What's up with this Chlorine?

[bigdav160]

This test is from my MIL's pool, not mine. Last summer she had to fire her pool service as the CYA had reached a level so high that the weekly shocking seemed to do nothing. I drained half the water and replaced. That got everything back to normal. My MIL has been keeping up with the maintenance since then. I come in behind her with testing and chemical additions.

A couple months ago, my FIL got sick and died. The pool was neglected a little (December) while my BIL was staying with Mom.

For the last two weeks the Chlorine test have looked like this. The Chlorine drop test does not turn pink with a scoop of regent.
I turned off the puck feeder two weeks ago and removed the floater this week.

Is this caused by the chlorine being insanely high or something else? Recommendations?

 

[JasonLion]

The OTO chlorine test will turn orange when TC is between roughly 15 and 30, and will turn brown at 30 or higher.

The FAS-DPD chlorine test can flash pink and go back to clear when you add R-0870 powder when the FC level is really really high. Usually adding a second scoop of R-0870 will turn it pink in this situation. Really extreme cases can require a third scoop.

So it looks like the FC level is really really high. I suspect that the CYA level is also really high, or you would lose all of that FC rather quickly.

 

[jcowart]

It kinda sounds like your cya is crazy high and you have no chlorine. Try a test with half tap or distilled water. You are using pucks so your adding to the cya. I have an 18000 gal pool and a 25lbs bucket will raise my cya by almost 100. You can see how it gets out of hand in a hurry.

 

[BoDarville]

The Chlorine drop test does not turn pink with a scoop of regent.

From what I can see in your pic, you are using the OTO (Orthotolidine) chlorine test which does not require a "scoop" of reagent - only the OTO drops. The OTO test is good for detecting the presence of chlorine in a pool. If chlorine is present, the sample will turn some color (a shade of yellow). The darker the yellow (or orange-brown in cases of extremely high chlorine) , the more chlorine is present. If it remains clear, there is no chlorine. This test measures primarily measures Total Chlorine (TC). You really need to know the Free Chlorine (FC) and Combined Chloramines (CC), so the OTO test is not recommended for ongoing chlorine maintenance as it simply is not precise enough. We recommend the FAS-DPD chlorine test which includes a powder and a liquid reagent.

I turned off the puck feeder two weeks ago and removed the floater this week.

Hopefully, you will begin using bleach for chlorination as continued use of pucks will once again lead to unmanageably high CYA levels. Once the water hits around 70°F or so, I would rely on the SWG for ongoing chlorination. During the off-season, occasional doses of liquid bleach should keep the chlorine in check. At this time of year, I'm adding chlorine about every other week or so to maintain a proper level.

 

[bigdav160]

We recommend the FAS-DPD chlorine test which includes a powder and a liquid reagent.

I might not have been clear. I did do the FAS-DPD but one scoop turn clear almost instantly. I'm going to change some water and not change the chlorination as the MIL is building a new home just down the block from us. She'll be selling this house.

 

[FlyAU98]

I'm not quite the expert here...yet....

But it seems that you need to find out:
1) what your CYA level is
2) what your actual chlorine level is (try more scoops)
3) a full set of test results would help

Then report back...

 

[JamesW]

Try using 3 scoops of the R-0870 powder. What is the TA?

 

[chem geek]

And use a 10 ml or 5 ml sample size to save on FAS-DPD drops. For a 10 ml sample size, every drop is 0.5 ppm; for a 5 ml sample size, every drop is 1 ppm.