i am not getting any chlorine reading when i test water for chlorine with reagent, nor do i smell any chlorine in pool. chlorine feeder (pentair model 300) is only 2 months old and is full of tabs. pump and all other equipment is running well. anyone know what this could be? could the feeder possibly be clogged? i run pump from 8am to 12mid daily. feeder has been set to maximum flow for last 3 days due to lack of chlorine. I have added 4 cups of powdered chlorine yesterday in skimmer. i just tested and got just a barely yellowing of color i would say about 0.1.
not feeding chlorine
- Thread starter Rita G.
- Start date
The feeder could be clogged or borken (rare but possible) or you might have the beginning of an algae bloom. What does your water look like? Also, do you know your CYA level?
When you "smell" chlorine, it's actually because something is being killed in a pool, when your pool is clean and being properly maintained even at up to 5ppm of chlorine you should not smell anything, if you smell chlorine, you're fighting something.
are your pucks dissolving in the feeder at all? is the water in the feeder very yellow (high concentration - would mean it's not leaving the feeder).
is your feeder an inline or bypass (bypass has the little plastic tubes instead of being in line of a hose).
If it's inline and clogged, nothing should come out of your return.....
if it's bypass, remove the lid and turn pump on, it should start to fill/overfill if your line in is working correctly.
are your pucks dissolving in the feeder at all? is the water in the feeder very yellow (high concentration - would mean it's not leaving the feeder).
is your feeder an inline or bypass (bypass has the little plastic tubes instead of being in line of a hose).
If it's inline and clogged, nothing should come out of your return.....
if it's bypass, remove the lid and turn pump on, it should start to fill/overfill if your line in is working correctly.
1st of all, thank you JasonLion & Matt4x4 for your replies.
pucks are dissolving, but i can't tell what color the water is in the feeder because glass is tinted yellow.
water level in (bypass) feeder drops all the way down when pump is shut off and comes back up when pump is turned back on.
pucks are dissolving, but i can't tell what color the water is in the feeder because glass is tinted yellow.
water level in (bypass) feeder drops all the way down when pump is shut off and comes back up when pump is turned back on.
i just went out and tested cl & ph with brand new reagents and get same results. cl is about 0.1 & ph is about 6.9. ph has been low too, even though i just dumped a 5 lb. jug of ph+ in yesterday. i have a feeling the reagents (that i bought from same store as old reagents) might be from a bad batch, perhaps? this is driving me nuts! from all outward appearances, everything seems to be normal, as you can see from my previous posts in this thread. any ideas?
The pucks are acidic, in addition to adding chlorine and CYA. That means you will need to be constantly adding PH Up or borax to raise the PH and occasionally adding baking soda to raise the total alkalinity. The CYA will also be continously rising, which usually causes problems towards the later part of the swimming season.
You really need to know your CYA level. The best investment in your pool you can make is a good test kit with the FAS-DPD chlorine test and the full set of other tests, including CYA. TF Test Kits has a great one.
I think that it is time to shock the pool. But without knowing your CYA level I can't tell you how much chlorine you need to add to get up to shock level.
You really need to know your CYA level. The best investment in your pool you can make is a good test kit with the FAS-DPD chlorine test and the full set of other tests, including CYA. TF Test Kits has a great one.
I think that it is time to shock the pool. But without knowing your CYA level I can't tell you how much chlorine you need to add to get up to shock level.
PROBLEM SOLVED!
after adding 15 pounds of ph+ powder in the last 2 days, i brought it up to 7.6.
and now the chlorine level went up with it; so all is well!
after adding 15 pounds of ph+ powder in the last 2 days, i brought it up to 7.6.
and now the chlorine level went up with it; so all is well!
Maybe Not Completely Solved
As Jason mentioned, you should still get a test kit that allows you to know your CYA level. I think Wally World has an HTH kit that measures CYA among the other typical tests. in the range of $20 or so.
If you have added enough chlorine and stabilizer via your puck feeder to lower the pH off the charts low (which you did), then you probably have added stabilizer to off-the-charts high levels. This means you might need more free chlorine to sanitize than you think you do, in which case you should cut back your feeder output and go with strictly liquid chlorine (such as bleach) to maintain your proper FC level.
Without knowing your CYA level, you don't have a reference for knowing whether your FC level is "good".
As Jason mentioned, you should still get a test kit that allows you to know your CYA level. I think Wally World has an HTH kit that measures CYA among the other typical tests. in the range of $20 or so.
If you have added enough chlorine and stabilizer via your puck feeder to lower the pH off the charts low (which you did), then you probably have added stabilizer to off-the-charts high levels. This means you might need more free chlorine to sanitize than you think you do, in which case you should cut back your feeder output and go with strictly liquid chlorine (such as bleach) to maintain your proper FC level.
Without knowing your CYA level, you don't have a reference for knowing whether your FC level is "good".