How do I know that my automatic chlorinator is working

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J

Janelle

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Jun 14, 2013
65
I'm trying to get a better grasp of how to effectively maintain my FC levels. Up until last weeks heat wave, my pool has been clear with no problems. The heat wave brought algae, so obviously fc levels weren't high enough. I currently have a Pentair 300 offline chlorinator set to the max. I find that I need to also add a gallon of 10% chlorine every other day, but with our recent heat wave, it's more like everyday.

Anyway, it seems like I shouldn't need to add so much chlorine with the automatic feeder(tablets). I've checked the feeder, and the tablets are dissolving and disappearing, so I'm assuming it's feeding into the pool. My biggest clue that there may be a problem with feeder is that my cya level hasn't risen, despite adding conditioner twice(once at pool opening to make cya 0-20, again a few weeks ago to bring cya from 20-30).

So, does anyone have a simple way to test the chlorinator device?
Thanks!
 
You should probably raise that cya level to 50 to keep the sun and warmer water from burning off so much FC so quickly. Just be advised those pucks add cya every time one dissolves.
 
You can sample the water right at the return and test that water. It should be higher than the rest of the pool, but if the tabs are dissolving, they are adding chlorine to the pool.

I'm suspicious that your CYA was only 20 a few weeks ago if you are using tabs. My CYA increases by 7.5ppm per week using the chlorinator.

You may be barely suppressing an algae bloom which is consuming a lot of chlorine. An Overnight FC Loss Test will tell you much about what is going on.
 
So, I'm thinking about not using the auto feeder since I'm almost out of tablets anyway, and switching to just liquid bleach instead. Based on my #'s, can anyone give me an estimate or calculation of how much fc should be used/lost per day. I live in Michigan and half the pool gets morning sun and the other half afternoon sun. Other than last weeks heat wave, we don't have extreme temp like AZ or FL etc. I'm just trying to understand what I can expect to lose to normal sunlight use as opposed to what may be the start of algae. Basically, I'm trying to calculate how much chlorine I need to buy this week.

Thanks!

fc 4
cc .3
ph 7.6
ta 97
cya 30
calc 120
 
How are you testing your pool water? Pool store, test kit?

I live in Minnesota and my pool loses 1-2ppm per day. Its in the sun from sunrise until about 6PM. I keep my CYA around 40.
 
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