Chlorinator in Winter

Jump to latest Follow Reply
R

Ronson_321

Well-known member
May 12, 2020
74
Los Angeles
Sanity Check Question:

I went to Leslie's today to buy some muriatic acid and decided I may as well get a water check done as well. The test came back showing very low free chlorine which they said was because my chlorinator would not have been working as its winter (I live in Southern California!) and that I need to shock the pool immediately and then add chlorine manually until spring. Like an idiot I bought 4 gallons of liquid chlorine to do that.

I should have known that the free chlorine result was wrong as I test every 2 days and it is always in the 4-5 range but got confused between the terms "free chlorine" (which showed as 0.67 on their test) and total chlorine (which showed as 4.47 and I wrongly assumed was what I had been testing for ).

I was curious about what they said about the chlorinator - should I stop using it in winter and just add liquid chlorine as needed or am I fine continuing as I have been. I've been using the chlorinator for 3 years now with no issues during winter (and I'm pretty sure it has a low temperature warning light if it does get too cold).

Just wanted to double-check before returning the liquid chlorine.

Also, as I'm kind of annoyed at Leslie's now - is there a better place to get muriatic acid than from them?

I welcome people's view on this.
 
Ronson_321 said:
I welcome people's view on this.
Click to expand...
My view is to never waste your time getting Leslies to test you pool water.
You have a K-2006 test kit - use it, believe it.

How are you testing your salt content? Don't rely on the SWG readout.

What is your pool water temperature?

You have PoolMath linked to your forum account.
Enter all results (from your own test kit) into PoolMath and save them. Then we can all see your current test results.

Go to your signature and add all your pool equipment - include manufacturers and model numbers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wireform
You can ignore their tests but it’s true that if your free chlorine was actually less than 1ppm and total chlorine 4.47ppm, it would need lots of chlorine to fix your swamp water. 😉
 
Ronson_321 said:
Thanks.

I have now added latest results to Pool Math.

I have a Taylor salt testing kit but I don't use it very often. What is the recommended frequency ?

I don't currently have a pool thermometer - any recommendations ?
Click to expand...
Be careful mixing results. Your TA looks like it’s still the pool store result.
 
Ronson_321 said:
For TA my test kit results matched (more-or-less) Leslie's results, but you're right - I got the 79 from their print out not my own test (that doesn't measure to that degree of accuracy).
Click to expand...
Don't fool their precise numbers and fancy printouts with accuracy. They want you to think they are super accurate, but if you get bored take your sample to multiple Leslies on the same day and you will see how accurate they really are :)

My spidey sense said they also told you your phosphates were high.
 
Ronson_321 said:
- I got the 79 from their print out not my own test (that doesn't measure to that degree of accuracy)
Click to expand...
Neither does theirs - they use an algorithim to come up with that imaginary number to make customers think the results are hyper-accurate. Their business model is to sell overpriced and mostly unneeded chemicals. Their come-on is the "free" testing.

If you do take water to multiple LPS, use a different address at each one so their system doesn't see you are testing around. Of course, it's mostly a waste of time and effort on your part.

Salt test should be done monthly - just like CYA. Of course, if you suspect something isn't right then test more frequently.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply