Advice please.

[Kennyyoli]

OK, so after some investigation, the previous owners of the house here were using a pool service person to care for the pool. When I got the pool, it was a disaster. Cloudy, (but not green) and the equipment was, well, hammered. Fast forward to now. Pool is crystal clear. Finally got my TF100 kit and here are my concerns/questions. Well first off, here are my test results;
CYA - 130
FC - 19 PPM
CC - 0
PH - 7.5
TA - 180

1 Should I drain and refill to get the CYA down, or just run a "high chlorine" pool this season, and see if the CYA drops this coming winter?
2. Will the CYA drop on its own. Pool gets used almost every day, but not very rambunctiously. Don't see a huge amount of water loss/splashout.
3. TA is high as well? What issues will this present?

Thanks in advance for the help. This site has really helped me out a ton already. Glad to have found it.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Well... you could try and run it with the CYA. Water is clear, is FC holding overnight? If it is, you could try.. just maintain the proper FC level for the CYA. Will be difficult and if a problem arises, best to do a partial drain/refill before tackling it.

High TA causes the Ph to drift up. No biggie really, just lower the PH if it creeps up to 7.8 with muratic acid. Eventually the TA drops in to range and the drift slows. Your problem will be the PH may be hard to monitor accurately because you have to keep your chlorine higher at times and high FC can affect the PH test causing it to read falsely high.

 

[Kennyyoli]

Thanks for the reply Frustrated. Yes, the FC is holding overnight, and my gut feeling was as you suggested. Roll with what I have, keeping the FC inline and see if I make it through the summer. I suspected I may have some trouble getting accurate PH readings with the high chlorine levels. Obviously don't want my CYA going any higher, so no tabs for chlorinating right? Liquid is best for my situation?

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Liquid is your best option. Cheapest form, doesn't add anything you don't want. Shop around for the best prices.

 

[dino1956]

I just joined here. And it seems I have the exact Problem you do. My CYA is 122 & it's because I had a Pool guy who relied on Chlorine Pucks in my Chlorinator.
Over the years, the CYA probably just got higher & higher. Now I am doing my own pool & have to solve this.
I took all the Pucks out of my Chlorinator & Turned it Off. But the damage is already done.

 

[Richard320]

From my response in this thread about 2 weeks ago.

When I took over my pool, I got somewhere between 220 and 240 on CYA, because the previous homeowner and his inept pool service used pucks exclusively. There were a few other deficiencies, but that's another topic. I was under water restrictions that year, so draining was not an option. I would have ended up with a hefty bill, and a water restrictor installed on my meter at my expense...

It CAN be maintained with astronomical CYA, but it is not easy, nor would I recommend it. Just for starters, the pH test will always be iffy, because the FC level has to be kept so high. And the color block quick test for FC is useless. The only way to test FC is the FAS-DPD test every day.

By watering my lawn with pool water then refilling, and capturing rainwater from the gutter downspouts I was finally able to get CYA down to 40ish in about a year. It's much easier to maintain with low CYA. I can eyeball the OTO test and know if I need to add bleach or not, the pH test is accurate, and I have enough breathing room on the CYA that I can use pucks when I leave town.

It's SO much easier to just take a look at the color block every day than to fuss around counting drops.

 

[dino1956]

The Test Kit I have says nothing about testing Free Chlorine.
Am I missing something?

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Yes. What test kit are you using?

 

[Kennyyoli]

Get the TF 100 test kit. It is the best, most comprehensive kit by far.

 

[dino1956]

Rainbow Lifegard Pool & Spa Test Kit (Old Kit)

I just Ordered a New Kit.

Taylor K-2005 Pool Test Kit

 

[SkyKid]

Get the TF100
It's reasonably priced and it works
I'm a newbie pool owner and after all the things I read here I'm glad I got it
Someone here said the pool store will tell you that the k2500 is the same as the k2600
But it is not
Get the TF100

 

[Kennyyoli]

I have a smallish (13500 gal) pool, so would a 1/2 drain and refill cut the CYA in half? Or could I get away with say a 30% drain. I am on metered water and get charged through the nose for usage that is over the baseline.

 

[JohnN]

To lower the CYA in 1/2, you need to do a 1/2 drain.