Consensus on fix for Liquidator White Stuff problem?

[Mattman1]

I've read through all the Liquidator WS troubleshooting threads that I could find, but all posts were from back in 2008 and I never saw a "final disposition" on best approach to prevention. Just had my first bout with the WS, clogging the flow control valve, so hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

Regards,
Matt

 

[JohnT]

Welcome to TFP!

Not really a consensus. Probably either the low pH or high chlorine level causing calcium to precipitate.

 

[Mattman1]

Welcome to TFP!

Not really a consensus. Probably either the low pH or high chlorine level causing calcium to precipitate.

JohnT, thanks for the quick reply. Please clarify - you wrote "low pH", did you mean high pH? What I gather from other posts is the chlorine saturated water layer in the Liquidator is high pH.

Also, I see from your sig that your pool and equipment similar to mine. Curious if you would share the typical range you keep your pH, TA, CH and CYA, and do you ever get WS in your LQ? (I suspect my bout with WS was due to pH (7.8 - 8.0) and TA (100-120) levels too high...

Thanks again

 

[JohnT]

JohnT, thanks for the quick reply. Please clarify - you wrote "low pH", did you mean high pH? What I gather from other posts is the chlorine saturated water layer in the Liquidator is high pH.

Also, I see from your sig that your pool and equipment similar to mine. Curious if you would share the typical range you keep your pH, TA, CH and CYA, and do you ever get WS in your LQ? (I suspect my bout with WS was due to pH (7.8 - 8.0) and TA (100-120) levels too high...

Thanks again

Yes, I meant high pH!

My calcium is near zero. TA about 135ppm. pH pretty close to 7.5, but it tends to creep high. CYA about 40ppm and chlorine about 5ppm.

I get a salty looking deposit in the bottom of my Liquidator, but the hoses just get slightly milky looking over the years.

 

[laprjns]

My CH is around 100 - 120 ppm, TA about 60. PH 7.4 to 7.6 and drifts high on occasion. CYA of 40 ppm. I also get an accumulation of salt at the bottom which according to the Liquidators manual is normal, just don't let it get deeper than 2 inches. My tubes also get cloudy, but never had problems with WS.

 

[MarkTX]

I have the LQ and have never had a prob with white stuff. My
TA = 70
CH = 225
ph = 7.7
CC = 0
FC = 4
Borates = 40 ppm

Someone here said to wait until after first year on Borates but I added anyway. The consensus seems to be that it prevents the white stuff when you use the LQ. And it seems to make the pool surface sparkle more. I need to add more boric acid now, we have had 74" of rain in the last 12 months, a record. About 36" since I opened the new pool three months ago.

 

[Mattman1]

Really appreciate all the replies.

One additional observation... my LQ's WS problem gets noticeably worse if I add more than 2.5 gallons of liquid chlorine at a time, or if the level of liquid chlorine in the LQ approaches the top of the white extension tube.

I suspect the problem may be caused by the combination of CH = 125, TA = 120, pH = 7.8, plus a high chlorine saturation level in the LQ's water layer... I plan to work on reducing CH, TA and pH and see how that goes.

Matt