Professionals promise 40 CYA but deliver 80-100

[Ecrivan]

Feeling a little miffed and looking from advice from a forum and people I've come to trust implicitly with these matters...

I just had my mom's pool professionally power-washed and refilled over the past weekend. This included cleaning the filter and re-charging it with DE. The same guys returned after the pool was refilled (with fresh water) to balance the water. I didn't mind this one-time use of chlorine because I knew I'd be returning to the BBB method right after and I knew I need the other chemicals anyway (CYA, TA, pH, etc.). I mentioned to them that she had had problems with CYA levels in the past, and they assured me they only put in enough stabilizer to bring the pool to 40 ppm.

So I tested (with my own FAS-DPD kit) the water 24 hours later, and while the pH and FC were within range, the TA and CH were way too low. But worse of all, the CYA was at 90. Remember: this was new water (only 1 day old).

Using the pool calculator, I put in enough baking soda to get the TA right. I don't like to mess with CH too much because for some reason, her pool naturally goes up in that area.

I tested again the next day (2 days after the "professionals" were out) and the TA was fine, but I still got between 80-90 on the CYA. I took my water to two pool stores, and they also got between 90-100. I also did the Extended Test procedure and got about 60-70 ppm for the CYA (which made me feel a little better).

I called the guys who worked on her pool, and asked them about it. They said 90-100 was okay and the pucks, etc. wouldn't raise the CYA enough (within a year or so) to be a problem.

Obviously, I don't plan to use pucks or chlorine (since I'm a BBB guy), but my questions are...

1. Is 90-100 CYA (or 60-70 based on extended test) high enough to partially drain and refill the pool (again)?
2. Should I pursue the guys who did this and have them compensate me somehow for promising 40 but delivering 90, especially if I have to pay for the refill again?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Divin Dave]

Unfortunately CYA that high is getting on the probibitive side.
For CYA of 90, your target FC would be 10 and your minimum would be 7.

If you had to slam the pool with a CYA of 90, then SLAM FC would be 36, which would require a LOT of liquid chlorine.

If it were me, and they told me 40, I might accept 50, or maybe even 60, but not more than that.

 

[duraleigh]

ask them how they calculated the dosage. If they cannot tell you or don't really know, it's time for them to cough up for a drain and refill...on the house!

If you have NO financial leverage, I doubt that will happen.

 

[domct203]

...............Obviously, I don't plan to use pucks or chlorine (since I'm a BBB guy)

FYI- Bleach is Chlorine (sodium hypochlorite).

Dom

 

[tim5055]

ask them how they calculated the dosage. If they cannot tell you or don't really know, it's time for them to cough up for a drain and refill...on the house!

If you have NO financial leverage, I doubt that will happen.

I wish you the best, but agree with Dave - without financial leverage I doubt it's going to happen.....

You have given several different CYA levels; 90, 80-90, 90-100 and extended test 60-70 which puts it at 140.

For now you need to chlorinate with a minimum FC of 9, targeting 14 to keep it there with UV loss until you can do a good test and get a true CYA reading.

Now, if they won't pay for the partial drain & refill they truly owe you you can manage high CYA as long as you are diligent in keeping the FC level where it needs to be. if it drops and the pool goes green you are done for.

My CYA was over 200 when I took over my pool from the previous owner. Through being very careful with my chlorine so it wouldn't go green and finding every source of new water possible like harvesting rain water from roof gutters I can say that 18 months later I actually had to add CYA because it got too low.

It can be don, you just have to stay on top of it.


Where is mom's pool?

 

[Ecrivan]

tim5055... when I did the extended test, I got around 30, so by doubling it, I got 60. Is that right? Also, the pool is in Dallas, TX.

duraleigh... when I talked to them on the phone, they didn't say anything about aiming for 40 ppm or getting their calculations wrong, but they did admit that 90-100 wasn't anything to worry about (like they were okay with getting me to that number)

Another troubling thing about all of this is part of their overall charge for cleaning the pool involved balancing the water at the end. But the day after they were here, the TA and CH were almost non-existent, the CYA was high, and I think they used the last of my pucks in the floater. So... what did I pay for?

 

[chem geek]

Yes you did the extended test right, but it has half the accuracy so your 60-70 could well be the same as the 90-100 you measured more directly. I'm not sure why your 50/50 dilution had the CYA measure below 40.

 

[Ibelyle]

I have had some success reducing CYA w/ Bio-Active. Is there any reason it hasn't been suggested in this instance?

 

[Patrick_B]

I have had some success reducing CYA w/ Bio-Active. Is there any reason it hasn't been suggested in this instance?

Yes, because we've had many, far more than not who tried it with so little success that we can't suggest even trying it. Any success documented this summer has been minuscule and hardly worth the high cost of the product. It has a long way to go to say the least.

 

[DaninFLA]

I would definetly drain and refill, either by them (preferred) or by you. the biggest problem I see you having is not keeping the FC up, that can be done and just a matter of adding enough chlorine/bleach, the problem is that your minimum FC is 9, which it can NEVER fall below, so in order to make sure of that you are going to be targeting probably 12-15. that's the problem, you wont be able to manage your pH since the pH isn't accurate above FC of 10. it can be done, but difficult to try and make sure you FC drops to 9, the minimum, adjust pH and then add FC right away.

- - - Updated - - -

tim5055... when I did the extended test, I got around 30, so by doubling it, I got 60. Is that right? Also, the pool is in Dallas, TX.

duraleigh... when I talked to them on the phone, they didn't say anything about aiming for 40 ppm or getting their calculations wrong, but they did admit that 90-100 wasn't anything to worry about (like they were okay with getting me to that number)

Another troubling thing about all of this is part of their overall charge for cleaning the pool involved balancing the water at the end. But the day after they were here, the TA and CH were almost non-existent, the CYA was high, and I think they used the last of my pucks in the floater. So... what did I pay for?

how did you pay? if you paid cash, you are probably out. do you have anything in writing (email, etc) saying they would set it at 40ppm? if you paid by credit card and have something in writing, you can threaten to protest the charges to you credit card company. that will wake them up real quick.

these guys don't know what CYA is most likely and just dumped a couple of bottles in and called it a day.

lesson learned here for others in similar situation, just tell the guys up front that you will take care of adding the stabilizer. you would have had to pay $12-30 in stabilizer and would have done it correctly and not be in this mess.

these guys that do this kind of work, their specialty is the cleaning/repair...not water chemistry.

 

[Ecrivan]

Thank you again, everyone, for your responses. This is why I LOVE this forum.

The guys are coming back to drain my pool halfway (at their expense). But we will be refilling at our expense, which will only be about $30-40, thankfully. I will not have them re-balance the chemicals. I will be doing that.

There is a huge part of me that still wants to ask for the cost back for originally "balancing" my pool, since the CYA, CH and TA were all way off. I basically paid for shock, pucks, soda ash and DE.