Crystal clear water that is smelly and dries skin

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woodruffje

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Jul 7, 2013
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I've been using EZ Pool. I plan to switch to the TFP method after next week when the last EZ pool dose is used.

The water has a funky smell (hard to describe other than its unpleasant), it tastes sour (we don't drink the water as a rule but some always gets in your mouth when you swim), our skin feels dried out and it irritates the eyes. The water quality from an appearance standpoint is pristine - absolutely gorgeous and sparkly (which is why I've stuck with the EZ pool since the pool was installed last summer). No signs of algae in the pool at all. We have lots of trees around the pool thus lots of leaves fall in it, lots of frogs and toads and on one occasion a woodchuck took a swim. I skim out the leaves and frogs at least twice a day. I shocked the pool like crazy after the wood chuck incident - he survived but I was still grossed out. I frequently check the basket by the filter to make sure no frogs found there way in there when I was emptying the skimmer basket.

I keep a 3" trichlor tablet in the skimmer basket about 75% of the time and shock the pool with 1 lb of 52% calcium hypochlorite (super shock 'n swim) once a week or so and after a heavy day of use.

Inground vinyl liner ~19,500 gals (16 x 32)

My handy dandy TF-100 testing kit tells me:

pH - 7.5
FC - 0.5
TA - 120
CH - 450
CYA - 80

Here are my questions:

1. Do I have to do anything with the water once I stop using EZ pool and switch over to the household bleach method?
2. Is the funky smell, irritation and dried out skin related to the low chlorine? Will the switch over address this issue?
3. We live in a rural area and our fresh water is very hard - is the incoming quality of the water used to fill the pool a concern?

GREAT SITE!! Thanks - Jeannie
 
Jeannie, I can't answer all of your questions, but I was also given EZ Pool from my PB. I used it last year, and the water had no issues, but the expense made me look around. Over the winter, I found this site, and read all I could. I stopped using the EZ Pool immediately and went to BBB this spring. I did not do anything other than start using what they recommend here, and I have had no problems and made no other adjustments to counter the EZ Pool. The unwanted stuff in EZ Pool was scary!!! Good Luck.
 
I plan to switch to the TFP method after next week when the last EZ pool dose is used.
Click to expand...
I would be reluctant to keep using something that's not working. I don't know what EZ pool is but I would throw it as far away as I could.

You have no chlorine in your pool. Without chlorine, all sorts of nasty, smelly things are allowed to flourish in your pool and will continue to live there until you get adequate chlorination.

Your only option that makes sense to me is to read "The Shock Process" in the How To section of Pool School and then start that process immediately
 
If your CYA is really that high, you need a ton more chlorine...the funk could be your pool on the edge of a major algae or something breakdown.
Read the pool school and get some chlorine in there...6 is Minimum for your CYA I think and 9 ppm is your target.
 
I wrote about EZ Pool in this post. It's a combination product that has copper sulfate and probably ammonium sulfate (makes monochloramine so would show up as CC initially), an alum flocculant, and an irritating form of non-chlorine shock. The ammonium forming monochloramine may be what you are smelling and the non-chlorine shock may be irritating your skin.
 
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