Going on vacation. Bought some 2" Trichlor Tabs. Never used them before...advice?

[impulse22281]

Going on vacation. Bought some 2" Trichlor Tabs. Never used them before...advice?

So, I've always used liquid chlorine in my pool and have maintained good levels. I'm going away for a week and was going to try and use 2" Trichlor tabs I found at Ocean State Job Lot which I've never used before. My parents may come over to use the pool periodically so I don't want to bring it to shock level. They can't be bothered with any sort of pool maintenance. My question is how many trichlor tabs should I put in the floater? How long do those things last? I'm not worried about stabilizer levels right now because mine is on the low side anyways due to wall the water displacement from lots of rain we've had, so I could actually use some extra stabilizer. Just looking to properly use these things. Package says 1 tab per 8000 gallons per day? Do these things melt (or whatever the proper term is) in a day?

 

[woodyp]

Re: Going on vacation. Bought some 2" Trichlor Tabs. Never used them before...advice?

Absolutely no harm to your parents by jacking FC to SLAM level before you add the pucks. Get a floater that will hold 4, 5, or 6 and fill it up. Open up ALL the holes in the floater to get maximum flow on the tabs. Tie it out on a ladder rail so it gets good flow to it and doesn't end up stuck in place somewhere, most likely at your skimmer, and build up excess acidity in one place.

 

[chem geek]

Re: Going on vacation. Bought some 2" Trichlor Tabs. Never used them before...advice?

The 3" pucks in a typical floating feeder last around 5 days or so, but it depends on the feeder (I'm assuming vanes are fully open) and flow rate so pump run time. The pucks still dissolve when the pump isn't running, but more slowly.

Are you sure these are literally 2" diameter pucks? Pool pucks are usually 3" diameter though there are also 1" ones available. Do they give the weight of each Trichlor puck? Given their one puck per day for 8000 gallons I'm guessing they are 2 ounce pucks since that would be 1.7 ppm FC per day which would be a typical recommendation from a Trichlor manufacturer (they figure on high CYA levels and lower FC/CYA ratios). If that is the case, then each puck in your 23,900 gallon pool would be 0.57 ppm FC so if you had chlorine demand of 2 ppm FC per day you would need 24 pucks for the week if you only used pucks.

I agree with Woody that to be safe you should elevate your chlorine level to start with and not rely as much on the pucks. I don't think your floating dispenser will hold as many as would be needed though it's hard to say since they are not standard size. Note also that smaller pucks will dissolve more quickly (more surface area) and that my initial discussion was for standard 3" pucks. You could split the difference and do a half-SLAM level -- elevate to a 20% FC/CYA ratio -- but then use more pucks to last the week. Hard to know what to do since these aren't standard pucks.

 

[domct203]

Re: Going on vacation. Bought some 2" Trichlor Tabs. Never used them before...advice?

So, I've always used liquid chlorine in my pool and have maintained good levels. I'm going away for a week and was going to try and use 2" Trichlor tabs I found at Ocean State Job Lot which I've never used before. My parents may come over to use the pool periodically so I don't want to bring it to shock level. They can't be bothered with any sort of pool maintenance. My question is how many trichlor tabs should I put in the floater? How long do those things last? I'm not worried about stabilizer levels right now because mine is on the low side anyways due to wall the water displacement from lots of rain we've had, so I could actually use some extra stabilizer. Just looking to properly use these things. Package says 1 tab per 8000 gallons per day? Do these things melt (or whatever the proper term is) in a day?

Do they say "fast/quick dissolving" or "fast acting" on the label?

Before I found TFP I bought some 2" tablets from OSJL and they would dissolve within 30 minutes. I put a whole bunch in a floater thinking I would be good for a couple of days and when I checked a half hour later they were all gone!

Thank goodness for TFPC!

Dom

 

[impulse22281]

Re: Going on vacation. Bought some 2" Trichlor Tabs. Never used them before...advice?

You nailed it. They are fast acting tabs. Good thing I haven't opened it yet. Returning them today for the normal 3" ones. Thanks everyone for the replies!