Testing quality of chlorine

[fordfampool]

Yesterday I noticed a funny cloudiness to the pool but chalked it up to the sky being cloudy. Now today it is evident that it is very cloudy (can't see the bottom of the 8ft. deep end). I tested it and expected FC to be about 6, but it's at 0!? This was after adding 128 oz. yeserday. I had also added about 1.5lbs of baking soda to raise the TA a little yesterday.

Test results are:
FC 0
pH 7.3
CYA 40
TA 85

We are not sure that our chlorine is effective as it's been sitting in our hot garage for the past month. What is the best way to test it? We did pick up some new chlorine but from the same supplier so we're curious to see if it's old or what.

Any suggestions as what steps to take first? This is our second year with the pool, and we've never had the cloudiness before, except at start up in the spring.

Thanks!

 

[fordfampool]

I am assuming we should shock, but I guess first I wanted to see if there are any suggestions as how to test the effectivness of chlorine. Thanks!

 

[jblizzle]

It is not straight forward to test the liquid chlorine ... is it 10/12% or 6% bleach? The higher % will be more affected by the heat.

The best way is to dose the pool to reach some FC value and then retest the FC after an hour to make sure you hit the target.

I agree though that the shock process is in your immediate future.

 

[fordfampool]

We are using 12.5%. We added some of the chlorine we just purchased and waited an hour and we have a reading! Yay! I think we should be fine now..and will start the shock process. I am still curious to find out if the older bottles are useable, and to what extent they are effective yet.

 

[jblizzle]

They are certainly usable ... just not likely at 12% anymore. You could use them to start the shock process since you have to be checking every hours or so at the start anyway.

 

[Leebo]

Try to take a 5 gallon bucket of tap water and leave it in the sun a day. This should leave you with a FC level of zero. Then add 1Tsp of the 12% chlorine and stir. Then test as you normally would. Your reading should be about 10FC.