Keeping free chlorine in North Carolina heat and rain

[Microsprint73A]

Hi everyone and a huge Thank you for all I have learned here. I finally joined!! I replace the k-2006 when I need to and I learn something new here every time I stop by. I always send people here to look up things I don't know how to answer.

Ok so I am loosing about 8ppm of FC per day. I did the slam process for 5 days and finally passed the overnight test on 6-14-19. That was a ton of chlorine.
I'm sure I still have a lot to learn but thanks to this place I have a better grasp than most, and have avoided the pool stores like the plague from day one.

Here are my numbers currently
FC 8.5
CC 0.5
PH 7.6
ALK 110
CYA 45
86F

The pool does get hit with a lot of direct sun from 11A-6:30P We also usually get a lot of rain but I keep debris out of the pool with vac and skimmer. Also I run my pump on high from 6am-1pm and 7pm-12am due to energy costs. That keeps me out of peak. Do you guys see anything that I'm doing that is an issue or a waste? Do I need a higher CYA? I wondered if that would help but then I have to keep FC levels so high. I am loosing on average 8ppm over 24 hours which seems to be more than normal. I am supposed to maintain in the 6-7ppm range but that wont hold until I get home from work so I have been shooting for 10ppm after sun goes down, before bed. I am adding 2.5 jugs of 6% bleach every day. I take my FC to 10 but if I wait 24 hours its a 2. So I have to add several times throughout the day to keep above my 3.5 minimum FC. Any ideas will be appreciated. Thank you again for all you have taught me. I love this place.

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
I suspect your CYA is lower than you show.
When you do the CYA test, try this next time.
Once you have your solution ready, back to the sun, etc. Fill the vial to a line, say 80, lower the vial to your waist level and glance for the dot, you see it, add solution to the 70 line, glance, see it, repeat until you no longer see it with a glance. Then use the CYA value one step above the line you read. So if you stopped at 50, use 60 ppm CYA.
The vial is in logarithmic scale. So it is not viable to interpolate between the lines. Just use the whole numbers, such as 50, 40, 30, ....

Also -- no need to run the pump on high. Use the low speed for normal circulation. Leave high speed for vacuuming, backwash, etc.

I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry and consider reviewing the entire Pool School eBook.

 

[Microsprint73A]

Ok thanks for the reply. This sounds like a good possibility. I was doing the test back to the sun etc but dropping a few drops and starring looking for the dot. I could see that giving an incorrect reading. I will also try low speed tomorrow, the one time I put the pump on low it didn't seem to be doing much filtering so I just went back to high but Ill give it a chance this time.

 

[jmikeb]

i was loosing 5 to 5.5 a day. i thought my cya was 50, but rechecked at 30. brought it back up and now i’m 3 to 3.5 on sunny days. later this summer when the heat really cranks up, i’ll bump it to 60 cya.
having said that, a loss of 8ppm like your having is a lot.... are you sure you can pass the over night chlorine loss test?

mike

 

[Microsprint73A]

Welcome to the forum!
I suspect your CYA is lower than you show.
When you do the CYA test, try this next time.
Once you have your solution ready, back to the sun, etc. Fill the vial to a line, say 80, lower the vial to your waist level and glance for the dot, you see it, add solution to the 70 line, glance, see it, repeat until you no longer see it with a glance. Then use the CYA value one step above the line you read. So if you stopped at 50, use 60 ppm CYA.
The vial is in logarithmic scale. So it is not viable to interpolate between the lines. Just use the whole numbers, such as 50, 40, 30, ....

Also -- no need to run the pump on high. Use the low speed for normal circulation. Leave high speed for vacuuming, backwash, etc.

I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry and consider reviewing the entire Pool School eBook.

Ok I just got home from work. I had 8.5 FC last night @10Pm and 5 FC Today @2:30Pm. That's a loss of 3.5ppm over 16.5 hours. It was dark for about half of that time. You were right I could see the dot at 40 with a glance but not at 30 with a glance so my CYA is 40. Should I now raise the CYA to 50, since I get so much sun all day? I will do some reading on the ABC's tonight as well.

 

[Microsprint73A]

i was loosing 5 to 5.5 a day. i thought my cya was 50, but rechecked at 30. brought it back up and now i’m 3 to 3.5 on sunny days. later this summer when the heat really cranks up, i’ll bump it to 60 cya.
having said that, a loss of 8ppm like your having is a lot.... are you sure you can pass the over night chlorine loss test?

mike

Thank you for the response Mike, My CYA turned out to be 40 so It is lower than I thought. I think I will bump mine to 50 and see what happens after I do that. Yes I passed, It took me 5 days to be able to pass and cases of chlorine to maintain SLAM numbers. I had a 1ppm FC loss and 0.5 CC. That was from around 10pm to 530am on 6-14-19