Help!! Odor (like chlorine) smell that makes you cough

[chem geek]

I don't think the disinfection by-products that are causing the coughing are just trichloramine. They would be so low as to generally not measure on the CC test. The high CC that correlates with the coughing may indicate precursors, but the products may be other items (see this link).

This link does provide hope for UV getting rid of chloramines.

It is true that trichloramine is very volatile so can easily be removed from water through spraying and air exchange, but that can be a slow and energy-inefficient process if the fresh air outside is cool. It isn't much different than just providing greater air circulation in the indoor pool area except that one can concentrate the volatile chemical removal and cooling to the water itself rather than the bulk air in the room.

Remember, though, that this pool isn't heavily used. There is something strange about this particular situation. It's as if something was added to the pool that is a prodigious precursor to chlorinated disinfection by-products. The combined chlorine is fairly persistent so probably not inorganic chloramines. This just doesn't seem like something from low-bather load.

I, too, am hopeful that the UV system resolved this problem.

Richard

 

[jcichocki]

First off, I have been trying all weekend to post pictures. It seems like it should be so easy. But not for me!! Is there a file size limit? It says downloading and spins forever. I tried all the pictures one at a time, without success. Help!

I have been somewhat hesitant to report the latest progress on the pool. In my mind this posting was either success or failure. I have been hopeful for complete success but in reality it is somewhat less than perfect....failure? I believe that I have given it ample time, despite some good improvements, it still is not 100%.

The UV system amazingly cut the CC from 2ppm to 1 within 72 hours. It took 2 weeks to go from 1 to 0.5. Another 2 weeks to go from 0.5 to a trace (we actually disagreed whether there was a trace of color). Somewhere over the last 2-3 weeks there was without question a perfectly clear CC test.

Bleach consumption has gone way up (as Chem Geek stated would happen, opposite from what the UV people said). From somewhere around 1/3-1/2 gal per day to 3/4 gal per day.

As for the cough. It is thankfully 90% better, but yes still there. It seems like it is most obvious during start up of the spa. The initial bubbles seem fizzy which tickle your nose/throat and leads to a cough. There is a bit of an acidic type odor as well. It really does not seem like a chlorine by-product. We have been able to actually use the spa with minimal coughing after the start up.

I this AM I vacuumed the pool and ran the spa. It was probably 30-40 minutes with the jets running. I left the pool room and continued running the spa. When I came back about 20 minutes later the air quality in the pool was horrible. Sadly, I started coughing immediately.

Speechless is basically where I am at. Maybe a drain and refill is the next option. Any more thoughts? Thanks to all!!

 

[Casey]

Man that sucks that the cough came back while running the spa.

I use imageshack.us to post my pics.

 

[chem geek]

The good news is that the UV seems to have gotten rid of the CC, though at a cost of consuming more chlorine. The bad news is that you still get a cough when the spa jets are running, at least when they run for a while. I'm wondering if you are just sensitive to chlorine itself. It's possible there is something else in the water that the UV isn't taking care of and that doesn't show up in the CC test, but it's also possible that chlorine itself is a problem for you. Have you ever thought of that? Can you identify the type of smell from the spa? Is it similar to a bleach smell? You say it smells acidic -- as in irritating like Muriatic Acid?

By the way, the UV people think that chlorine consumption goes down because the UV takes care of oxidizing bather wastes; ozonator people think the same thing. The problem is that when you have a pool with a low bather load, the UV (or ozone) spends more time oxidizing the chlorine than oxidizing bather waste so the net result is a higher chlorine consumption, which is what you are seeing. They are probably more used to commercial/public installations where there are high bather loads so that UV can lower the chlorine consumption.

I assume you've done things like clean and/or replace filter material -- just in case the bad contaminant is caught in the filter.

It's possible that a water replacement will get rid of the source of the problem, if it's not chlorine itself. Is there any way for you to isolate your spa and then just do a water replacement of the spa water? Then, you can just operate the spa in isolated mode and see if running the jets causes a problem, though you may need to use the spa some number of days to be sure. You could even have the chlorine level get close to zero for a short time (an hour or two) and run the jets to see if the problem is chlorine itself.

Richard

 

[Ohm_Boy]

You have an automatic acid system? Can you double check that it's not doing more than you think?

 

[jcichocki]

Yes, I have a stenner tank and pump for the acid. The CAT controller and the manual pH test show 7.5. The acid consumption has been very level and steady. I'm not sure what your thinking or what you want me to check. My chemistry has been really quite good in every category. I have been watching the alk, up to 110 over the last couple of months.

 

[Ohm_Boy]

I'm not sure what I'm thinking either, but there's a 'fume' type issue that doesn't seen to want to be affected by chlorine adjustment, becomes bad when the spa starts up, and it was mentioned that "There is a bit of an acidic type odor...".
I'll cede that I am grasping at straws here, but is there any chance that the acid could be finding its way into the spa piping where it concentrates until the spa is activated? It just seems like all the probable faults have been checked, so I start looking at what isn't necessarily obvious.