Bleach?

[BuffaloBill]

I am still confused about using liquid bleach instead of chlorine tablets. I understand that the tablets can increase CYA levels but using them with a chlorinator seems safer and easier than handling liquid bleach. Some of the pool contractors in my Houston area also discourage using liquid bleach as it adds dissolved solids to the water.

Is there any truth to the dissolved solids issue? I just wonder if the incremental cost of using chlorine tablets is that much more than using liquid bleach and CYA because my pool faces the West and liquid chlorine is definitely going to be used up by the hot sun.

Appreciate comments.

 

[linen]

Welcome to tfp, BuffaloBill

Is there any truth to the dissolved solids issue?

TDS is meaningless since it doesn't tell you what dissolved solids are in the pool. For example, saltwater chlorine generator (swg) pools purposefully have ~3000 ppm of salt in order for the swg to work properly and salt is included in the tds measurement. However, cya (cyanuric acid) which is also part of the TDS measurement can be very problematic at fairly low concentrations below 100 ppm. That is why we encourage specifically testing for cya. As cya gets higher, the minimum amount of Free chlorine (FC) needed to keep the pool algae free goes up. If this always rising minimum FC level is not kept and a pool gets algae, now the high cya level requires very large amounts of chlorine to kill the algae. See these pool school articles:

• http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/pool_water_chemistry
  http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/types_chlorine_pool

 

[BuffaloBill]

Thanks for the reply. My neighbor switched over to liquid chlorine (Clorox 8.25%) but now he has to treat for an ever rising Ph level. He had no problem with high Ph when he was using 3" chlorine tabs.

 

[linen]

That is because the trichlor is very acidic. Your neighbor most likely can reduce his ph rise by lowering his TA down into the 70-90 ppm range.

 

[Isaac-1]

There are a a lot of half truths out there about bleach, but when it comes down to it bleach / liquid chlorine adds 2 things to the water, chlorine and salt. People that own salt water chlorine generators intentionally add hundreds of pounds of salt to their water, and periodically have to even more as it gets used up. It would take many years going without any water replacement for the amount of salt that is added by bleach to come close to the amount intentionally added by people with SWG's which these same pool stores seem to love. As to hazards bleach / liquid chlorine is a far less concentrated compound than those trichlor pucks, which have their own share of dangers, not the least of which is that they give off chlorine gas if exposed to moisture, trichlor will also react explosively if allowed in contact with dry Cal-Hypo which is often marketed as powered shock. So I say give me relatively dilute bleach any day.

See these links

reminder-do-not-mix-chemicals-t50583.html

 

[Shane1]

I just wonder if the incremental cost of using chlorine tablets is that much more than using liquid bleach and CYA because my pool faces the West and liquid chlorine is definitely going to be used up by the hot sun.

Appreciate comments.

I think once people understand the basic concept that this site teaches it becomes a personal decision as to use liquid chlorine or other products to chlorinate with. As long as you can accurately test your water and understand what the data means then you are in control. Once you are in control you can chlorinate how ever you wish and can deal with the issues that will pop up.

 

[pwrstrk]

You have to understand the chlorine CYA relationship. The higher the CYA level is the more FC you need to chlorinate the water. Overtime the CYA level becomes so high that you can't keep the chlorine level high enough and you have an algae outbreak. That's why the pool store will say you need to "shock" your water every so often. We teach that you manually add the CYA to a level that's manageable. For a non SWG that would be 30-50 ppm.

I'll stick with my liquid chlorine.


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