New and frustrated!

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Luv2decor84u

Member
Jul 11, 2019
7
Winston-Salem, NC
9000 gallon pool
Sand filter

We bought a new house 6 months ago in NC. First time pool owners. Previous owner sort of showed us his way of maintaining the pool. Kept heater at about 40 all winter and no cover. Was using test strips to test water until last week. Used the liquid kit and was having trouble registering much of any FC. Didn’t know about CYA. Been using pucks in hopper and didn’t know about it raising CYA until I found your site yesterday. Checked it mid day yesterday. Pool about 86 degrees, FC .4 ppm CC .2. No chlorine smell. No cloudiness. Pool looks clear and nice minus some minor staining on one end that won’t brush off. CYA was 70. All I had was the 1 lb bags of Clorox shock and I knew using one bag wasn’t doing it, so I put 2. That brought it to FC 11. Today at noon, FC 1.6, PH 7, CC .4, Alk low at 60 ppm, but now the CYA was at 100. Ugh. I just read about the liquid chlorine and plan to get some this evening. How much do I add tonight and how long do you wait before you have to swim? If the water looks clear and the reading is FC 1.6 isn’t it safe to swim for a short time even if CYA is high? ...How much liquid chlorine should I use?
 
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Most important now is keeping your FC in the zone for your CYA FC/CYA Levels
I suspect you have a low level algae population in your pool water waiting to pop and your FC is losing ground.
Keep a close eye on your daily FC loss then run an OCLT Overnight Chlorine Loss Test
Your pool is getting a lot of use now and water temps are high, things can spin out of control fast so diagnose your system and decide if you need to SLAM. SLAM Process
 
Okay, then the first thing you must get under control is the CYA. For non-salt pools, a summer CYA of 50 is fairly common. Anything over 60-70 can be tricky if you're not watching it (and FC) closely. Now I suspect you have algae because the FC could not keep-up with the high CYA. To be sure of your CYA, you might do a "diluted" test as seen HERE starting at step #8. To lower CYA, you have to exchange water. I use easy math - if my CYA was 100 and I wanted it lowered to 50, I would change 50% of the water. If your CYA is 120, a 50% change would bring it down to 60.

Once that is done, then you adjust the pH to 7.2 and use the SLAM Process to kill and remove the algae. Now you probably know to use only regular bleach - nothing splashless or scented. Also avoid Clorox bleach. But you have to lower the CYA before attempting the SLAM.
 
I'll let Marty answer the heater question, but for swimming in general, your chlorine is too low to be sanitary. You'll need to either raise your FC to about 12-13 and keep it there, or do the partial water exchange to balance the FC at a lower level to the lower CYA as noted on the FC/CYA Levels. Those two need to be balanced to keep the water safe (sanitary) and algae-free. But tomorrow you should do that diluted CYA test. Confirm the CYA so you know for sure.
 

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Every heater has a warning to not run if water temperature drops below 68F.
From my Pentair manual:
OPERATING THIS HEATER CONTINUOUSLY AT WATER TEMPERATURE BELOW 68° F. WILL CAUSE HARMFUL
CONDENSATION AND WILL DAMAGE THE HEATER AND VOID THE WARRANTY. Do not use the heater to protect
pools or spas from freezing if the final maintenance temperature desired is below 68° F., as this will cause condensation
related problems.
 
Thanks, again.
The hopper was full of the tablets that I was worried was the reason my CYA was so high, so I turned it to the off position. Am I right that I should not be using the tablets at all and just pouring in the liquid chlorine directly in the pool to keep it at the right levels for the CYA/FC chart? We haven’t had time to drain any and perform the suggested tests that you had suggested yet, but plan to test today/tonight. I just wanted to make sure the levels were safe to swim in first. These levels definitely require a lot of liquid chlorine! I will definitely perform the CYA test again. Although, I may almost be out of that dropper already! I also noticed in this test kit that the CYA test uses up so much of the dropper. Can you buy just that test as a refill without buying a whole new kit?
Also, for the times we won’t be able to pour in liquid chlorine, what pucks would you recommend that wouldn’t have the stabilizer in it?
 
You have the small K2006. That is why we recommend the K2006C. The C matters.

You can order refills at TFTestkits.net. I would suggest getting CYA and FAS-DPD refills now.

Use liquid chlorine to maintain your FC in target range FC/CYA Levels

There are no non-stabilized pucks. There is a compressed calcium hypochlorite product. It must NOT be put in a trichlor puck feeder. They will add calcium to the water, they dissolve quite fast. What is the CH of your pool water?
 
If you maintain your CYA at lower levels, then when you are gone for more that a couple days you can use the trichlor pucks to supplement. You just adjust your FC ranges when you return.

Or you install an automated chlorination system. I use a SWCG. It is great. Still need to test water chemistry but the chlorine is added for me. The other is a Stenner pump/tank to add liquid chlorine.
 
Thanks again!
I just spent an hour testing again and I am much more confident in the results this time. I also did the diluted CYA test that you all had recommended. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was, thank goodness. I think the second time I tested CYA I did it wrong. That black dot is frustrating!

This is what I got today between 2:30 and 3:30 pm in direct sunlight:

CYA test #1 : 60
CYA diluted test: 62
FC: 2.4
CC: .4
Alk: 60 (I am adding alk up tonight)
pH : less than 7. I got frustrated after 50 plus drops to determine how much I needed to get it up to 7, so I used my test strip (not very accurate) but according to it I was around 6.2. Our pH up is due to be delivered tomorrow.
CH: 240

Not perfect numbers, but much better than I thought!!

Attached are current pics
 

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Be careful with the pH UP. It is soda ash. It will raise your pH and your TA, the TA alot. Better to use Borax to raise your pH. And leave the TA as is for now. Use baking soda if you need to raise that.
 
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