Is This Level of Daily Chlorine Consumption Normal?

[AidanDanner]

I have a 16,000-galloon in-ground pool, and during the summer months here in Los Angeles, I find that I need to add 48 ounces of chlorine daily in order to maintain around 4 ppm of free chlorine/total chlorine. (Which translates to over two gallons of 10% sodium hypochlorite every week.) My other levels are: pH 7.8, TA 98, CH 267, CYA 30 (I'd like to raise CYA a bit, to maybe 40). At its daily peak, water temp hits 85 degrees. Really the only other chemical I add, once a week, is muriatic acid, to knock down my pH, which has a tendency to creep up to 8.1/8.2 over the course of a week. The water's crystal clear, I'm having zero problems, I'm just curious if this level of daily chlorine consumption is normal for this time of year, in this part of the country? Thank you!

 

[SJPoe]

48 ounces is 3ppm (12.5%) - 2.3ppm (10%) in 16k gallons

In LA, in the summer, I'd say thats probably on the low side.

My Mid-Michigan pool goes through close to double that during the summer months.

 

[Newdude]

+1. I'm losing about 4.5 ppm a day with full sun in NY.

Raising the CYA a little will likely help, but Overnight Chlorine Loss Test first.

 

[AidanDanner]

Thank you! I'm relatively new to maintaining my own pool, so I just wanted to make sure I wasn't unnecessarily burning money on chlorine, due to some unidentified problem with the water. (The pool is in partial shade during various parts of the day, which I'm sure is helping to keep the chlorine consumption from being even higher.)

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

I'm losing about `3.5 ppm daily in full sun. Your loss sounds right...

Pro-Tip: A salt water chlorine generator will save you time and is a better value than other forms of sanitization.

 

[Saturn94]

Through July we were only using about about 2.2 ppm per day. This past week FC consumption has been a little lower. Our pool is fully shaded after about 4pm, so I guess that helps.

 

[SJPoe]

Through July we were only using about about 2.2 ppm per day. This past week FC consumption has been a little lower. Our pool is fully shaded after about 4pm, so I guess that helps.

Ours is in full sun pretty much the whole day - but I do usually have a solar cover on it. I can absolutely tell the difference between a high-UV day and a low-UV day. If it's overcast, the FC use drops significantly - a day like today where it's bright and sunny all day, it'll be up again. Of course, other factors come into play - bather load, organic debris (I drown thousands of ants on a daily basis...I am infamous in ant society...).