FC through the roof

[Bornnole]

New pool at our new house. Things were moving along just fine until about two weeks ago I tested the FC and got a reading of 12. Since then I dropped SWG to 8% and then 5 days ago still got a FC reading of 12. Called PB and he said to disable salt cell in Easy Touch so I did. Tested chlorine this morning and still getting a reading of 12. That's after two weeks of sunshine (albeit a little colder weather) salt cell at 8% then disabled.

Current readings:

FC - 12
CC - 0
CYA - 60
TA - 120
PH - 8
CH - 350
Water temp - 64

Any idea what may be going on? I'm at a loss as to how in the heck FC could stay this high for this long.

 

[Jimrahbe]

bh,

An FC reading of 12 is by no means "Through the Roof"... See this chart... [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA] With a CYA of 60 your FC is ok to swim in up to 24 ppm...

This time of year pools use less and less FC as the weather gets cooler, but staying at 12 for two weeks does not sound right..

Depending how long you run your pump, an IC40 at 8% will generate enough chlorine to keep up with the FC demand this time of year..

How are you testing?

Where are you located?

How long do you run your pump?

How long after you turned off your SWCG, did you still find the FC to be 12?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Bornnole]

bh,

An FC reading of 12 is by no means "Through the Roof"... See this chart... [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA] With a CYA of 60 your FC is ok to swim in up to 24 ppm...

This time of year pools use less and less FC as the weather gets cooler, but staying at 12 for two weeks does not sound right..

Depending how long you run your pump, an IC40 at 8% will generate enough chlorine to keep up with the FC demand this time of year..

How are you testing?

Where are you located?

How long do you run your pump?

How long after you turned off your SWCG, did you still find the FC to be 12?

Thanks,

Jim R.

Thanks Jim. I’m testing using the TF Testkit. I’m in Tallahassee Florida (North Florida). PB has my pump set to run 24 hrs a day. I just dropped it down this morning based on another post I read so it is running 20 hours a day.

Disabled the salt cell in EasyTouch this past Wednesday so it’s been totally off for 3 days.

I must be hyper sensitive to FC because when I just stick my arm in the pool to adjust jets or pool water for testing my arm turns beet reed and splotchy and I figured it was from FC being at 12.

Thanks.

 

[mknauss]

If your CYA is 60, then FC of 12 is benign. I would look at your pH at 8. Than can be irritating to your skin, but normally not until much above 8.

Please add your location to your Settings.

You should be able to drop your pump run time to a just a few hours a day this time of year, if you like. See Pool School - Determine Pump Run Time

Take care.

- - - Updated - - -

Also - please provide more detail in your signature. See Pool School - Getting Started

Thank you.

 

[Bornnole]

So over a week now with the salt cell disabled in easytouch and FC still at 11.5. Interestingly, the cell light that indicates the cell is producing is illuminated even when disabled in ET. It’s been colder here upper 40s at night mid 70s during the day but lots of sun. Any ideas why this FC isn’t going down?

Here are the rest of my readings:

FC: 11.5
CYA: 50
CH: 350
Ph: 8
TA: 120
Salt: 3400

This is driving me crazy. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Could it be a dysfunctional salt cell that is over generating?

Thanks.

 

[Jimrahbe]

bn,

Sure does not sound right???

How did you "disable" the cell?

What cell lights are on?

Although I doubt the cell itself is bad, you can always just unplug it from the EasyTouch and see what happens to your FC..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Bornnole]

In the easy touch menu for the intellichlor there is an “enable” setting and I turned it to a “no” instead of a “yes”. It was also set all the way to 0%

The light that was illuminating is the light on the cell itself that illuminates when the cell is generating chlorine.

No lights are on now as I unplugged it.

Strangest thing I have ever seen for the FC to stay elevated so it seems like it must be the cell unless someone is sneaking in my yard at night and dosing my pool with chlorine!! ����

 

[Jimrahbe]

bn,

Setting the percent of output to zero should have shut if off, so I too am puzzled...

Please let us know what happens next..

Thanks,

Jim R.