Most everything I've read seems to pertain to people with low chlorine but I'm having the opposite problem. My pool is approximately 16,000 gallons with an Intellichlor tied to the pool pump and the remote control adjusts the Intellichlor functions. I live near Sacramento CA with the pool getting sun throughout the day. The pool was first started in March following a winter installation. It seemed to run well but initially I was putting in chlorine to help the intellichlor and to figure out the balance and how stuff works.... yes, first time pool owner with some research under my belt and a great grasp on science.
Following one episode of an algae bloom in early spring (found out the builder's maintenance guy didn't put salt in the pool), I managed to shock the pool, got the salt level to around 4500 (aiming high figuring I'd need to keep the chlorine a tad on the high side for a bit). Shortly after that the waterbugs showed up so I was convinced I wanted to keep the chlorine slightly high and tossed in the occasional shock treatment after big weekends with kids. So on to the problem...
I've had to add about 6 gallons of muratic acid (hardware version not pool version since it's more concentrated). This has been about a gallon to a gallon and a half a month and the pH comes down for a few weeks then right back up, prompting me to put in more acid. It seems to hover around 8.0 to 8.1
While this is going on, my chlorine stays around 4.5 to 8 without any chlorine added manually. I've completely shut off the intellichlor and leveled off the pH and let it ride for a few weeks while testing and it will come down nicely..... and drop too low if I'm not careful. I've continued to turn down the time (% of an hour of operation) to 16% and the current pool settings have the pool pump running about 3 hours (tied to solar system and figured it best to circulate the water a bit). The pool has an inground cleaner (pop up things like sprinklers) that runs for 4 hours at night and about 2 hours in the morning.
My current salt level dropped rapidly but thanks to the forums here I've learned the cold affects the readings so I'll need to get another method to check the salt levels. Intellichlor reading around 2400 ppm.
I'm guessing the chlorine level got high at the end of the swimming season and the utilization of chlorine has slowed down causing my levels to stay high... but no clue if I'm missing something else. I've not checked other chemicals much lately figuring I need to get these under control. From the tests, the free chlorine is not high and there isn't any amine smell to the water.
Any ideas on what I may be missing? Any ideas on how to manage this? I've not read about people having to turn off the chlorinator for intervals of time but it seems that would work. I'm also wondering if my efforts to decrese the chlorinators output are working. The lights on the unit seem to confirm the changes and the panel is disabled (manual says the panel won't work when the remote is used so that part seems normal).
Thanks all.
Following one episode of an algae bloom in early spring (found out the builder's maintenance guy didn't put salt in the pool), I managed to shock the pool, got the salt level to around 4500 (aiming high figuring I'd need to keep the chlorine a tad on the high side for a bit). Shortly after that the waterbugs showed up so I was convinced I wanted to keep the chlorine slightly high and tossed in the occasional shock treatment after big weekends with kids. So on to the problem...
I've had to add about 6 gallons of muratic acid (hardware version not pool version since it's more concentrated). This has been about a gallon to a gallon and a half a month and the pH comes down for a few weeks then right back up, prompting me to put in more acid. It seems to hover around 8.0 to 8.1
While this is going on, my chlorine stays around 4.5 to 8 without any chlorine added manually. I've completely shut off the intellichlor and leveled off the pH and let it ride for a few weeks while testing and it will come down nicely..... and drop too low if I'm not careful. I've continued to turn down the time (% of an hour of operation) to 16% and the current pool settings have the pool pump running about 3 hours (tied to solar system and figured it best to circulate the water a bit). The pool has an inground cleaner (pop up things like sprinklers) that runs for 4 hours at night and about 2 hours in the morning.
My current salt level dropped rapidly but thanks to the forums here I've learned the cold affects the readings so I'll need to get another method to check the salt levels. Intellichlor reading around 2400 ppm.
I'm guessing the chlorine level got high at the end of the swimming season and the utilization of chlorine has slowed down causing my levels to stay high... but no clue if I'm missing something else. I've not checked other chemicals much lately figuring I need to get these under control. From the tests, the free chlorine is not high and there isn't any amine smell to the water.
Any ideas on what I may be missing? Any ideas on how to manage this? I've not read about people having to turn off the chlorinator for intervals of time but it seems that would work. I'm also wondering if my efforts to decrese the chlorinators output are working. The lights on the unit seem to confirm the changes and the panel is disabled (manual says the panel won't work when the remote is used so that part seems normal).
Thanks all.