TF-100: Has my kit gone bad?

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D

domr

0
Jun 28, 2012
4
I bought a TF-100 kit about a year ago and used it for several months last summer on a 14' Intex pool. I've just put the pool up again for the summer and I'm getting strange test results:

R-0870 powder added to a test sample stays clear
R-0600 from K-1000 kit added to a test sample stays clear

This is over the course of 4 days, testing each night. I've added enough bleach to go from FC of 0 to FC of 4 each night, and last night added enough to go from 0 to 10 (4 being the nominal goal and 10 being a shock).

So as a check, I took some tap water and added a splash of bleach and did the tests:
R-0870 powder added to some of this mixture stays clear
R-0600 added to some of this mixture results in a few red particles floating on an otherwise clear mixture

Did both my R-0870 and R-0600 go bad within a year? Any other possibilities? The kit has been stored indoors, in a closet.

Thanks,
Dom
 
Try doing the test about an hour after you add bleach. If you don't have any stabilizer in the water, you will lose most (maybe all) of your chlorine to the sun. Are you sure your tap water has chlorine in it?
EDIT: I missed the part where you said you added a splash of bleach to your tap water. In that case, I agree with what Jason said about it being too much chlorine and bleaching out the test.
 
Likely the splash of bleach was still too high of a FC level and bleached out your tests. Very high FC does what you described for the OTO test.

Add bleach to the pool and test in an hour.

What are the rest of the test values?
 
Thanks for the replies, I will test tomorrow evening an hour after adding bleach. To be clear, each night I was testing before adding bleach, and the pool has not been covered during the day.

I have not added anything other than bleach to the pool yet, but planning to start the CYA stabilizer and muriatic acid tomorrow. The pH is 7.9 and TA is 110.
 
Is this a new fill? So you know the CYA is 0?
If so, you will lose 50% of you FC every hour to the sun ... so not surprising at all that it is dropping to 0 in 24 hours.

Getting the CYA up to at least 30ppm should be pretty high on the priority list.
 
I didn't realize how fast the chlorine would disappear! I added the CYA last night, and some more bleach. Tested this morning and it shows FC of 6. Case closed, thanks for the help.

Dom
 
With no CYA in the water, half the FC gets lost from the UV in sunlight every hour at peak noontime sun. After 8 hours of equivalent peak sun, so probably a full day in the summer (longer hours, but not all at peak sun overhead), the FC drops to 0.8% of its initial level so 4 ppm would drop to 0.03 ppm so not be measurable. Even after just 4 hours of peak sunlight, 4 ppm FC would drop to 0.25 ppm FC. That's one reason why CYA is so important. The other reason is that CYA significantly moderates chlorine's strength so CYA is important to use even in indoor pools, though at modest levels.
 
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