How often are you adding bleach?

[DLSDO]

So I am longing for spring to enjoy the new pool!

I am looking forward to using BBB.

I am curious, roughly, how much and how often are you adding bleach during the normal swim season?

The reason I ask is because I am considering the liquidator as I get called away unexpectedly a few days each week. If I need to add bleach everyday 7 days/wk this might prove difficult as I am not around every day. I have a chlorine feeder but I would have to know in advance that I won't be home so as to turn it on...so thats not an option. So whats the routine for you folks out there using BBB and what do you do when your out of town or can't get to the pool for a day or so? Any suggestions?

Thanks,

 

[JasonLion]

Needing to add bleach once a day is common, in a few cases (high CYA) it can be done every other day. It is possible to spread that out to several days by shocking the pool, if you have advance warning, but that isn't something you would want to do routinely as it uses a substantial amount of extra bleach.

Getting some kind of automatic feeder, either the Liquidator or a SWG, gives you far more flexibility. It is common to be able to get away with a week away from the pool with either of those, though it is better to check everything more frequently than that if you can. Note that with a SWG or always on water feature you would need to balance things so that PH drift is not a big issue.

 

[waste]

Just as an alternative suggestion:

IF your pH and cya are in check, you could use a floater with trichlor tabs to keep the pool sanitized while away for a few days. It's not 'optimal', but if your pH and cya are within reasonable parameters, you could use this method a couple of times per summer without ill effect.

 

[Riles_J]

During the swim season I usually add bleach every other day. It does not get full sun until after noon though.

 

[chem geek]

If you use a pool cover that is opaque to UV, such as an electric safety cover that we have, then you can add chlorine every 3-4 days (twice a week) as it lasts much longer without constant exposure to sunlight. Even using the pool for around an hour or an hour and a half every day has resulted in chlorine consumption of around 1.0 ppm per day. When used 2-3 times per week, it's around 0.5 ppm per day. This is for a 16,000 gallon pool and one person using the pool except on weekends when it's two (on the weekends the pool is open longer -- around 3-4 hours). The FC level is kept in the 3-6 ppm range (usually 3-5) at 30 ppm CYA.

Without such a pool cover, the loss from sunlight can be up to half the FC level in one day though usually it's a little less than that.

For an inexpensive and effective continual dosing solution for bleach or chlorinating liquid, look at this thread about The Liquidator.

Richard

 

[DLSDO]

Thanks for all the responses. I think I am probably going to give the liquidator a try. It will be helpful for those unanticipated days that I run off to work and am unable to get back home for a few days.