Chlorinator not working?

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michaelr0

0
Mar 26, 2018
35
Omaha, NE
I am a new pool owner. I had been using a pool service company for a couple of months but finally found the time to read up and canceled the service about two weeks ago. The pool has a Rainbow 320 chlorinator which was full with tabs when I took over. The chlorinator was set to 4/5. My intent was to let it go empty and use liquid chlorine instead. When I started off two weeks ago, the FC level was only 0.6 so I added liquid chlorine to bring it up to 3. I noticed that the pool drops FC at a rate of 0.5 or so every day. I am bringing the FC level back via liquid chlorine from time to time. I was surprised that the tabs did not allow the pool to maintain its chlorine level. When I checked the chlorinator today, I noticed that only 1.5 tabs had been consumed after 12 days running at 4/5. The topmost tab looked like it was brand new. I would have expected much more usage but it explains why I need to add liquid chlorine from time to time. I turned the pump back on and allowed the chlorinator to fill again. Water is coming into it fine. I set the chlorinator to the max settings of 5 at this point. I suspect that flow is somehow restricted causing the tabs to be not adequately consumed. Water chemistry of the pool is just fine. I am adding about 1 gallon 10% liquid chlorine per week to maintain the FC level My pool has about 20,000 gallons.

This week my next step is to remove all tabs completely and see if anything is clogged. Does anyone have ideas what could be going on? My intent is not use the chlorinator, however, we do go on vacation so I'd like to be able to rely on it when needed. I should add my latest test results: FC 2 CC .4 ph 7.6 ALK 120 CH 250 CYA 0.
 
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You have been using trichlor tablets but you test 0 CYA. Something does not add up.

What test kit did you use to get your water chemistry results?
 
Agreed. I am at a loss with respect to that. I am using the Taylor K-2006 kit. After my initial CYA measurement two weeks ago, I added 4lbs of cyanuric acid then (pool math recommended 6lbs, I wanted to stay under). However, I am still getting 0-10 when I do the test. I had to reorder the reagent I have tested so often in disbelief. I had one other person watch the Taylor video here and do the test with the same result. I have watched this video a few times and I am positive that I am doing the test correctly. All other tests have the expected outcomes. Also, I use pool math when I add chlorine. I use 0 as the CYA and when I add the calculated liquid chlorine, a few hours later a retest matches closely the expected outcome. This indicates to me that the CYA level is indeed low.

The only explanation I have is that the tabs were barely dissolving and so little CYA was added. The pool was always slightly cloudy which caused some complaining with the service company. The pool has an auto cover. Once I added the liquid chlorine, the water cleared up within a couple of days and has been stellar since.

However, I still can't explain why I can't measure the 4lbs CYA I added two weeks ago. I have considered that I accidentally added an incorrect product. I bought the Clorox-branded products (Stabilzer, ph up, ph down) from Walmart and they all look similar. I am new to this so it's possible I added the wrong product. It does seem unlikely to me.

I did find some videos on YouTube that show how to troubleshoot the chlorinator. I will take it apart over the weekend and see what's going on.

 
In your pool volume 4 pounds of stabilizer would add 24 ppm CYA. The CYA test should at least be cloudy when you fill the vial.

You should do a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. Raise your FC to 5 ppm with liquid chlorine in the evening. Run your pump 30 minutes and test FC. Test FC the next morning before the sun rises.
 
The water from the CYA test is a little cloudy for sure. I just can't say where it falls between 0-30 but given the 4 added pounds of CYA, using 24 going forward is reasonable. I started the OCLT. Added 51oz of 10% chlorine and ended up from FC 3 to FC 6.2 instead of the target 5. Measured at 8 PM CT.

I had turned the chlorinator to 5 last night and made sure that it flooded all the way before closing it. It did drain just fine. I measured FC at 3 at 7:30 PM before I added the 51oz. FC increased overnight by 1 which means the tabs were working. I doublechecked the chlorinator and indeed they appeared to be more used up then the night before. I just need more experience playing with this.

I turned water flow to the chlorinator off for the OCLT test. The pool will be 100% covered over night.
 
I had a similar issue when I used my inline Pentair chlorinator. I left the top off of the chlorinator and turned the pump on; once the water reached the top of the chlorinator, I screwed the top back on.. Wouldn't recommend using the chlorinator, but that's how I got mine to work when I used it.
 
I did the OCLT. I measured at lunch time, however, the pool is covered and it is 100% cloudy in Nebraska today. The result was FC 4.0 or a drop of 2.2. I was surprised for it to be so high. The pool is clean and clear to the eye but it has never been properly shocked or slam'ed to my knowledge. I will leave everything as is and test again tonight and tomorrow morning to get more data points.

With respect to the chlorinator I appreciate the feedback. It is plumbed at the bottom which, given Pentair's direction, is the correct position for my 20k pool. The pool did gain FC at the max settings and lost slowly -0.4 or so daily FC at the 4 setting. I just need more data points and develop more of a feel.

I would like to hear, if I should slam the pool, but want to get two more measurements. Today will be overcast all day and the pool is 100% covered. Let me know, if there is anything else to pay attention to.
 

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Here are the data points.
  • Aug 29 at 8:00 PM: FC 6.2 (Start 0 hours)
  • Aug 30 at 12:00 PM FC 4.0 (+16 hours)
  • Aug 31 at 6:00 PM FC 2.8 (+30 hours)
  • Sep 01 at 6:00 PM FC 2.0 (End + 24 hours)
The pool was covered the entire time. The pool dropped an average of 4.2 ppm / 70 hours = 0.06 ppm/h or 0.72 ppm / 12 hours.

I always seem to have about 0.3-0.4 CC in the pool. I read that I need to uncover the pool for the CC to be burned off by the sun. Is this true or do I simply shock the pool once to 10-12 ppm FC and expect that to take care of the remaining CC with the pool covered?
 
You can use the 10ml sample instead of the 25ml sample for FC and CC tests. Each drop then equals .5ppm. It'll save your reagents and is plenty precise.

I'm a little confused though. So you're still using the chlorine feeder with pucks while you were running your tests/data points? Or was it off 100%?

Also, if you've added CYA, are you intending to use the chlorinator till you hit a certain CYA level and then stop, or do you intend to only use pucks forever?

.5ppm CC or less is fine, don't worry about that (here again you can see how too much precision isn't terribly helpful). Although if you did have much higher CC, and especially if you are SLAMming, then yes the cover off would help it outgas.
 
michaelr0 said:
Here are the data points.
  • Aug 29 at 8:00 PM: FC 6.2 (Start 0 hours)
  • Aug 30 at 12:00 PM FC 4.0 (+16 hours)
  • Aug 31 at 6:00 PM FC 2.8 (+30 hours)
  • Sep 01 at 6:00 PM FC 2.0 (End + 24 hours)
The pool was covered the entire time. The pool dropped an average of 4.2 ppm / 70 hours = 0.06 ppm/h or 0.72 ppm / 12 hours.

I always seem to have about 0.3-0.4 CC in the pool. I read that I need to uncover the pool for the CC to be burned off by the sun. Is this true or do I simply shock the pool once to 10-12 ppm FC and expect that to take care of the remaining CC with the pool covered?
Click to expand...
If your pool is covered most of the time it would be considered almost an indoor pool as far as UV goes because it doesn't see enough sun to burn off or for a lack of a better term outgas the water to lower the CC. Indoor pools for that reason many times have a UV lamp in the filter loop to make up for it.
 
frogabog said:
I'm a little confused though. So you're still using the chlorine feeder with pucks while you were running your tests/data points? Or was it off 100%?
Also, if you've added CYA, are you intending to use the chlorinator till you hit a certain CYA level and then stop, or do you intend to only use pucks forever?
Click to expand...

I will start using the 10ml method going forward. I burned through half my reagent already and need to reorder. I don't mind though as I have had been paying an arm and a leg for a pool service which did worse than I did even with zero experience. The K-2006 kit and this website are great enablers. I did purchase the Pool Math app.

The chlorinator was off for this test. I started this thread thinking it did not work. However, this is resolved and lead to the OCLT. My intent is too not use pucks going forward, except for vacations, etc. I will also not add anymore CYA this season and simply use liquid chlorine after all pucks in the chlorinator are gone. They are still left over from the pool service company.
 
michaelr0 said:
I am a new pool owner. I had been using a pool service company for a couple of months but finally found the time to read up and canceled the service about two weeks ago. The pool has a Rainbow 320 chlorinator which was full with tabs when I took over. The chlorinator was set to 4/5. My intent was to let it go empty and use liquid chlorine instead. When I started off two weeks ago, the FC level was only 0.6 so I added liquid chlorine to bring it up to 3. I noticed that the pool drops FC at a rate of 0.5 or so every day. I am bringing the FC level back via liquid chlorine from time to time. I was surprised that the tabs did not allow the pool to maintain its chlorine level. When I checked the chlorinator today, I noticed that only 1.5 tabs had been consumed after 12 days running at 4/5. The topmost tab looked like it was brand new. I would have expected much more usage but it explains why I need to add liquid chlorine from time to time. I turned the pump back on and allowed the chlorinator to fill again. Water is coming into it fine. I set the chlorinator to the max settings of 5 at this point. I suspect that flow is somehow restricted causing the tabs to be not adequately consumed. Water chemistry of the pool is just fine. I am adding about 1 gallon 10% liquid chlorine per week to maintain the FC level My pool has about 20,000 gallons.
Click to expand...

Hey michaelr0, I have the exact same problem with the exact same model. Just started happening recently from what I can tell. I took the whole thing apart to make sure the check valve wasn't clogged and it's not. All parts are working just fine individually. Did you ever find out why the chlorinator wasn't working for you? It makes zero sense. Thanks for any help!
 
zoeller said:
Hey michaelr0, I have the exact same problem with the exact same model. Just started happening recently from what I can tell. I took the whole thing apart to make sure the check valve wasn't clogged and it's not. All parts are working just fine individually. Did you ever find out why the chlorinator wasn't working for you? It makes zero sense. Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...

I got mine to work simply by turning it up to the 5 setting. At this point it produced more FC than the pool used. At level 4 it was not keeping up. I am new to this so I have not completely verified these results. I had the chlorinator turned off to test how much my pool drops FC on a daily basis. If the 5 settings does not work for you, check the pump speed that your are using. I am pretty sure the pump speed + chlorinator setting makes a difference. I have a Pentair SuperFlow VS running as the default pump speeds & schedule.

You can also switch the water intake from the bottom position to the top. This way the water flow is more aggressive based on the manual. If nothing else works, consider the high flow kit as shown in this video. That was going to be my last resort.
 
michaelr0 said:
I got mine to work simply by turning it up to the 5 setting. At this point it produced more FC than the pool used. At level 4 it was not keeping up. I am new to this so I have not completely verified these results. I had the chlorinator turned off to test how much my pool drops FC on a daily basis. If the 5 settings does not work for you, check the pump speed that your are using. I am pretty sure the pump speed + chlorinator setting makes a difference. I have a Pentair SuperFlow VS running as the default pump speeds & schedule.

You can also switch the water intake from the bottom position to the top. This way the water flow is more aggressive based on the manual. If nothing else works, consider the high flow kit as shown in this video. That was going to be my last resort.
Click to expand...

Great info and thank you! In my case I'm pretty sure I need to replace my pump. It's ancient and sounds like it's struggling to keep up. I knew it when I bought the house though. I guess it's time.
 
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