I'm a new pool owner and new to the site and have taken on the challenge of maintaining my own pool. I've read through the posts on maintaining chlorine levels with bleach so went to the local pool store to buy concentrated forms of liquid chlorine. Was informed by the people there that it was not a good idea to use liquid chlorine in Vegas (where I live) b/c of the extreme heat. was told that it would basically burn off and i would be continuously adding liquid chlorine to maintain the proper levels. was told instead to use the chlorine tablets. Being skeptical, I went to several other pool stores and also talked with my neighbor's pool guy. They all told me essentially the same thing. The pool guy told me that in theory, using liquid chlorine would be ideal, but b/c of the heat the tablets work better and would be cheaper in then continuously buying bleach. Now I'm a little confused. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with maintaining pools in extreme heats and if so what is the most feasible and cost effective way to maintain proper pool chemistry?
Is Liquid Chlorine a viable option with extreme heat?
- Thread starter mkp75
- Start date
Welcome to TFP. The problem with the tablets is they also raise your CYA. If you ever need to SLAM your CYA will be too high.
I am in AZ and we get heat here too. You will before using liquid chlorine or bleach. You don't have a SWG so I would put your CYA around 50 due to intense UV sun on the pool. Test every morning and add bleach as needed to maintain the proper FC.
I am in AZ and we get heat here too. You will before using liquid chlorine or bleach. You don't have a SWG so I would put your CYA around 50 due to intense UV sun on the pool. Test every morning and add bleach as needed to maintain the proper FC.
Generally, you are listening to bad advice with just a hint of truth. Chlorine is consumed more readily in heat......ALL forms of it powder, Tablets, liquid chlorine is all affected equally.
As a rule, Bleach or liquid chlorine is the cheapest way to sanitize your pool
Las Vegas is no different than hundreds of other cities that have the same heat issues.
Pool Store advice will most always conflict with what we teach. Primarily because Pool Store advice is designed to sell you something.
At some point, you will have to decide whether or not to follow the principles we teach here or the advice the pool store gives. You are caught in the middle if you try to listen to both.
I would say you should do more reading here and recognize that THOUSANDS of pool owners use bleach on their pools and the results are spectacular.
As a rule, Bleach or liquid chlorine is the cheapest way to sanitize your pool
Las Vegas is no different than hundreds of other cities that have the same heat issues.
Pool Store advice will most always conflict with what we teach. Primarily because Pool Store advice is designed to sell you something.
At some point, you will have to decide whether or not to follow the principles we teach here or the advice the pool store gives. You are caught in the middle if you try to listen to both.
I would say you should do more reading here and recognize that THOUSANDS of pool owners use bleach on their pools and the results are spectacular.
Thanks for the replies. Being a new pool owner I'm trying to learn everything I can about maintaining my pool and I would prefer to use bleach to maintain the proper levels as it would not add any additional stabilizer. Just curious as to how often do you find yourself adding bleach to the pool? If it is every day, should I be stocking up on large quantities of bleach?
As long as your pool is not in need of a SLAM then I would just pick up maybe 2 or 3 bottles to have on hand.
You have to add bleach everyday. You will add enough such that by the follow day when you test and add more, the FC has not dropped below the minimum listed for your CYA level in the FC/CYA Chart.
Generally you do not want to stock up too much as the bleach will degrade over time and faster if stored in the heat.
Generally you do not want to stock up too much as the bleach will degrade over time and faster if stored in the heat.
To add, you can expect to have to add 2-4ppm of FC everyday. That is going to be right around 1/2 a 121oz bottle of 8.25% bleach everyday in your pool. Check out PoolMath.
They key to this method is only adding the chemical you need to maintain your target levels. Solid forms of chlorine add stabilizer, which over the course of an entire season will climb too high.
I have a 14k gallon above ground pool. I add stabilizer to get it to a level of 40. This means my FC range is 3 to 7. I keep close to 7 just to give some room to stay above the floor. According to poolmath, 1 cup of 12.5% will add .6 FC in 14k gallons. So when I test daily, if my FC is 6, I drop in 2 cups. If it is 5, I drop in 4. Simple as that. If it is really sunny, or we swim a lot I may test again before closing to get the level back up. So a gallon usually lasts days. Simple as that. Never been green for 3 years.
You will appreciate the method in august when people who add tabs/powder have cloudy/green pools that they can't clear up because their stabilizer is out of control.
I have a 14k gallon above ground pool. I add stabilizer to get it to a level of 40. This means my FC range is 3 to 7. I keep close to 7 just to give some room to stay above the floor. According to poolmath, 1 cup of 12.5% will add .6 FC in 14k gallons. So when I test daily, if my FC is 6, I drop in 2 cups. If it is 5, I drop in 4. Simple as that. If it is really sunny, or we swim a lot I may test again before closing to get the level back up. So a gallon usually lasts days. Simple as that. Never been green for 3 years.
You will appreciate the method in august when people who add tabs/powder have cloudy/green pools that they can't clear up because their stabilizer is out of control.
Thanks for the info guys. I'm feeling more and more confident that I can take care of my pool myself. Any thoughts on the type of bleach I should use? I was gonna play it safe and buy the super concentrated stuff from the pool store to start off with.
Also I just measured my CYA levels and are at 100, most likely to the previous owner using chlorine tablets. Should I do a partial drain to try and lower my CYA levels first or try to maintain my chlorine levels with the high levels of stabilizer?
Also I just measured my CYA levels and are at 100, most likely to the previous owner using chlorine tablets. Should I do a partial drain to try and lower my CYA levels first or try to maintain my chlorine levels with the high levels of stabilizer?
As far as bleach just 8.25% is fine. No easy pour, splash less or scents. There is no problem using liquid chlorine either.
I would do a partial drain and refill to lower CYA
I would do a partial drain and refill to lower CYA
Do you have any Ollie's Bargain outlets near you? They usually have 12.5% pool shock around 2.99 a gallon.
Important to use poolmath and set the chlorine strength to determine how much to add. Easy to forget to change the 6%, 8%, 12.5% when you buy different types of chlorine...
Important to use poolmath and set the chlorine strength to determine how much to add. Easy to forget to change the 6%, 8%, 12.5% when you buy different types of chlorine...
Calculate the cost per percent ounce to find the most economical bleach. Sometimes the 12.5% stuff from the pool store costs more for the equivalent amount of 8.25% store brand laundry bleach from places like Costco or Walmart.
CYA of 100 is do-able, but I wouldn't recommend it. There are a few reasons.
1) With CYA at 100 (and yours may be higher since the view tube starts there) you need to maintain a minimum of 8 FC. Which puts your target at 11 or 12 given the Vegas sun. Above 10 FC, the pH test reads falsely high.
2) If you do get algae, you'll be buying bleach by the barrel, not the jug, to kill it off.
3) Maintaining a minimum of 8 FC means you will have to use the powder FAS-DPD tester every single day. With a more reasonable CYA level, your minimum FC could be something like 5, which is easy to check daily using the simple color matching test. As long as your FC looks darker than the highest reading, you can safely dump your usual amount of bleach in and do the more accurate test a couple times a week as a doublecheck.
Here is a bleach/liquid chlorine cost calculator.
I would buy whatever is cheaper. If you buy bleach, you can buy Chlorox, but usually the store brands are less expensive. Costco, Sam's Club, and Target usually have decent prices. Be sure you buy regular concentrated bleach and check the label on the bottle to make sure it say's 8.25% sodium hypochlorite, 91.75% Other. Don't buy scented, splashless, easypour etc bleach.
I always check the date code on the bottle to make sure it's not over a month old. I don't buy from the big home improvement stores because their inventory is outside in the heat, which degrades the chlorine percentage more rapidly, and they don't turnover their inventory very rapidly. This post explains how to read some of the date codes.
I would buy whatever is cheaper. If you buy bleach, you can buy Chlorox, but usually the store brands are less expensive. Costco, Sam's Club, and Target usually have decent prices. Be sure you buy regular concentrated bleach and check the label on the bottle to make sure it say's 8.25% sodium hypochlorite, 91.75% Other. Don't buy scented, splashless, easypour etc bleach.
I always check the date code on the bottle to make sure it's not over a month old. I don't buy from the big home improvement stores because their inventory is outside in the heat, which degrades the chlorine percentage more rapidly, and they don't turnover their inventory very rapidly. This post explains how to read some of the date codes.
I don't know if this is going to post right....but I'm curious to know about this color matching test? Can someone explain it a little more? (I have the Taylor K-2006)
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Maybe this quote is posted right.....
The K-2006 doesn't have the colormatch. The TF100 does. So ignore that. The rest of it still applies.
The TF-100 comes with the yellow OTO chlorine test that is a good quick check. The K-2006 does not have it.
To my friend in Vegas, the people offering advice on this site are they best. Dont even think twice about adhering to their advice, they know what they are talking about. As far as your liquid Chlorine you might try NPS pool stores based up in Vegas. Down here in PHX they have 10% going for $4.99 for 2 gallons.........just my two cents.......
I am going to go off script here just a bit. I am sure someone will set me straight if I am out of bounds. I do not check my chlorine every day. There I said it. I did for a while and established what my pool consumes on a daily basis. I then take that number (lets say 2.5ppm per day) and just add that much per day. I do a full work up of tests on Saturdays. I will run an occasional powder chlorine test during the week once just to see how things look. If the weather is very cloudy or rain then I take a .5 ppm off. When it gets hot it moves up to a full 3 ppm per day. So far so good and the water is beautiful. My neighbor came over the other day to borrow some pucks - he knew I had a pool and he wouldn't be able to get to the pool store for a couple of days. The look on his face when I told him how I cared for my pool was priceless. Then he walked out back and looked at the water. "I have never seen my pool with water that clear" - was his statement. I think we have a convert.
