Chlorine Lock

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Richakn

0
Apr 28, 2015
33
herndon, va
I just opened my pool (April 27th) and I'm currently in Chlorine Lock. The company that opened added shock and I added a little more over the weekend and the pool slowly went from very brown/green to a solid looking blue (maybe with a tint of green, so maybe I'm not quiet there). I added Salt over the weekend (4/30-5/2) so I'm not up to 3000 and the cell is starting to generate. Here are my current (5/3) readings:

TC ~7 (so very high)
FC ~0.7
Ph 7.6-7.8
CYA 50
Alk 150
Hardness 250

Any advice on how to get out of lock? Seems like there's a lot of Chlorine in the pool - is it perhaps still working hard against remaining algae? Do I need to hit it the pool with more chlorine or just wait?
 
Richakn said:
I just opened my pool (April 27th) and I'm currently in Chlorine Lock. The company that opened added shock and I added a little more over the weekend and the pool slowly went from very brown/green to a solid looking blue (maybe with a tint of green, so maybe I'm not quiet there). I added Salt over the weekend (4/30-5/2) so I'm not up to 3000 and the cell is starting to generate. Here are my current (5/3) readings:

TC ~7 (so very high)
FC ~0.7
Ph 7.6-7.8
CYA 50
Alk 150
Hardness 250

Any advice on how to get out of lock? Seems like there's a lot of Chlorine in the pool - is it perhaps still working hard against remaining algae? Do I need to hit it the pool with more chlorine or just wait?
Click to expand...
Something is wrong with your test results above. (Assuming this is a pool store test report). Is there a typo above with TC where you meant CC? The TC measurement is really useless and so you want to measure Free chlorine (FC) and combined chlorine (CC). The total chlorine (TC) isn’t anything that can be measured and is just the FC + CC.

So if your TC really is 7 and your FC is 0.7 then it’s an indication you need a lot more chlorine in the pool to break down all that CC. You actually don’t know if those results are accurate because the pool store results are very very frequently inaccurate. Get yourself a good test kit like mentioned above and post results of what you get with your kit and people on the site can give you better advice.

Here’s rhe FC/CYA chart that you want to use to determine how much FC needs to be in your pool at all times.
www.troublefreepool.com

The Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship

Managing your cyanuric acid and Free Chlorine levels is key to stabilizing your pool. Learn how these two items affect each other.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
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Hey Rich !!!! Real talk time. You need to poop or get off the pot. This is the 3rd time you've opened and come here with problems only to get answers you didn't want to hear about chemistry and disappear.

We would LOVE to show you the way, but that requires you to want to learn. I genuinely hope you take us up on the offer. We have nothing to sell you but good will. :)
 
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mknauss said:
'Chlorine Lock' is a pool store term. Not really real.
Follow the SLAM Process. You need a proper test kit to follow that. What test kit do you have?
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I have the Taylor FAS/DPD

So I need to:

1) Lower PH
2) get some liquid Chlorine and get that Free Chlorine level up to about 20 per the charts (CYA at 50) and keep it there for a few days

How do I work out how much liquid chlorine to add to get up to 20 FC (15,000 gallon pool)?
Should I turn off my salt cell - is there any reason to be generating chlorine right now?
I need to go and purchase liquid chlorine tomorrow (can't today). I have several pounds of granulated pool shock - is there any value in adding that to get the process going?

Thank you!
 
Richakn said:
How do I work out how much liquid chlorine to add to get up to 20 FC (15,000 gallon pool)?
Click to expand...
Use PoolMath (3 gallons of 10% liquid chlorine will add 20 ppm FC to a 15000 gallon pool)
Richakn said:
Should I turn off my salt cell - is there any reason to be generating chlorine right now?
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Up to you. Be sure it is off for the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. Best idea is to just turn it off now.
Richakn said:
I need to go and purchase liquid chlorine tomorrow (can't today). I have several pounds of granulated pool shock - is there any value in adding that to get the process going?
Click to expand...
What is the granulated chlorine? Cal Hypo or Dichlor?
 
I managed to get my hands on some liquid chlorine yesterday, took it up to about 19-20 FC. I tested last night and was at about 17 FC and this morning I was around 14-15 FC. So I lost 2-3ppm overnight. So I think that means the chlorine is still working again whatever algae is left on the pool? It looks pretty clear but there is some debris on the bottom, so I added 2 more gallons of chlorine and will test later and I ran the robot. Will do the Overnight test again tonight. Sound right?
 
What is your CYA ? That is the most important value here. With that # we can know if you have too much FC, or too little. If the CYA is sky high, you will be unable to maintain the equally sky high FC needed.

'Chlorone lock' is pool store/service code for 'we added so much CYA to your pool that you have to drain and we will blame it on your chlorine so you keep paying us stupid amounts of money to mess it up'
 
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Richakn said:
I managed to get my hands on some liquid chlorine yesterday, took it up to about 19-20 FC. I tested last night and was at about 17 FC and this morning I was around 14-15 FC. So I lost 2-3ppm overnight. So I think that means the chlorine is still working again whatever algae is left on the pool? It looks pretty clear but there is some debris on the bottom, so I added 2 more gallons of chlorine and will test later and I ran the robot. Will do the Overnight test again tonight. Sound right?
Click to expand...
It’s good that is looks better but I’m concerned about your FC level being 19-20. Is it 19 or 20? The FAS-DPD kit does not provide ranges like that so the question comes up on whether the tests are being done correctly or is there a problem coming up that cause you to not be sure?
 
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My CYA is currently about 50-55. I just tested FC and I'm at 17. I added a gallon of 10% and it should take me up to about 23 based on the calculator. The pool is looking pretty clear but there is dust/debris (I assume algae particules, although we do get run off from the garden beds when there are storms, as there was last night). I will test later and then add more chlorine if needed and then do the overnight test again. Sound correct?
 
Richakn said:
My CYA is currently about 50-55
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Well that's a pleasant surprise. Normally when we hear pool service lingo with chlorine lock, the CYA is in the 100s. 50ish is totally workable. Your SLAM is 40% or 24 FC. We always round up, so 51-59 is a 60. It's a logarithmic scale and in-between the lines of the test aren't linear like it looks, for example, to be a 55.

The OCLT is easier to get right with the FC around 10. Let it be for now and run the test wherever it ends up later. A FC of 25 for example needs 50 perfect drops and human error really comes into play.
 
So last night I was at 34 drops and this morning I'm at 31 drops - so at 0.5ppm per drop, I lost 1.5ppm overnight. Is that considered acceptible? I know the guidance says 1ppm is the target - this is close enough or should I consider this still problematic and continue to Slam? The pool water looks very clear, there is so minor dust like settlement here and there on the bottom of the pool.
 
Richakn said:
I lost 1.5ppm overnight. Is that considered acceptible? I know the guidance says 1ppm is the target - this is close enough
Click to expand...
Unfortunately it's still a concern. I would continue with the SLAM and do another OCLT. You're very close, but it appears the water is still processing a heavy load of organics. Don't let-up now. Brush, inspect, etc.
 
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Great, thank you. I'll add a little more Chlroine to move the FC up from 15.5 back towards 20?

One thing I find hard with the pool is we always have something in the bottom (worms, soil particules, etc). We are surrounded by garden beds and we get run off during storms. It seems to be a constant battle to get to fully clean and crystal clear like you guys have on that link above. I'll run the vacuum again too.
 
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