New water, how much bleach?

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Axhammer

0
May 17, 2009
95
NC
Hello everyone,

I just had my pool drained for repairs, it now has a new bottom, and the one year old liner reinstalled. It will be full of water tomorrow. I need to add chemicals to the fresh well water. How much bleach would I have to add to a 18x36 pool full of fresh well water? I have 14 lbs of di-chlor I'm thinking about using. Then after its clear I could get back with the BBB theory. Are there any dry granular products that don't raise the CYA like di-chlor? Is lithium hypo something to consider? Is anyone familiar with clear out plus, non-calcium pool shock? I'm just looking for options. Thanks in advance!
 
http://www.poolcalculator.com/ is your friend. Study it. Having someone else tell you what to add is the pool store method. There's a place to calculate volume, and a section that will tell you the effects of adding certain chemicals, and of course, the dosing section. Learn to use it. Once you figure out how much dichlor you can safely add without overdoing the CYA, you can use it to start. Mind the effects on pH - you don't want to go adjust it with acid and then mess it all up adding dichlor!

http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/types_chlorine_pool explains your options for granular products. Note that all of them add possibly undesirable byproducts, and lithium is pricey. Anything you can only get at the pool store will be pricey.
 
Axhammer:

^Richard320's advice is sound, as always.

My $0.02: You will need to add chlorine and CYA to the pool for starters. I would recommend an initial CYA target of 30-40 ppm. You can use the dichlor, but you need to be aware that it moves two parameters at once (FC and CYA in this case). Because of that, I would familiarize yourself with the Pool Calculator as Richard320 suggests. You will need to be comfortable using it especially since dichlor is moving two parameters at once...you need to stay in front of that. You will need to add the dichlor in stages since if you added what is required to bring your CYA to around 40 in one dose, you would also be adding about 42 ppm of FC. Even for well water, that is way too much especially when you are starting out with 0 CYA.

Axhammer said:
Are there any dry granular products that don't raise the CYA like di-chlor?
Click to expand...
There are, but I'm curious why you prefer dry granular products over bleach? Bleach or liquid chlorine (which is bleach with a higher % of active ingredient) is really your best bet as it does not add anything undesirable to the water.
 
I guess my real question is how much water does my pool hold? The pool calculator does not seem accurate because it does not distinguish whether or not the pool depth is constant or not? Making it vague. Plus my pool does not have squared corners. My pool is 18x36x8. I think I am going to use a generic formula I found at another site.

http://www.alswaterservices.com/poolestimate.htm

18 x 36 x 5 x 7.5 = 24,300

Unless someone knows of a better way to get the number, I am going to estimate my pool holds 25,000 gallons.
 
Axhammer said:
I guess my real question is how much water does my pool hold? The pool calculator does not seem accurate because it does not distinguish whether or not the pool depth is constant or not? Making it vague. Plus my pool does not have squared corners. My pool is 18x36x8. I think I am going to use a generic formula I found at another site.

http://www.alswaterservices.com/poolestimate.htm

18 x 36 x 5 x 7.5 = 24,300

Unless someone knows of a better way to get the number, I am going to estimate my pool holds 25,000 gallons.
Click to expand...
Break out the tape measure and make a sketch. Calculate sections then add them up.

Number crunching is not everyone's strong point; that's why there's pool calculator. We'll help calculate volume if you post the dimensions. Unless you're a photoshop whiz, it's probably easiest to sketch it out then scan it.
 
Well, the good news is my pool did not leak noticeably overnight, like it did last year, so that is good news? I added some dichlor and will test later on today. The reason for the granular products question is it would be easier than lugging jugs of bleach around. After reading the link posted above it appears that lithium hypo is a good option, but pricy. Has anyone done a cost comparison! Compared to bleach? I guess I need to look into bleach at Sams club when I go today so I can start determining my chemical plan for the summer. I'm good for now, and open to suggestions. Thanks!
 
Generally, bleach is the cheapest way to sanitize your pool but that's not why you use it. Use it because it is the BEST way to sanitize your pool....free of any side harmful effects.

Lithium and mps are possible oxidizers but they don't leave residual sanitation capability. Probably about triple the cost of bleach if I remember and not as good.
 
duraleigh said:
Generally, bleach is the cheapest way to sanitize your pool but that's not why you use it. Use it because it is the BEST way to sanitize your pool....free of any side harmful effects.

Lithium and mps are possible oxidizers but they don't leave residual sanitation capability. Probably about triple the cost of bleach if I remember and not as good.
Click to expand...

That's the kind of reply I like, cant argue with that. I'll be checking Sams club for bleach prices today. Thanks again!
 
duraleigh said:
Lithium and mps are possible oxidizers but they don't leave residual sanitation capability. Probably about triple the cost of bleach if I remember and not as good.
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"Lithium" refers to Lithium Hypochlorite and this IS chlorine. It is true that at 35% Available Chlorine it is less weight to carry than 6% or 8.25% bleach (weighs 4-6 times more) or even 12.5% chlorinating liquid (weighs almost 3 times more), but it is very expensive. On a "per FC" basis (as shown in Cost Comparison of Chlorine Sources that has older prices), Lithium Hypochlorite is over 5 times as expensive as bleach or chlorinating liquid.

MPS is non-chlorine shock that is an oxidizer, but not a disinfectant, unless used in conjunction with silver ions at hot temperatures as in the Nature2 system for spas.
 

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I put in 10 lbs. of dichlor to start treating my new water. The water is getting clear slowly, taking several days as expected. I am out of R-0871 so I cannot test for FC, the quick test revealed 10+. The rest of my numbers are as follows.
CYA-35
TA-130
CH-140
PH-7.4

From here forward I plan on using bleach to maintain the FC.

Thanks for all the helpful information everyone!

Ax
 
Pay attention if you get your bleach at Sam's. I've been buying my bleach there since our pool was built about a year ago. The other day I was adding the bleach and noticed an unusual smell. Oops! Fresh Meadow scented bleach. I've never seen that at Sam's before. It's always only had the unscented that you want for pools. I had added a bottle the day before and didn't notice. Just be careful and don't get complacent in checking the boxes.
 
OK, I need some help understanding the pool calculator. First, my water's chemical balance history since refilling my 25,000 gallon pool and adding 10 lbs. of dichlor over a week ago, to shock the new water into shape. And this worked out well, the water is clear with good numbers as listed below.

25 May
PH- 7.2
FC- 14.5
TA- 120
CH- 160
CYA- 50

27 May
PH- 7.3
FC- 9
TA- 120
CH- 160
CYA- 50

My FC is dropping as expected. My guess is I need to add bleach tomorrow. The pool calculator says in order to take my pool from 5 FC to 10 FC to add .2 OZ (1 TBS) of 8.25% bleach. This does not sound right. What am I doing wrong?
 
Yes, checked and it still does not work. Until I figure out how to make it work can you check for me? I am assuming my FC will be around 5 tomorrow. Can you tell me how much 8.25% bleach it will take to bump it up to 7 or eight? Or if I add one 121 oz. 8.25% jug, how much can I expect it to come up? Thanks!
 
Axhammer said:
Yes, checked and it still does not work. Until I figure out how to make it work can you check for me? I am assuming my FC will be around 5 tomorrow. Can you tell me how much 8.25% bleach it will take to bump it up to 7 or eight? Or if I add one 121 oz. 8.25% jug, how much can I expect it to come up? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yep, what Bluechip said ^^^^

okay, using 8.25% bleach, 1 quart + 6 ozs will incease FC by 1 (one) in 25K gallon pool.

So, if you expect to go from 5 to 8 FC, you would add 3 X 1 qt + 6ozs = 3 qts. + 2 cups.

I would just add the whole gallon, if it was my pool :wink:
 

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