CYA too high

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B

Boats

0
Apr 28, 2014
5
Sun City West Arizona
My Pool CYA is high "80". I know it is caused by chlorine tablets. The pool caculater recommends pump water out and add new. Where I live water is expensive. My question is: If I switch to liquid chlorine for a while during the winter months will CYA drop on its own over time .

FC 3
TA 3
CYA 80
TA 100
PH 7.4
TDS 200

Appreciate any advise!!
 
Re: CYA to high

Welcome to TFP!

In Arizona, you can probably deal with 80ppm CYA due to the heavy sun load. If that is a pool store test, your CYA could be anywhere between 0 and 300 though.
 
Re: CYA to high

Hi Boats,
there is some evidence, however I believe it's very well understood under which conditions CYA does break down or how quickly. Maybe someone else will chime in on that.

The only other way to lower it obvously is through dilution. Other than draining, dilution can happen over time due to rain, overflow, top off.

Now having said that, 80 is above the recommended level, however its not wayyyyy above recommendations.
Your pool can be managed easily enough simply by keeping your FC level relative to 80 CYA.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock

The thing about going this route though, is that if you get lax on keeping your FC up, and you get an algae bloom, it will be much more difficult to rid yourself of the bloom with CYA of 80

Certainly, you cannot add any more tablets until the CYA is lower, so liquid chlorine is in your future.

If you can use only liquid chlorine for a 'good while', then eventually, your CYA will drop due to dilution from rain, albeit very slowly.

If you dont have one, I highly recommend getting your own very accurate test kit to you can measure your chlorine daily, or at least every other day and add chlorine as needed. The TF-100 is the kit I would recommend.
www.tftestkits.net

hope this helps,
 
Re: CYA to high

Jabooh1 said:
Maybe I amissing something. 80 is in the middle of non SWG pools and didn't see where the OP has a SWCG.
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There are a few conflicting numbers on the web, so where are you seeing 80 as "in the middle of non SWG pools"?

TFP teaches 80 as the top end of the recommended level for a SWCG pool. Non SWCG pools should be in the 30 - 50 range.

Now, with that being said and as others have implied if water is too expensive or water restrictions prohibit a water exchange then high CYA can be managed. I started with mine at over 200 and slowly over a year I have it down to 70. That is still high for my non-SWCG pool. High CYA is going to require keeping a very close eye on FC and keeping it in proper range. Don't bother talking to pool store folks about your FC level as they think even with CYA at 100 FC should be at 3. Managing the high CYA requires thinking outside the box and capturing any rain water possible and getting it in the pool to dilute the water.
 

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Re: CYA to high

Brushpup said:
Boats, is this correct, that your pool is 5000 gallons? It's in your sig as that. Just double checking.
Click to expand...

Yes 5000 gal. Although I have a Sun City West address I live in a development out side Sun City West called Cortebella. We have different water rates than Sun City West. We have been levied a very high rate to off set the building of a well. My water bill runs average $300 per month. I try to manage my water use as much as possible and do not want remove thousands of gallon if not necessary. I have a T-100 test kit.

Thank you for the replies!!
 
Re: CYA to high

Boats said:
Yes 5000 gal. Although I have a Sun City West address I live in a development out side Sun City West called Cortebella. We have different water rates than Sun City West. We have been levied a very high rate to off set the building of a well. My water bill runs average $300 per month. I try to manage my water use as much as possible and do not want remove thousands of gallon if not necessary. I have a T-100 test kit.

Thank you for the replies!!
Click to expand...
Well, with 80 CYA if you don't want to replace water you can manage it. Regular testing and keeping FC where it needs to be with liquid forms of chlorine (bleach or higher % chlorinating liquid). As I indicated above I harvest rain water to add to the pool. We have been lucky to have rain lately, so I have had to pump out about 3" a week for the past few weeks.

The only other option if it is available in your area is reverse osmosis, but I'm afraid if it is available it will be more expensive than your water replacement.

For now put the tabs away and find a source for liquid.
 
Re: CYA to high

Boats said:
Thanks for your help! Guess it comes down to pay for water or pay for chlorine. Lol
Click to expand...

As long as you stay on top of your water, you probably won't use much more chlorine. The higher CYA better protects the chlorine from the sun, reducing the loss. The big problem arises when you get algae started and you have to fight both the algae and the CYA to keep chlorine in the pool.
 
Re: CYA to high

I agree, just stay on top of your Chlorine and it won't be an issue. Let it get low and have Algae, then you'll have a fight on your hands. A 5k gallon pool won't take much Chlorine at all to stay clean. Very easy to handle for sure.
 
Re: CYA to high

Brushpup said:
I agree, just stay on top of your Chlorine and it won't be an issue. Let it get low and have Algae, then you'll have a fight on your hands. A 5k gallon pool won't take much Chlorine at all to stay clean. Very easy to handle for sure.
Click to expand...

I picked up some Sodium Hypochlorate 10%. It says on the pkg that you should keep the FC on a stabilized pool at 1.0 to 1.5.

Does tha t seem low to you?
 
Re: CYA to high

It hot places with a lot of direct sun a little higher CYA is fine actually. I found my pool was a little easier to manage on chlorine consumption with a Little higher than 50 CYA. Keep the chlorine on the high side of the scale from the calculator and you will be fine. The problem is the amount of chlorine needed to shock if you let the pool go.


Sent from the bat phone near a drilling rig.
 
Re: CYA to high

Jabooh1 said:
The range on this page (http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock) is 20-100. So 80 is in the middle.

Looking at the table it seems ok. Reading the notes it says 80 is high. Kinda misleading.
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It's not misleading if you notice the asterisk (*) on 70, 80,90 and 100 PPM (non-SWG). Directly under the table it says "* Not recommended". It lists those concentrations because some people are stuck with higher levels and it's a table showing how much chlorine to use to maintain your pool or to SLAM your pool should you have an undesirably high CYA level and not be able to lower it.
 
Re: CYA to high

I went back and looked and see the astrick's now. I could have sworn those weren't there.

Found something in regards to the saltwater pool as well in regards to FC. I think it is just each write up in the pool school area has different points being made so the ranges are used differently.

When you have your first pool, are trying to digest all the information, and are reading everything possible it's overwhelming.
 

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