Chlorine Not registering?

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nksprts

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Aug 10, 2016
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NE Pennsylvania
Hi all, Second year with this Intex 17 x 52 pool and got it all set up and leveled out and ready to go. (with much help to all of you here.) Last year when setting it up, i was told to just use some house hold bleach, which I ended up using about 3/4ths a half gallon bottle, then used a chlorine tablet in the floater to keep it there and stayed pretty spot on. I know I will get yelled at for this but just using the cheapy test strips right now. well this year, I have all my levels good, besides chlorine. I watched a video how to figure how much (oz) to add to a pool your size and it came out to about 64 oz. So i added a half gallon of bleach, and let the pump run several hours, there is also a table it in the floating thing. Tested it next day, and everything looks good, but chlorine isn't even registering at all. Last year worked perfect with less amount, this year i cant get the color to change whatsoever. I added the 1/4 bottle i had left over from last year, and added second tablet in the pump, still nothing is registering. Looking for help before I add to much or my pool turns to slime. This is fresh water as I took down for the winter.

thank you.
 
Most likely your problem is that your chlorine is being consumed by sunlight before you test or you may be using test strips that get bleached by high chlorine levels.

You need to have CYA in the pool to get the chlorine to hold in sunlight.
 
Until the CYA level builds up some, you can reasonably expect the sun to destroy all the chlorine in a matter of hours. Each 8 oz puck will only add about 5 CYA, and they take a while to dissolve.

Don't despair and run to the pool store with a sample.

You can speed things up by adding straight CYA, or just be patient and keep adding bleach once a day while keeping the floater filled with pucks. Stop when you've fed it 8 pucks
 
Like I said I know people will recommend something better, and I will most likely upgrade this year, but for now just trying to get it to register. It seems everything else is good. This was the first test I did, which registered some, now I have done 4 others since adding more bleach and it never changes from white, not even a tiny pit purple.Not sure what to do, it hasn't been overly sunny here, mid 70's partly cloudy and rainy last couple days.

Chlrine reading 0/0
PH between 7.5 and 7.8
TA 40
TH 200
CYA between 0 and 30-50
 
Tests strips are notoriously inaccurate. If you are going to upgrade your pool, you're infinitely better off with a drop tester for chlorine and pH and will most likely need to upgrade to one of the recommended test kits.
 
How old is the bleach you are using? You stated in one post you used a 1/4 bottle from last year. Most likely it was primarily salt water at this point.

Be sure you are using fresh bleach. And keep pouring it in like Richard says.

Take care.
 
nksprts said:
Like I said I know people will recommend something better, and I will most likely upgrade this year, but for now just trying to get it to register. It seems everything else is good. This was the first test I did, which registered some, now I have done 4 others since adding more bleach and it never changes from white, not even a tiny pit purple.Not sure what to do, it hasn't been overly sunny here, mid 70's partly cloudy and rainy last couple days.

Chlrine reading 0/0
PH between 7.5 and 7.8
TA 40
TH 200
CYA between 0 and 30-50
Click to expand...
If it's sunny, you'll lose all the bleach in about an hour if you have no CYA. But while it lasts, it's killing algae spores.

If you add bleach and let it mix and test again in thirty minutes, you should still see some.

If there's no sunlight, there's also the chance that your FC is so high that it's bleaching out the test strip.
 
The 1.4 bottle was last year, but I added a half gallon I just bought from the store. And yes I plan on upgrading, just trying to figure this thing out now till then.

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Richard320 said:
If it's sunny, you'll lose all the bleach in about an hour if you have no CYA. But while it lasts, it's killing algae spores.

If you add bleach and let it mix and test again in thirty minutes, you should still see some.

If there's no sunlight, there's also the chance that your FC is so high that it's bleaching out the test strip.
Click to expand...

There hasnt been a ton of sun lately here, on and off. And I havent added any bleach since Monday and tested yesterday and still showing 0. What would you recommend i do? Appreciate the help from all of you.
 

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I also have had the solar cover when doing this, not sure if that affecting anything or not.

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Richard320 said:
Looks like you had exactly the same problem last year Chlorine help?

Whenever you're ready to get serious and throw away the test strips and get a real tester, we'll be around to help, but I'm done here.
Click to expand...

which I did exactly what I am doing this year but with different results. I guess its time to upgrade :( Just hard for me to spend $100 or whatever when I am fixed income and just trying to let me kids have a good summer. Also because we only spent $150 on the pool.
 
nksprts said:
There hasnt been a ton of sun lately here, on and off. And I havent added any bleach since Monday and tested yesterday and still showing 0. What would you recommend i do? Appreciate the help from all of you.
Click to expand...

Call me crazy, but there is your reason right there. Combined with a finicky (at best) tester and low CYA, Chlorine is not being added often enough and/or to the correct dosage.
 
nksprts said:
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Is something like this any better or no?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/NEW-5-Way-Swimming-Pool-Spa-Water-Chemical-Test-Kit/39130943
Click to expand...

That test kit is better than strips. So as long as you are willing to treat this pool as a temporary pool such that if you get algae or any other water chemistry issue that makes it cloudy or slimy, you are going to dump the water, scrub the pool with bleach, and start over. That test kit will not test above FC 5,so you cannot shock/SLAM the pool.

Take care.
 
mknauss said:
That test kit is better than strips. So as long as you are willing to treat this pool as a temporary pool such that if you get algae or any other water chemistry issue that makes it cloudy or slimy, you are going to dump the water, scrub the pool with bleach, and start over. That test kit will not test above FC 5,so you cannot shock/SLAM the pool.

Take care.
Click to expand...

Yes, we are in PA and have harsh winters. We plan on taking down each year in September and putting up in May/June.

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I printed this out, and hope to pick up a new tester tonight and see what to do.

Pool School - Guide for Seasonal/Temporary Pools

thank you for your help/time.
 
I concur with @mknauss. However, testing (and probably dosing) needs to happen daily, until you get a hang of what your daily needs are, and even then, far more often than it seems you are currently.

The other thing I would do, to piggyback off of Mknauss's advice, is to do a quick cost analysis of what a drain/refill would cost should you run into an algae bloom vs. one of the recommended test kits + SLAM. Also keep in mind that you would not have to purchase the test kit every year. The reagents last.
 
Can someone recommend a tester that would be good for me? A smaller pool 7300 gallons that isn't overkill? Something that will get the job done right and give me the numbers read that I need, and able read above the 5 so I could slam it, without being overkill or a TON of money.
 
The TF100 (TFTestkits.net). $70. Will last two seasons (most likely) with your pool size. Will allow you to test FC to 50 if you need to SLAM and thus keep you from having to drain your pool potentially multiple times per year.

Hope that helps.
 

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