HTH Clear All Power Pod used, now filter is clogged, will it eventually dissolve?

[rj2222]

I have an Intex 16x48 AGP with the stock pump/filter. I saw the HTH Clear All Power Pods in the store so figured i'd give them a shot since my water looked a bit cloudy. So i switched my filter for good measure, I put one pod in the skimmer basket as directed, then as the package said sat back and waited 24 hours to see a crystal clear pool.

24 hours later I have a very similar looking pool with a pump that's barely outputting any water back into the pool now. I did notice when I put the pod in, as the stuff holding the chemicals together dissolved, it looked like a little sponge floating on top the the skimmer basket that slowly broke apart/dissolved. I checked both the grated covers (idk what they're really called) on the inside wall of the pool where water comes in and out of the pool, those are not clogged (sometimes the one pulling water into the filter gets clogged with cottonwood so thought i'd check there).

Anyone else had an experience like this with those pods? Do you think even with limited water flow they'll eventually dissolve and the filter will work correctly again? I'm thinking since it's just chemicals in those pods it will eventually, but i'm worried with the holiday coming up.

 

[jblizzle]

Please add your pool details to your signature and location (City, State or City, Country) to your profile as described HERE as it will help us help you.

 

[Donldson]

The entire pod should dissolve completely at some point, that is what they are designed to do. If you can remove any undissolved parts yourself that will speed up the process.

As I'm sure you are painfully remembering now, a clarifier is not the solution to a cloudy pool. Accurate testing and, if indicated, SLAMming will clear your water, not magic packets.

 

[rj2222]

OK, maybe I'll just let it run longer and see if it clears up on it's own then. I'm having a problem finding where the undissolved parts are, but maybe they'll have dissolved by the time I get home today.

The packaging said "Toss one pod in skimmer basket and wait 24 hours for crystal clear pool". Sounds like false advertising to me based on what you just said Donldson. I wonder how many people they get, and how much money they make, off that one.

I'm going to retest everything tonight, see where it's all at. I know Chlorine, CYA, and pH were all in acceptable levels before I put the first pod in, but can't remember the numbers for the other couple tests off the top of my head (bad, I know, just can't remember).

 

[rj2222]

Well after running the pump some more, water flow essentially came to a halt out of the filter. It appears all the stuff from the pod was just gumming up the filter, so I took it out, gave it a quick rinse with the hose and the clarifier stuff came out in strips from the pleats in the filter. I then put the filter back in and it's working like a champ again.
Also, it did appear to work some magic on the water, as it's much easier to see the design of the pool bottom now through the water.
So all in all, I guess it's a decent product minus the filter clogging aspect, perhaps liquid clarifier is the way to go though. Hope that helps someone else if they're trying those or have the same problem.

 

[jblizzle]

Sounds like more of a PITA than it is worth to me. Those type of products are not worth the risk of making things worse.

 

[Donldson]

Cloudiness is a chemical problem 99.99% of the time. Clarifier is almost never the way to go, be it pods or liquid. Only in extremely specific situations does it do much good.

Sent from my HTC One

 

[rj2222]

This was the first time I ever used it, was more of a try it out scenario. Seemed to help quite a bit.
But you are right, properly balanced chems are the way to go. Was just adding my experience to the string in case someone in the future comes across this.

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Sounds like more of a PITA than it is worth to me. Those type of products are not worth the risk of making things worse.

Honestly, if the need ever arose to where I needed clarifier again, I'd probably go the liquid route rather than the pod. I wish I knew why it would have clogged the filter like that when it's supposed to dissolve fully.

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So just a general question since I'm not an expert obviously. But every store I go to, it seems like they have a decent sized area devoted to just clarifiers. Are they really that popular, or is it more due to people not taking care of their pool chems so they sell well.
Just trying to understand here for knowledge.

 

[jblizzle]

I think the latter. The pool store gives poor chemistry advice, then the pool turns green or cloudy and they can sell you some magic in a bottle that most likely will not work, so they sell you more stuff until they finally give up and tell you to drain the pool and start the process over.

 

[rj2222]

It's funny you say that, because when I was at the local pool store this week, that EXACT scenario happened to some guy I was overhearing talk to the salesperson there haha.

 

[JVTrain]

I tend to shy away from buying magic beans. Sure Jack and his Beanstalk had a good time and a few laughs but then the fairytale is over and you're stuck with a viney mess of vegetation to clean up.

 

[chem geek]

There are a bunch of auxiliary products pool stores recommend not just for one-time use but for ongoing maintenance including clarifiers (flocculants are usually more for one-time use), enzymes, metal sequestrant, algaecide, and "shock". These specialty chemicals have much higher profit margins not only for the pool store but especially for the manufacturers. None of these are needed if one properly maintains their Free Chlorine (FC) level relative to their Cyanuric Acid (CYA) level.

We don't recommend the use of clarifiers or flocculants since they are not normally needed but if you really have to use one then instead of what you used try either GLB Clear Blue or Bioguard Polysheen Blue for clarifiers or OMNI Liquid Floc Plus for a flocculant (maybe BioGuard Power Floc, but we don't have enough reports on this). Commercial/public pools with heavy bather loads sometimes use SeaKlear PRS which is a 2-stage clarifying system (positively charged cationic polymer first, negatively charged cationic polymer second, with a time gap in between). Again, these should not be needed, but we've seen enough use of these (though still not very much) to know they won't cause the kind of problem you saw.