- Jun 7, 2021
- 68
- Pool Size
- 8423
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Hello!
I haven't posted much because I usually don't have issues. Something has developed over the past week, and I am at a loss as to what can be the cause.
Background: As of around 2 weeks ago, the oaks have started dropping catkins, and we have had very little to no rain. Weather has been in the 70's during the day and mid 50's to 60's at night. I have been cleaning the pool out multiple times/day to get the pollen/catkins out. I did have one morning, Monday I think, when I overslept, and the skimmer was jammed full of catkins. I cleaned the skimmer and the pot. I keep a skimmer sock in the skimmer basket and regularly run my surface skimmer bot and s200 dolphin. The water is clear to the bottom.
*edit* Filter got new cartridges at the end of spring last year, baseline 7 psi, pressure reads between 8 and 9 right now.*edit*
*edit* I did add some water to the pool on two occasions over the past week, about 1/2 inch each time since its been dry and windy and I don't like my first shallow entrance step to not be under water. I have not tested this water lately.*edit*
Chemistry, going back to Mar. 16th: (I know there is no 75 CYA or odd number pH values, I just record them that way if I have trouble reading the dot or the color comparator)
March 16th
FC 6.6
CC 0
pH 7.5
March 21st
FC 6.4
CC 0
pH 7.5
TA 50
CH 210
CYA 75
Salt 3200
Temp 63
So everything up to this point is pretty much how the pool has been running all winter. I went a while on checks because our temps dropped again. Then on Apr 3rd:
FC 4.0
CC 0.0
pH 7.6
TA 50
CH 230
CYA 75
Temp 73
Salt 3800 (added 40 lbs to make the SWCG happy, and was expecting a lot of rain we never got)
Ok, not a big deal. I chalked it up to being lazy, but wasn't surprised, So I upped the SWCG to 20% from 17%, expecting that the warmer days were eating more Chlorine, and I put in 16 oz of bleach to catch it up to closer to where I should be. I expected to be above 5, closer to 6, FC, but my next check on the 7th:
FC 3.0
CC 0.0
pH 7.4
Temp 70
So I added more bleach, 32 oz, and bumped the SWCG to 30% at around 1 pm. I checked it again at 7 pm and got 4.8 FC/0.0 CC. It should have been higher, just from the bleach. I couldn't figure it out except maybe the bleach was no good anymore or I had something going on biologically. So I was prepared mentally to have to start a SLAM, turned the SWCG to 0%, and got up early to check the levels. This reported at 3.8 FC/0.0 CC. Even though it was only 1 ppm difference, I went to the hardware store and got 3 gallons of 10% pool Chlorine.
I added the chlorine in parts to each of the 3 jets at around 8:30 a.m. I spent the next 2 hours brushing and scrubbing everything, clean skimmer, scooping any catkin/leaf debris out that I could with the net. I checked the the FC just after noon, and it was 13 ppm. With 8400-ish gallons, I thought it would be in the 20's still after only 4 hours, especially since my OCLT was only 1 ppm over 12 hours.
I am at a loss as to what is wrong. I don't if there is something wrong with my test chems, if the bleach was weaker than advertised, or if could be algae even though the pool is crystal clear with no signs of anything that I can see. I repeated the drop test about 15 min later, from a different part of the pool, using the 10 ml sample size and got 14, so the result is repeatable. I have done these 100's of times now, but maybe I am making a mistake? The chems are new since the end of summer, both the powder and the drops. I keep my glassware clean and rinsed and each test has its own vial.
Do I just keep adding more bleach to continue the SLAM? What could be eating ~15 ppm of FC? I am fairly confident that my CYA is above 70 at least, but maybe I need to double check that? Advice/Direction/Guidance/Adult Beverage appreciated.
I haven't posted much because I usually don't have issues. Something has developed over the past week, and I am at a loss as to what can be the cause.
Background: As of around 2 weeks ago, the oaks have started dropping catkins, and we have had very little to no rain. Weather has been in the 70's during the day and mid 50's to 60's at night. I have been cleaning the pool out multiple times/day to get the pollen/catkins out. I did have one morning, Monday I think, when I overslept, and the skimmer was jammed full of catkins. I cleaned the skimmer and the pot. I keep a skimmer sock in the skimmer basket and regularly run my surface skimmer bot and s200 dolphin. The water is clear to the bottom.
*edit* Filter got new cartridges at the end of spring last year, baseline 7 psi, pressure reads between 8 and 9 right now.*edit*
*edit* I did add some water to the pool on two occasions over the past week, about 1/2 inch each time since its been dry and windy and I don't like my first shallow entrance step to not be under water. I have not tested this water lately.*edit*
Chemistry, going back to Mar. 16th: (I know there is no 75 CYA or odd number pH values, I just record them that way if I have trouble reading the dot or the color comparator)
March 16th
FC 6.6
CC 0
pH 7.5
March 21st
FC 6.4
CC 0
pH 7.5
TA 50
CH 210
CYA 75
Salt 3200
Temp 63
So everything up to this point is pretty much how the pool has been running all winter. I went a while on checks because our temps dropped again. Then on Apr 3rd:
FC 4.0
CC 0.0
pH 7.6
TA 50
CH 230
CYA 75
Temp 73
Salt 3800 (added 40 lbs to make the SWCG happy, and was expecting a lot of rain we never got)
Ok, not a big deal. I chalked it up to being lazy, but wasn't surprised, So I upped the SWCG to 20% from 17%, expecting that the warmer days were eating more Chlorine, and I put in 16 oz of bleach to catch it up to closer to where I should be. I expected to be above 5, closer to 6, FC, but my next check on the 7th:
FC 3.0
CC 0.0
pH 7.4
Temp 70
So I added more bleach, 32 oz, and bumped the SWCG to 30% at around 1 pm. I checked it again at 7 pm and got 4.8 FC/0.0 CC. It should have been higher, just from the bleach. I couldn't figure it out except maybe the bleach was no good anymore or I had something going on biologically. So I was prepared mentally to have to start a SLAM, turned the SWCG to 0%, and got up early to check the levels. This reported at 3.8 FC/0.0 CC. Even though it was only 1 ppm difference, I went to the hardware store and got 3 gallons of 10% pool Chlorine.
I added the chlorine in parts to each of the 3 jets at around 8:30 a.m. I spent the next 2 hours brushing and scrubbing everything, clean skimmer, scooping any catkin/leaf debris out that I could with the net. I checked the the FC just after noon, and it was 13 ppm. With 8400-ish gallons, I thought it would be in the 20's still after only 4 hours, especially since my OCLT was only 1 ppm over 12 hours.
I am at a loss as to what is wrong. I don't if there is something wrong with my test chems, if the bleach was weaker than advertised, or if could be algae even though the pool is crystal clear with no signs of anything that I can see. I repeated the drop test about 15 min later, from a different part of the pool, using the 10 ml sample size and got 14, so the result is repeatable. I have done these 100's of times now, but maybe I am making a mistake? The chems are new since the end of summer, both the powder and the drops. I keep my glassware clean and rinsed and each test has its own vial.
Do I just keep adding more bleach to continue the SLAM? What could be eating ~15 ppm of FC? I am fairly confident that my CYA is above 70 at least, but maybe I need to double check that? Advice/Direction/Guidance/Adult Beverage appreciated.
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