What are best sources of chlorine?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
N

Notri4MeBikeSwim

0
Apr 14, 2013
74
I've been using the 12% shock, ie double strength bleach from leslies/lowes/home depot.

It's a pain to carry the liquids, are there any good powder alternatives?

Leslies carries:

power powder plus-- 65-70% Calcium Hypochlorite, no disclosure of other chems, no stabilizer ie cya includes

power powder pro -- ibid

chlor brite-- includes stabilizer, not good, right?

fresh & clear-- 38% Potassium Monopersulfate, "no chlorine", huh, is that good

genesis shock - no details provided trichlor shock"

chlor brite -- 99% dichloro-s-triazinetrione, which provides 56% available chlorine, the highest you will find for any dichlor powder,
includes stabilizer NB: reacts with other chlorines to release chlorine and may cause explosion or fire, oh that's real friendly
 
Found info on tri-chlor. adds much cya

Trichloroisocyanuric acid in swimming pools is easier to handle than chlorine. It dissolves slowly in water, but as it reacts, cyanuric acid concentration in the pool will build-up. At high cyanuric acid concentrations, normal chlorine levels can be rendered ineffective, requiring either dilution by draining and refilling the pool or by adding abnormally high doses of chlorine to overcome this effect.
 
Since you have over 60 post to this forum you should already know the answer to that question. What you have been using (liquid chlorine/bleach) is the best form of chlorine because it adds nothing else to the pool. Yes, the bottles can be a bit of a challenge but in my opinion it's worth it. With your size pool you are probably using almost 1 gallon of 12% per day. I use 1 jug (121oz) of the 8.25% per day and it's not that bad. I usually stock up with two weeks supply or whenever I am at Sam's or Costco.

Or you could get a SWG. I hear that makes it super easy to take care of your pool. No jugs to lug.
 
Hmmm, I think I'm using about 3-4 gallons per week, but now when in 100F's more like 5-6. not very consistent record keeper.

I'm only really having 2 issues with this:

1. transport of the chlorine. I found out the main problem was home depot, there pallet of shock was in the sun, so much gas was released in
car ride home. switching to lowe/leslie with cooler bleach solves the issue, or putting HD shock in a yard garbage bag also works.

2. amount of chems to add

Here was pool service for $60/mo
-- once a week visit
-- pour some liquid, max 1/2 gal into pool
-- gone, occassionly throw in some other liquid for algae

Me
-- test 3-5 times a week
-- add 12% bleach 2-4 times a week
-- add acid maybe once a week

Comments by family: "You're doing something wrong and adding too many chemicals to the pool"
 
My concern with the HD liquid chlorine would be how fresh is it, and how much has it degraded being stored in those condition, liquid chlorine looses strength over time, and does so faster the warmer the temperature is.
 
If you are only using 4 gallons a week you are only losing about 2ppm of chlorine a day. That on the low side. You are doing well. A SWG would make things really easy for you.

I don't see how your pool service was able to keep things looking good with that amount of chlorine.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
cya is about 50, I'll recheck tomorrow. it's too dark now. location is sacramento valley. we've had a heat wave of over 100, usually about 105 for last 6 days.
Not exactly clear on the standard for cya testing. Is it just as dot begins to disappear or when the dot has disappeared, ie fuzzy dot or no dot.


and yes you made your point. rest of family with pools hire pool service. we're getting a new multi speed pump next week, but that should not effect chemistry.
 
You can remind your family that about 75% of what you are adding from those bottles is water. Chlorinating liquid and bleach are not as concentrated as Trichlor or Cal-Hypo or Dichlor, but the larger added amounts shouldn't be of concern. The frequency of addition is due to the fact that the alternative of using slow dissolving tablets, Trichlor, increases the Cyanuric Acid (CYA) level in the pool and that reduces chlorine's effectiveness over time as the CYA level rises (assuming you aren't raising the FC proportionately).

If you want to be like the pool service and use Trichlor tabs and only adjust things once a week, you can, but it will cost you more since you'll need to spend extra money to prevent algae growth via algaecides or phosphate remover and you might need to shock the pool or use clarifier products to keep it clear as the chlorine becomes less effective or you may need to do a partial drain/refill to lower the CYA level. Is that what your family would prefer? If they are happy with the result of a clean and clear pool and not having to pay as much for a pool service, they shouldn't be complaining.
 
Family aaaalllways seems to know better, huh? ;) ;) :p
No one questions me much, because I'm the super nerd of the family and my dad is Mr. Fix It. lol

I do get some comments though, but they're all about "over complicating" it. :stirpot:
It kinda annoys me, but I'm used to it, as I always take the knowledge route! They always come to me when their stuff breaks..... "Tony, can you fiiixx this pls?"
Knowledge is power, Right Richard? :thumleft:

I don't mean benevolent ruler type power, just a powerful tool. :)
 
chem geek said:
If you want to be like the pool service and use Trichlor tabs and only adjust things once a week, you can, but it will cost you more since you'll need to spend extra money to prevent algae growth via algaecides or phosphate remover and you might need to shock the pool or use clarifier products to keep it clear as the chlorine becomes less effective or you may need to do a partial drain/refill to lower the CYA level. Is that what your family would prefer?
Click to expand...
Not to mention also having to constantly add baking soda and Borax to offset the acidity of the trichlor.
 
Here are today's numbers:

Water Temp 84F [turned off solar heater]
FC 6.5
CC 0
PH 7.2
TA 100
Calc Hard 550
CYA 30

So it looks like I should raise CYA. Questions:

1- would you recommend raising to top end of 50 via liquid stabilizer?

2- If you are just using 10% bleach, "shock", and acid, shouldn't you want this target number at the high end of the scale?


Thinking some more about the chemical usage family comments, it's because I've run 3 algae shock treatments. Instead of using
copper, I ran normal shock and then a mustard shock as some was left. Finally thought I missed some and wanted to be sure not
to leave any residual so ran a 3rd treatment. Now don't expect to have to hit it again, as long as I keep FC at least at 5.0.

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. Some of us are rapid learners, and some have to hear several times to retain the knowledge. :wink:
 
I understand your pain, hauling bleach for a large pool gets old pretty quick. Installing an SWG should cost you less than a thousand bucks, and makes things very easy. Just have to watch the pH.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply