The SLAM Methond and Chloramines

[tomvalois]

I am curious as to whether anyone has stumbled across this article, and what anyone might have to say about it. It seems to say that SLAM shouldn't work.

Is Superchlorinating The Best Way To Eliminate Chloramines? - AQUA Magazine

 

[Mr Bruce]

Of course, that plan only works if the added free chlorine really does, in fact, destroy the chloramines. Turns out it only destroys some of them.

That's not the point of raising the FC to a SLAM level (based on CYA). It's to kill the algae and other "bad stuff". UV breaks down CC just fine on its own.

 

[Schadenfreude]

The SLAM is done in outdoor, stabilized pools with relatively low bather loads. Most of the issues in that article do not apply to the SLAM.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Nothing new here.

There's many problems with the article, namely the insistence on "Breakpoint Chlorination" and the "10X Rule" which is an idea that was debunked here long ago. See these threads -

Certified Pool Operator (CPO) training -- What is not taught

Breakpoint Chlorination

Of course if you add lots and lots of chlorine it's going to generate lots and lots of CCs. And yes, the test kits only measure certain CCs (monochloramine, dichloramine and nitrogen trichlorine). Other halogenated organics do not register. But, DBP's are really only a problem in commercial/public pools and spas where the bather loads are extremely high. This is why those pools need to have secondary oxidizer sources (UV, ozone and peroxide) to handle the DBPs. It is very rare for a residential, single-family outdoor pool to ever register those kinds of bather load levels. Therefore, in private pools, DBPs are really not a concern.

Finally, the articles insistence that nitrogen trichloride (trichloroamine) is some kind of monster waiting to happen to your pool is nonsense. This post describes how the generation of CC's relate to the FC/CYA ratios we propose and why it is important in a residential pool to use CYA as that limits the generation of noxious nitrogen trichloride -

Chloramines and FC/CYA

Since many indoor pool facilities do not use CYA, they tend to generate more of the highly irritating nitrogen trichloride.