Good morning all,
I am really starting to get frustrated with our pool. The wife's complaints aren't helping much either! *wink*
Sorry for the seeming randomness, but I'm going to try to give as much pertinent info as I can.
We've got an in ground 16x32 (3'-9' deep) that we've been having trouble with all summer. We can't get chlorine to stay in it.
We opened late in May (we planned on opening earlier, but it just didn't work out with schedules). There was a lot of pollen in our area (lower Delaware) this spring. Also, we've been having TONS of rain all summer - just this past week, we got 4-5" more.
We've been using just AquaCheck dip sticks that were bought new this year (Our shop said to buy new ones every year). Here's the readings we've been consistently getting:
- pH 7.2
- FC 0
- Alkalinity 80
- CYA 30-50
We have a Hayward CL200 that I've been keeping 10-12 3" tabs in and keeping set wide open (like around 8.5 on the dial). I usually need to add tabs every 3-4 days. We've added 30-35 lbs of HTH Super Shock & Swim (calcium hypochlorite 52%) over the past month and it's usually gone overnight. We have an Intermatic 1353 timer that I got help with from here that runs the filter pump 10 hours a day (0600-1200, 1800-2200).
I took some water in to our local shop and described the same to them. They said the Calcium Hardness is high, but still acceptable and that it was due to the HTH shock. They suggested we don't use that any more. They tested our water with the same AquaCheck sticks I use at home, along with some sticks that I couldn't read the label, but from a quick glance it looked like a silver label and it looked like it had pads to test 7-10 items - about the size and look of a Centrum Silver bottle.
They had me add 10# of granulated chlorine (99% sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate) for $67, run the filter over night and test in the morning, but we would be fixed up. It did nothing at all.
I've been doing some searches of my own and found a lot of references to chlorine lock, high sulfates, and other root problems with various solutions from draining half the volume of the pool and refilling, to adding plain 6% liquid laundry bleach, to extreme granulated chlorine loads (on the order of 50#).
When we opened, I had to use a lot of shock and blue liquid "floc"? from the local shop. The strange thing is that the pool water has been crystal clear ever since, with the exception of leaves and normal stuff that I vacuum out.
Last week I ordered an XL version of the TF100, along with a SpeedStir which is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. We also have a RO under-sink filter that we have a tester for TDS that I can check the pool with if needed.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Need more info?
Thanks for any and all insight!
Steve
I am really starting to get frustrated with our pool. The wife's complaints aren't helping much either! *wink*
Sorry for the seeming randomness, but I'm going to try to give as much pertinent info as I can.
We've got an in ground 16x32 (3'-9' deep) that we've been having trouble with all summer. We can't get chlorine to stay in it.
We opened late in May (we planned on opening earlier, but it just didn't work out with schedules). There was a lot of pollen in our area (lower Delaware) this spring. Also, we've been having TONS of rain all summer - just this past week, we got 4-5" more.
We've been using just AquaCheck dip sticks that were bought new this year (Our shop said to buy new ones every year). Here's the readings we've been consistently getting:
- pH 7.2
- FC 0
- Alkalinity 80
- CYA 30-50
We have a Hayward CL200 that I've been keeping 10-12 3" tabs in and keeping set wide open (like around 8.5 on the dial). I usually need to add tabs every 3-4 days. We've added 30-35 lbs of HTH Super Shock & Swim (calcium hypochlorite 52%) over the past month and it's usually gone overnight. We have an Intermatic 1353 timer that I got help with from here that runs the filter pump 10 hours a day (0600-1200, 1800-2200).
I took some water in to our local shop and described the same to them. They said the Calcium Hardness is high, but still acceptable and that it was due to the HTH shock. They suggested we don't use that any more. They tested our water with the same AquaCheck sticks I use at home, along with some sticks that I couldn't read the label, but from a quick glance it looked like a silver label and it looked like it had pads to test 7-10 items - about the size and look of a Centrum Silver bottle.
They had me add 10# of granulated chlorine (99% sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate) for $67, run the filter over night and test in the morning, but we would be fixed up. It did nothing at all.
I've been doing some searches of my own and found a lot of references to chlorine lock, high sulfates, and other root problems with various solutions from draining half the volume of the pool and refilling, to adding plain 6% liquid laundry bleach, to extreme granulated chlorine loads (on the order of 50#).
When we opened, I had to use a lot of shock and blue liquid "floc"? from the local shop. The strange thing is that the pool water has been crystal clear ever since, with the exception of leaves and normal stuff that I vacuum out.
Last week I ordered an XL version of the TF100, along with a SpeedStir which is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. We also have a RO under-sink filter that we have a tester for TDS that I can check the pool with if needed.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Need more info?
Thanks for any and all insight!
Steve