Seeking advice - BBB Habits

[nhguy]

I'm just about to burn off the last of my trichlor pucks - trying to bring up my CYA from a fresh pool fill.

After that, I'm going to give the BBB a go. I wanted to know if BBB'ers would share their habits - personal experiences of what works well and what mistakes they've made. It definitely sounds to me like the way to go, but my read of it is to just get into a routine and stick with it.

My initial plan is to have a rubbermaid storage container full of 4-8 12.5% gallons from the pool store sitting outside of the pool shed (hesitant to store in the house or the shed). Throw in some kind of a 16-32 oz measuring cup to easily guestimate the amount of bleach to pour over the return after testing.

I hope to be able to test/add bleach every night - but I'm sure that I will miss nights (work/kids/etc). I figure once you get into a grove, you can have a pretty good idea of how much to add (based on weather, bather load, etc)

Just trying to get a feel for what people actually do, and still avoid the pool store - THANKS!

 

[Suziqzer]

I have an swcg, so can't help you with constant chlorine additions, but I imagine it's similar in many ways. You will quickly get a feel like you mentioned on how much you will need to add depending on weather, # of swimmers, etc. There will be days when you take an educated guess at how much is needed.

As for storing your chlorine. Do be careful to keep it in the shade as I believe the sun can weaken it. I keep mine in the shed or the garage for the most part.. I do use a little in the spring and right before we close and stock up when it's on sale. It doesn't bother me to have it inside so long as it's not where it's going to get punctured by something, or too hot.

 

[Guest]

I would not keep diluted bleach in with water, god knows what is in it that will consume the chlorine. You will get a feel for the amount of bleach you need on hand through daily testing. Plus if you keep it in the sunlight/heat, it will be burned off daily. It need to remain cool, and dark. You need to add bleach on a daily basis.

 

[jackj]

I no longer have the link, but I'd found/been pointed to a sheet from a chlorine company showing how quickly it loses its potency. The gist of it, though, was that it loses it quickly! Within a couple of weeks, depending upon storage. Cool (dark may help, but bottles are opaque) is best. So definitely in the house - I keep (kept, have switched to swg) mine in the laundry room, but no more than 2 at a time (would often have buy 2 get one free from Leslie's). Also, the higher potency, 12.5%, loses it's potency much more quickly than 6.25%. Go figure...

So those that you've had around for awhile, esp. if outside, but even if inside - don't be surprised if you find it not doing its job very well.

 

[anonapersona]

I have a hard time testing daily, so I bump it up to 8 FC and dose every other day. Normal usage is 2 ppm so I should have 4 FC left which is enough at 50 CYA. We clean the skimmers every other day anyhow so it all works out. Sometimes I get lazy and just add bleach without testing, as long as I do test the next time or even the next day.

I keep a case or two of Clorox from Sam's in the garage or the laundry room if it is 100 degrees outside since the garage gets really hot too. 3 big jugs is about a weeks worth for me and I like the Sam's rotisserie chicken and their smoked salmon so I like to go every other week anyhow.

I have two dedicated measuring cups, one for bleach and one for acid. I keep the acid and the bleach separated at opposite ends of the shelves outside, only one jug of each is at that location.

 

[Candi]

I'm going to be using a SWG. If I didn't have that and I wanted to do BBB, I would use a liquid chlorinator. There is no way I that could be testing and adjusting the water daily. It simply wouldn't happen.

 

[jjoshua]

Try to figure out how much bleach you need per day and just add it to the pool directly by floating the jug on the surface of the water. This will help to keep the bleach from splashing on you.

For me, it's 1/3 jug per day. It's easy enough to estimate. As long as the jug is empty after 3 days, the pool has enough FC.

 

[257WbyMag]

Keep records of your test results every time you test, as well as what you add to make adjustments. This way, you will get good at predicting what your water does during certain times of the year and with certain environmental stresses that are applied. You will eventually get a feel for what your pool does and know without testing every day, what you need to do to keep it up.

The Rubbermaid Outdoor bench containers are great for storing chemicals in. Just make sure that non-compatible chems are stored separately. Don't stock more chems than what you can use in a couple of months at a time. A 32 oz. plastic measuring cup can be had at any pool store for a couple of bucks. They are much better than glass (breaks) or metal (corrodes).

 

[chem geek]

I no longer have the link, but I'd found/been pointed to a sheet from a chlorine company showing how quickly it loses its potency. The gist of it, though, was that it loses it quickly! Within a couple of weeks, depending upon storage. Cool (dark may help, but bottles are opaque) is best.

The table at the bottom of this link shows the half-life of high-quality chlorinating liquid or bleach. You can see that it not only depends on temperature, but on the concentration. 6% bleach will last quite a while even at warmer temperatures, but higher concentration chlorinating liquid loses its strength more quickly.