt anyhow? It doesn't hurt anything and some folks (me included) say it makes thee water feel softer.

 

[SCon36]

I've done some reading before and came across some blaming this on total dissolved solids. Is there any chance this could be the issue?

 

[Smykowski]

Not really. Total dissolved solids is the sum of CH, TA, salt, CYA, and other stuff. They blame TDS because they don't understand the underlying chemistry. This is why we care so much about accurate results, because we care about the breakdown.

CYA is almost always the culprit.