We opened our pool almost 3 weeks ago and have not swam in it yet. Pool company said we lost too much chlorine over the winter and "shocked" it at opening. We only use the company to open/close, I do all the maintenance in between myself. After letting their shock levels come down, I began measuring everything. My CYA was really low, ph was high, alkalinity was high. I balanced my ph and began a SLAM guessing my CYA was around 20 (vial only goes to 30, but I know there had to be some in there from prior year). I maintained FC at or above 12 (yes I know higher than CYA) for about a day and let it go forgetting to do an OCLT. I noticed that the chlorine was dropping way faster than prior years. In fact my FC fell below 2 after 2 days even with pool covered. So I knew I needed to SLAM again and remembered about the OCLT after coming back here to the site for the first time this year. By this point my CYA was at 30 after adding stabilizer so I did a SLAM to at or above 12 and held it. First night OCLT was 2.0 and then second night OCLT was 1.0 (or possibly little less because one drop equaled 0.5). I stopped SLAM.
Here's where the problem continues. I am losing FC like crazy and my SWG isn't maintaining my chlorine levels like it has in the past. It is oversized for our pool size so in past years it ran 10-15% 10 hours/day pump run when cover on/no one swimming, we would bump it up to 20-25% when few swimmers or 35% when 4 or more swimmers. This year it's just not keeping up even when pool is covered and it is set at 25%. In fact I ran it yesterday at 100% for 5 1/2 hours with pool uncovered and I broke even FC 3.5 before I boosted SWG and FC 3.5 after boosting for 5 1/2 hours. Per Pentairs manual, I tested FC well away from SWG and got FC 3.5 and get FC 5.5 from the return so it does seem to be producing chlorine. The metal blades inside the SWG looked really good and no calcium deposit that I could see. Last night with SWG set at 25%, I closed the pool with FC of 3.5 and had a FC of 2.2 today about 16 hours in between tests. Water is really blue/clear, but we do have frequent debris in it as we live right on the edge of wooded preserve area. I vacuum with robot almost twice a day this year. A couple days ago I heated the pool from 67 degrees to 84 degrees over about 7 hours and lost 10ppm FC just doing that.
Since the SWG isn't keeping up and can't seem to find the right setting I've gone through about 5 gallons of shock btwn the SLAMs and maintenance. All my testing reagents from my Taylor 2006C kit have been replaced new this season/none are expired. Out of desperation I took a sample to Leslie's just out of curiosity. My FC reading was 5.5 and CC .4 within minutes of taking the sample for Leslies. Their results showed the following: FC 2.93, CC .4, CYA 27, ph 7.3, alkalinity 140, calcium hardness 172 and phosphates 600. Of course they wanted me to buy Fresh n Clear to address the CC, something to bring up the Calcium and then something to bring down the phosphates. I've read enough of the threads about Fresh n Clear and the classic pool store money maker with phosphates so I'm pretty versed there. She also tried to sell me some new algaecide for $52 just in case, even though there's no visible proof that we have algae at this point.
I left the store feeling pretty deflated and defeated. Why isn't my SWG performing like it has in years past? Why am I losing so much FC and fast? I know my CYA should be higher, but I dumped a gallon of liquid stabilizer in it so far which according to the label should have raised my pool by 40 CYA so I'm baffled why I'm only at 30. How many more times do I need to SLAM and/or is that even what I need to be doing at this point? Should I try an acid wash on my SWG just in case? My salt level is right within specs so that's fine. Should I put in an algaecide just out of desperation? I know treating phosphates around here is generally a no no/waste of money and will make me have to clean my filter cartridges, but should I try it? I've seen conflicting opinions on phosphates having an impact on SWG and in fact Pentair states the following in the manual: "Phosphates can cause extremely high chlorine demands and will deplete chlorine from your swimming pool." "Phosphates should not exceed 125."
Here's where the problem continues. I am losing FC like crazy and my SWG isn't maintaining my chlorine levels like it has in the past. It is oversized for our pool size so in past years it ran 10-15% 10 hours/day pump run when cover on/no one swimming, we would bump it up to 20-25% when few swimmers or 35% when 4 or more swimmers. This year it's just not keeping up even when pool is covered and it is set at 25%. In fact I ran it yesterday at 100% for 5 1/2 hours with pool uncovered and I broke even FC 3.5 before I boosted SWG and FC 3.5 after boosting for 5 1/2 hours. Per Pentairs manual, I tested FC well away from SWG and got FC 3.5 and get FC 5.5 from the return so it does seem to be producing chlorine. The metal blades inside the SWG looked really good and no calcium deposit that I could see. Last night with SWG set at 25%, I closed the pool with FC of 3.5 and had a FC of 2.2 today about 16 hours in between tests. Water is really blue/clear, but we do have frequent debris in it as we live right on the edge of wooded preserve area. I vacuum with robot almost twice a day this year. A couple days ago I heated the pool from 67 degrees to 84 degrees over about 7 hours and lost 10ppm FC just doing that.
Since the SWG isn't keeping up and can't seem to find the right setting I've gone through about 5 gallons of shock btwn the SLAMs and maintenance. All my testing reagents from my Taylor 2006C kit have been replaced new this season/none are expired. Out of desperation I took a sample to Leslie's just out of curiosity. My FC reading was 5.5 and CC .4 within minutes of taking the sample for Leslies. Their results showed the following: FC 2.93, CC .4, CYA 27, ph 7.3, alkalinity 140, calcium hardness 172 and phosphates 600. Of course they wanted me to buy Fresh n Clear to address the CC, something to bring up the Calcium and then something to bring down the phosphates. I've read enough of the threads about Fresh n Clear and the classic pool store money maker with phosphates so I'm pretty versed there. She also tried to sell me some new algaecide for $52 just in case, even though there's no visible proof that we have algae at this point.
I left the store feeling pretty deflated and defeated. Why isn't my SWG performing like it has in years past? Why am I losing so much FC and fast? I know my CYA should be higher, but I dumped a gallon of liquid stabilizer in it so far which according to the label should have raised my pool by 40 CYA so I'm baffled why I'm only at 30. How many more times do I need to SLAM and/or is that even what I need to be doing at this point? Should I try an acid wash on my SWG just in case? My salt level is right within specs so that's fine. Should I put in an algaecide just out of desperation? I know treating phosphates around here is generally a no no/waste of money and will make me have to clean my filter cartridges, but should I try it? I've seen conflicting opinions on phosphates having an impact on SWG and in fact Pentair states the following in the manual: "Phosphates can cause extremely high chlorine demands and will deplete chlorine from your swimming pool." "Phosphates should not exceed 125."
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