Walmart at 646 and I-45 had liquid chlorine this past week. Not sure about eldorado and 45 or the one at delta farm and 518
2gal of 10% bleach/day...Does this seem like too much?
- Thread starter J4CKBOLT
- Start date
Walmart at 646 and I-45 had liquid chlorine this past week. Not sure about eldorado and 45 or the one at delta farm and 518
I can attest to this as well. I've had to add CYA again this last week because I've lost 10-20ppm since June 1.
sunpole
0
Hello fellow texans,
I estimate I lost about 10ppm of CYA over the last 2 week.
I used to run 40ppm CYA and lose about 5ppm of chlorine per day, after I bumped CYA up to 50ppm, I'm losing about 3ppm/day.
I usually get my bleach from HEB, 8.25% always fresh and cool, $2.67/gallon. One of these days I plan to drive up to Napco to check out their bleach, may not worth the drive unless I get a 30+ gallon at a time.
I estimate I lost about 10ppm of CYA over the last 2 week.
I used to run 40ppm CYA and lose about 5ppm of chlorine per day, after I bumped CYA up to 50ppm, I'm losing about 3ppm/day.
I usually get my bleach from HEB, 8.25% always fresh and cool, $2.67/gallon. One of these days I plan to drive up to Napco to check out their bleach, may not worth the drive unless I get a 30+ gallon at a time.
Oly
Gold Supporter
Dose your pool at night then confirm your FC after it's well mixed. Then test again early in the AM for an OCLT number then before adding bleach test FC once more after sunset to isolate your loss from the sun. This should tell where the issue is.
Great input from all. Raising CYA up to 60 over the next week or so (adding pucks...good for something). Will start the sleuthing effort after I get my CYA right and go back to bleach only. Will let y’all know what I find out.
My pool is in full sun from about 10am to 3pm and I lose about 1.5 ppm of FC per day and need to add 1 gallon of bleach every 2 days. My pool is 27k gallons and 1 gallon bleach raises FC 3.1 using 8.25%. My CYA is 40, and my target FC is 6. I really don’t see how anyone could lose 8 per day with same size pool!
sunpole
0
My pool is 28k gallon, 50% shaded, CYA 50, target FC 6 - 7. And I lose on average 4 FC per day. If OP's pool has no shade, I can see he lose 10 FC/day.
I literally have no shade over my pool from sunup to sundown. And it’s hot as hades in Houston in the summer. I will do suggested testing above and report back in a week or so once my CYA is up to 60.
Ok I have some early results of my sleuthing... the liquid chlorine I had from Home Depot has degraded from 10% to 8%. Not surprising. I added the last two gallons checking FC before and after. I had a rise of 6.5ppm so my pool size is close to 26,000 gallons using Pool Math app. Then I checked my CYA...I overshot a little this week adding too many pucks. My goal was 60 and I am now at 70+. I was at 45 and I can only assume I was going through so much chlorine daily due to (1) relatively low CYA 45, for hot Texas and (2) lower than expected liquid chlorine concentration. Will keep you posted.
A data point and then a question.
I'm also in Houston (Clear Lake) and have been putting in ~ 121oz. of 8.25% a day with a 35k pool. I skip every once in a while as FC slowly creeps up, so I'm probably at .8-.9 gal a day. I'm new to this and was thinking it seemed like an awful lot, but sounds like it's about what should be expected. My CYA was 70 last I checked on 7/7 and I do have a little bit of shade from a sun shade I put up, but not much. I also buy my bleach from local HEB which so far has seemed fresh and my most inexpensive option nearby.
This quote below from earlier in the thread surprised me. I thought CYA only went down from water replacement. Does UV actually bring it down as well? I'll test mine tonight to see if it's changed in the crazy sun/heat from the last month or so.
"Sure enough, the extreme UV here in Texas had degraded my CYA by 10 or 20 ppm"
I'm also in Houston (Clear Lake) and have been putting in ~ 121oz. of 8.25% a day with a 35k pool. I skip every once in a while as FC slowly creeps up, so I'm probably at .8-.9 gal a day. I'm new to this and was thinking it seemed like an awful lot, but sounds like it's about what should be expected. My CYA was 70 last I checked on 7/7 and I do have a little bit of shade from a sun shade I put up, but not much. I also buy my bleach from local HEB which so far has seemed fresh and my most inexpensive option nearby.
This quote below from earlier in the thread surprised me. I thought CYA only went down from water replacement. Does UV actually bring it down as well? I'll test mine tonight to see if it's changed in the crazy sun/heat from the last month or so.
"Sure enough, the extreme UV here in Texas had degraded my CYA by 10 or 20 ppm"
- May 3, 2014
- 58,739
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
CYA degrades a small amount over time. The degradation is accelerated by higher water temperatures and FC levels greater than target level.
Here in the SW desert, I can see CYA degradation of ~15 ppm per month in the summer. Pool water temperatures ride pretty close to 90F.
Here in the SW desert, I can see CYA degradation of ~15 ppm per month in the summer. Pool water temperatures ride pretty close to 90F.
My CYA is up to 70 and yesterday I lost 4ppm FC from the sun in my 26k gallon pool. My plan forward is to check CYA more often in the summer, stay around 60ppm+ and add bleach as needed. If that’s 2gal/day or 1gallon/day I will do it.
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,932
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Has no one mentioned SWG in this thread? J4CKBOLT, with your ET control panel and chlorine usage, I would think a Pentair IC60 would be the way to go. We'd have to do a little math to see if it can keep up with your chlorine demand, but you could add a second SWG if you had to. That'd solve the storage, buying, hauling and freshness issues in one go. It's generally accepted here that the cost of buying, running and replacing a SWG is about the same as buying chlorine, so the cost of the thing is pretty much a wash.
I like the alternative idea of SWG but I have a lot of natural stone around my pool. I have numerous water features including a grotto and waterfall all on soft moss rock. PB told me very early to stay away from SWG with the type of stone we chose. In addition our coping is very flaky as it is. I have read SWG would make this worse. What do y’all think about SWG?
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,932
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I think you'll get an earful here that SWGs don't contribute much if any to any sort of breakdown or corrosion around a pool. The salt in an SWG pool is about 1/10 that of seawater. My flagstone is coming apart. Only the coping, not the same stone elsewhere in my yard. It was coming apart before I ever got into SWG and salt water. I can't say it's any better or worse now that I'm running salt. And it's pretty common for PBs to shy away from SWGs.
But here's the rub. All pools are saltwater pools! The chlorine your dumping into your pool, and acid, the humans you allow, and other things, too, are all leaving salt behind in your pool. And it doesn't evaporate. A little splashes out, but your pool is accumulating salt right now (and some probably comes in with your fill water). My pool had enough salt in it to be an SWG pool before I even added a bag of salt! So you're pool's surroundings are going to be subjected to salt water one way or another.
Granted, an SWG pool will have some amount more salt than an non-SWG pool, but enough to make a difference?
Unless you're willing and able to change out water every year or so, your stone is going to be subjected to saltwater. Might as well make it easy on yourself. I always manage to work in the following brag: since installing my SWG and Pentair IntellipH, I haven't poured in an ounce of anything into my pool. For months! I can skip testing for days if I get lazy. I just got back from a five-day trip, pool tested perfectly. Imagine a life without chlorine jugs!! Have you tried to leave your pool for a few days yet? How are you planning to be able to?!?
Oh, here's another plus for SWG: they dispense a little chlorine many times throughout the day. Instead of dumping in two gallons in the morning, spiking your FC, and then having that get used up throughout the day to end up low on chlorine by evening time, an SWG is maintaining a very constant FC level throughout the day. And because of that, you can lower your target FC level a bit. So you never have a big load of extra chlorine in your pool.
The downsides? You have to run your pump for quite a few hours each day. In your case, that might be many hours of the day. That will impact your electrical bill some amount. More if you don't have a variable speed pump. Along with the SWG output requirement, that can all be calculated ahead of time to give you an idea of how an SWG will work and cost in your pool. Also, an SWG can't be used in cold water. So for many of us, come winter time we have to revert to manually dosing chlorine. But in the winter the chlorine consumption drops, so it's not like doing it in the summer.
- - - Updated - - -
PS. Your pool and landscaping are awesome!!
But here's the rub. All pools are saltwater pools! The chlorine your dumping into your pool, and acid, the humans you allow, and other things, too, are all leaving salt behind in your pool. And it doesn't evaporate. A little splashes out, but your pool is accumulating salt right now (and some probably comes in with your fill water). My pool had enough salt in it to be an SWG pool before I even added a bag of salt! So you're pool's surroundings are going to be subjected to salt water one way or another.
Granted, an SWG pool will have some amount more salt than an non-SWG pool, but enough to make a difference?
Unless you're willing and able to change out water every year or so, your stone is going to be subjected to saltwater. Might as well make it easy on yourself. I always manage to work in the following brag: since installing my SWG and Pentair IntellipH, I haven't poured in an ounce of anything into my pool. For months! I can skip testing for days if I get lazy. I just got back from a five-day trip, pool tested perfectly. Imagine a life without chlorine jugs!! Have you tried to leave your pool for a few days yet? How are you planning to be able to?!?
Oh, here's another plus for SWG: they dispense a little chlorine many times throughout the day. Instead of dumping in two gallons in the morning, spiking your FC, and then having that get used up throughout the day to end up low on chlorine by evening time, an SWG is maintaining a very constant FC level throughout the day. And because of that, you can lower your target FC level a bit. So you never have a big load of extra chlorine in your pool.
The downsides? You have to run your pump for quite a few hours each day. In your case, that might be many hours of the day. That will impact your electrical bill some amount. More if you don't have a variable speed pump. Along with the SWG output requirement, that can all be calculated ahead of time to give you an idea of how an SWG will work and cost in your pool. Also, an SWG can't be used in cold water. So for many of us, come winter time we have to revert to manually dosing chlorine. But in the winter the chlorine consumption drops, so it's not like doing it in the summer.
- - - Updated - - -
PS. Your pool and landscaping are awesome!!
Thanks for the detailed reply and pool compliment. We really like it. I have a variable speed pump that I run on a fairly high speed 24/7 so I am already accustomed to the electrical bill. I switched to chlorine primarily because the idea of using trichlor/shock/drain/repeat is just plain stupid and Leslie’s pool is a freakin’ rip off. I don’t mind lugging jugs of bleach if that’s what it takes or installing SWG or two and the added cost. I just cannot stand the ripoff that Leslie’s pool is to sooo many ill informed pool owners. It is a matter of principal. You really have me thinking about the SWG route even if I need two. I am really excited about looking into the SWG route. Going to start discussing seriously with the wifey. Really like this forum btw... great people helping others.
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,932
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Any chance your EasyTouch has the built-in transformer for the IntelliChlor SWG? Unlikely, but something to confirm before you plunk down over three bills for the external transformer...
If you think Leslie's is frustrating, try talking someone out of using them. Now that's frustrating! I've been "TFPin'" for about nine months now and I've yet to convince any of my friends or family to convert. Pool stores and pool guys have some sort of mysterious lock on the "ill-informed."
If you think Leslie's is frustrating, try talking someone out of using them. Now that's frustrating! I've been "TFPin'" for about nine months now and I've yet to convince any of my friends or family to convert. Pool stores and pool guys have some sort of mysterious lock on the "ill-informed."
Not that great with electrical items, but looking at the panel I see the Intellichlor portion has a cap instead of a rocker switch. I am going to assume my panel does not have the SWG transformer. That’s fine, until today I just assumed there was no way I could consider switching to SWG. But now I am.
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,932
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I'm hoping Jim happens by to confirm your findings. Seems logical to me. It was a shot in the dark...