I work for an apartment complex as a maintenance tech. We have Two pools in SC, and the Property manager okayed opening one pool for limited use, so I skimmed it, backwashed the filter and vacuumed to waste even though it is nasty water.
At any rate there is some algae in that the water is green. We have a pool company that we paid to check it every couple weeks over the winter set it to circulate 4 hours a day and when I just checked it we have 3 ppm free chlorine 2 ppm combined chlorine. Ph is 7.4, alkalinity is 125, and calcium is around 350 ppm, but I checked CYA and we are over 100!
I did 50:50 pool water and tap water and it came up around 55 when I tested it. I found another Taylor test kit purchased for this year, and the results were within a drop of being the same...
I convinced the property manager to allow a 50 percent drain and refill... the pool in question is 40,000 gallons. I drained 60 to 65% and refilled it. I set the filter to circulate 12 hours a day, but I put it on override for continuous operation while trying to clear the pool.
anyway the calcium hardness is down to under 150 ppm, and the CYA is around about 40 when I measured it last. I shocked with a LOT of Calcium Hypoclorite using 6 bags and I added 4 Jugs of liquid sodium hypochlorite chlorite.
This morning things were looking a LOT better but very cloudy, so Iskimmed, vacuumed, and brushed. The free chlorine was down to 15 ppm, so I added 4 jugs of liquid chlorine.
***.
Then the pool people came out and billed us for opening the pool. On the invoice they added 4 gallons of liquid stabilizer... some algae-side, some clarifier, and 4 bags of TriChlor power shock!
I cringed and rechecked then CYA... it is at about 100 as far as I can tell. I called to ask why they added it, and they said “because you replaced all the water it needs it.”
Well now I have enough CYA for two swimming pools.
I told the property manager about it Asking to drain half again... I explained we have enough for two swimming pools again...to which she said, “well now the pool is clear, so everything should be fine.“
I explained it is only clear Now because it has received a heck of a lot of chlorine but that it will be a monster to maintain... I told her the health department allows only 10 ppm chlorine at the maximum, and I cannot guarantee that below about 12 to 15 ppm it will not turn green!
The response I got was the pool company said it needs only 5 ppm. I tried explaining that if the CYA was around 30 to 40 ppm where it belongs they are correct, but to get the CYA to that we need to partially drain the pool again,
Denied until fall at the earliest she said due to budgets.
How would you handle this?
For this pool we have a chemical Budget of $150 per month plus $300 per month to the pool company... the budget for water is based on 5000 gallons per month (10k gallons per billing cycle). We have the same budget in the winter and are allowed to average by the quarter if we choose, so I can spend $450 say September 1st if I don’t spend any in July or August. Typically, I order more supplies in the winter and stockpile for the summer.
In the storage room for this pool (It’s pump room) we have 6 buckets of the 3” TriChlor pucks for the chlorination, and about 30 more gallons of sodium Hypoclorite I milk crates. There are five boxes of Arm and Hammer, and 10 gallons of acid. We have 13 bags of TriChlor shock, and 36 bags of Cal Hypo. We have 2 one gallonish size containers of Soda Ashand two unopened containers of dry stabilizer About the same size... and 4 gallon containers of liquid stabilizer... We have 4 half used bottles of clarifIre and two types of Algecide. One is metallic and the other is sodium something.
I haven’t looked in the other pump room, but we have plenty of chemicals from what I can see..,
How would you handle this the situation... and the pool?
At any rate there is some algae in that the water is green. We have a pool company that we paid to check it every couple weeks over the winter set it to circulate 4 hours a day and when I just checked it we have 3 ppm free chlorine 2 ppm combined chlorine. Ph is 7.4, alkalinity is 125, and calcium is around 350 ppm, but I checked CYA and we are over 100!
I did 50:50 pool water and tap water and it came up around 55 when I tested it. I found another Taylor test kit purchased for this year, and the results were within a drop of being the same...
I convinced the property manager to allow a 50 percent drain and refill... the pool in question is 40,000 gallons. I drained 60 to 65% and refilled it. I set the filter to circulate 12 hours a day, but I put it on override for continuous operation while trying to clear the pool.
anyway the calcium hardness is down to under 150 ppm, and the CYA is around about 40 when I measured it last. I shocked with a LOT of Calcium Hypoclorite using 6 bags and I added 4 Jugs of liquid sodium hypochlorite chlorite.
This morning things were looking a LOT better but very cloudy, so Iskimmed, vacuumed, and brushed. The free chlorine was down to 15 ppm, so I added 4 jugs of liquid chlorine.
***.
Then the pool people came out and billed us for opening the pool. On the invoice they added 4 gallons of liquid stabilizer... some algae-side, some clarifier, and 4 bags of TriChlor power shock!
I cringed and rechecked then CYA... it is at about 100 as far as I can tell. I called to ask why they added it, and they said “because you replaced all the water it needs it.”
Well now I have enough CYA for two swimming pools.
I told the property manager about it Asking to drain half again... I explained we have enough for two swimming pools again...to which she said, “well now the pool is clear, so everything should be fine.“
I explained it is only clear Now because it has received a heck of a lot of chlorine but that it will be a monster to maintain... I told her the health department allows only 10 ppm chlorine at the maximum, and I cannot guarantee that below about 12 to 15 ppm it will not turn green!
The response I got was the pool company said it needs only 5 ppm. I tried explaining that if the CYA was around 30 to 40 ppm where it belongs they are correct, but to get the CYA to that we need to partially drain the pool again,
Denied until fall at the earliest she said due to budgets.
How would you handle this?
For this pool we have a chemical Budget of $150 per month plus $300 per month to the pool company... the budget for water is based on 5000 gallons per month (10k gallons per billing cycle). We have the same budget in the winter and are allowed to average by the quarter if we choose, so I can spend $450 say September 1st if I don’t spend any in July or August. Typically, I order more supplies in the winter and stockpile for the summer.
In the storage room for this pool (It’s pump room) we have 6 buckets of the 3” TriChlor pucks for the chlorination, and about 30 more gallons of sodium Hypoclorite I milk crates. There are five boxes of Arm and Hammer, and 10 gallons of acid. We have 13 bags of TriChlor shock, and 36 bags of Cal Hypo. We have 2 one gallonish size containers of Soda Ashand two unopened containers of dry stabilizer About the same size... and 4 gallon containers of liquid stabilizer... We have 4 half used bottles of clarifIre and two types of Algecide. One is metallic and the other is sodium something.
I haven’t looked in the other pump room, but we have plenty of chemicals from what I can see..,
How would you handle this the situation... and the pool?
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