Passing the Overnight Test???

Mendy48 · Apr 27, 2022

So if you view my log, I’ve been trying to get my Overnight Test to pass. The water wasn’t clear the first time I did this, so it didn’t pass. Then I keep getting a 1 FC change on the Overnight Test, so it keeps failing. There has to be a difference of 0.5 to pass. Well, again I tested this morning and it didn’t pass as my results show.

So I decided to test out the pool every couple of hours to make sure that the FC stays at 16. Well, when I just tested the FC a couple of hours or so later, the FC had increased from this morning (I didn’t add any chlorine btw). Could it be that my Overnight Testing is passing, but my consistency in sampling may be a bit off!

Not sure what to do now. Is my pool set to go?

Texas Splash · Apr 27, 2022

A couple things:
1 - If you only lost 1 ppm of FC, you passed. The criteria is 1.0 OR less. So that's good.
2 - Various factors could influence the FC such as pump run time, sampling locations, testing accuracy or variances.

But it appears you passed. :goodjob:

Perhaps your water just needs more time to filter whatever it was you saw.

Newdude · Apr 27, 2022

Are you either running the pool overnight or mixing it well after adding and again before testing in the morning ? Did you verify your last addition of bleach? Or just test a 8, add to 16 and assume it's there ?

Also, the higher FC OCLTs get alot of folks with human error. You need 32 perfect drops for a 16 FC. Take your time to get them as close as you can because it's real easy to foul 2 or 3 of them up. Many people have found that they suddenly pass once the FC is back in normal target range and they only need 10 drops.

Mendy48 · Apr 27, 2022

Thanks for the input. For some reason, I thought the overnight passing results was a 0.5 difference. Mmmmm not sure why I thought that.

My pump is currently running 24 hours a day, but now that my pool has passed, I’m thinking of running it maybe 8-10 hours a day? I’m not sure. I used to run it from 9am to 9pm last season. I really don’t want to do that because my consumer bill was pretty high LOL.

Texas Splash · Apr 27, 2022

Sure, you can experiment with pump run times as much as you like. You're in the clear.

Leebo · Apr 27, 2022

What does your water look like now?

Newdude · Apr 27, 2022

Texas Splash said:
you can experiment with pump run times as much as you like

+1 Mendy. Your pool only needs the skimming and filtering that it needs. Obviously it's alot more in the spring as everything flowers and pollinates. But for the bulk of the season you may only need 4 hours or less. Don't fall for the one size fits all 'you need X hours of runtime' garbage.

If the pool is sparkly and free of floating stuffs, you can likely lower the filtering time. If you notice a bunch of things floating around, or it loses some sparkle, then you need more.

The only downside to low filter times is that leaves a long window for anything that falls in the pool to get waterlogged and sink to the bottom. So the floor may be a mess if you only run a couple hours a day.