Chlorinator pucks vs daily LC dosage...

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GOONiE

GOONiE

0
May 28, 2018
217
Chicago burbs
I have a bunch of pucks left over from previous owner. Am I adding that much CYA if 5 pucks take 2 weeks to dissolve?

Im at 60 CYA.

Sounds like most people are adding LC daily, any cons to using pucks in auto chlorinator or should I just turn it off and daily dose LC.

I have been using cal hypo shock once a week and FC seems to be holding fine. I will switch to LC once my cal hypo runs out.
 
Cal hypo doesn't add any cya, but it adds calcium which also requires a drain and refill to lower calcium levels. If you have trichlor pucks as well as the cal hypo ones, those will add about 1.1 PPM of cya in your size pool per tablet.

I see that you have a vinyl pool, so you don't need any excess calcium. It will only cause scale if you allow it to get too high. I'd ditch the cal hypo and stick to liquid chlorine. If you have any trichlor tablets left, save those for when you go on vacation and don't have a way to add chlorine to your pool. Just realize that you will be increasing cya some and make the adjustment by also increasing your FC to match the CYA/FC chart.
 
It's not the amout of time they take to dissolve, it is the amount of CYA in each puck. In your 30,000 gallon pool 1 8oz puck will add 1.1ppm of CYA to your pool.

So, keep using the chlorinator (5 pucks) and every 2 weeks your CYA will go up 5.5ppm.

Your choice.....
 
DeanP66 said:
Cal hypo doesn't add any cya, but it adds calcium which also requires a drain and refill to lower calcium levels. If you have trichlor pucks as well as the cal hypo ones, those will add about 1.1 PPM of cya in your size pool per tablet.

I see that you have a vinyl pool, so you don't need any excess calcium. It will only cause scale if you allow it to get too high. I'd ditch the cal hypo and stick to liquid chlorine. If you have any trichlor tablets left, save those for when you go on vacation and don't have a way to add chlorine to your pool. Just realize that you will be increasing cya some and make the adjustment by also increasing your FC to match the CYA/FC chart.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

My CH is low 160 that's why I'm not worried, plus I'm vinyl and still unsure what's the right CH for it. I read that CH doesn't matter for vinyl. Do I need a good level of CH for pH readings to be more accurate?

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tim5055 said:
It's not the amout of time they take to dissolve, it is the amount of CYA in each puck. In your 30,000 gallon pool 1 8oz puck will add 1.1ppm of CYA to your pool.

So, keep using the chlorinator (5 pucks) and every 2 weeks your CYA will go up 5.5ppm.

Your choice.....
Click to expand...

I read in another thread that cya degrades 5-10ppm a month in full sun so maybe the pucks are maintaining the pool chemistry?

I'm not sure, that's why I'm asking.
 
Goonie,

We don't care if you use Pucks, Liquid Chlorine, or a SWCG... What we are all about is you knowing how they effect your pool. As long as you continue to test and keep your levels within the TFP guidelines, then we have done our job.. :p

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Jimrahbe said:
Goonie,

We don't care if you use Pucks, Liquid Chlorine, or a SWCG... What we are all about is you knowing how they effect your pool. As long as you continue to test and keep your levels within the TFP guidelines, then we have done our job.. :p

Thanks,

Jim R.
Click to expand...

We'll I guess my question is, do some pros on here use pucks to maintain their FC levels or is LC the go to?

I can see why LC is the preferred way. It's so much cheaper than granular shocks and pucks.

My local leslies has a gallon of 10% at $3. Cal hypo is expensive compared.
 
Liquid chlorine is the preferred way because it has no cya in it. Once you get your CYA level to where you want it, it won't move unless you add something that contains cya in it like tablets, powdered shock, or granules. Backwashing and splashouts might drop it a tiny amount, but in general, you won't notice much in the course of a swimming season unless you backwash a lot.

It's much easier to dose FC when you don't have a moving target like what happens when people use tablets.
 
Cya gets oxidized by clorine slowly, the given rate is 3-5 ppm per month but this is just a number just thrown out there. There is a thread here somewhere that explains it and the varibles. You also lose cya through backwashes and rain overflows. If you know what you are doing you can use both pucks and bleach, just know what you are doing to your pool
 
Goonie,

I also noticed that you "shock" your pool once a week... Using the TFP process means never having to add "shock" to your pool again. If you maintain your FC per this chart .. [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA] .. then there is no reason to use shock products weekly, monthly or ever... :p

Jim R.
 

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Jimrahbe said:
Goonie,

I also noticed that you "shock" your pool once a week... Using the TFP process means never having to add "shock" to your pool again. If you maintain your FC per this chart .. [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA] .. then there is no reason to use shock products weekly, monthly or ever... :p

Jim R.
Click to expand...

I get it now... maintaining with LC is much more efficient and cost effective. I just needed a reason to stop using pucks. lol
 
GOONiE said:
We'll I guess my question is, do some pros on here use pucks to maintain their FC levels or is LC the go to?

I can see why LC is the preferred way. It's so much cheaper than granular shocks and pucks.

My local leslies has a gallon of 10% at $3. Cal hypo is expensive compared.
Click to expand...
I installed a Stenner pump to use liquid all the time. But, when my CYA was OK/low I would add pucks when going out of town to tweak the CYA. As Jim pointed out, TFP is not anti anything. We are Pro knowledge. There are pools in some areas that because of the backwashing/splashout/drain for winterization loose sufficient water to use pucks all the time.

Understand your pool and what it wants/needs
 
cfherrman said:
Cya gets oxidized by clorine slowly, the given rate is 3-5 ppm per month but this is just a number just thrown out there. There is a thread here somewhere that explains it and the varibles. You also lose cya through backwashes and rain overflows. If you know what you are doing you can use both pucks and bleach, just know what you are doing to your pool
Click to expand...

This is my approach. I try to maintain 40 CYA. With that, I know I lose about 1.5 ppm of chlorine/day in the summer, requiring 15 oz of LC each day to maintain my level. I will use pucks if I am going away for a few days, and to bump up my CYA if it starts dropping. Shooting for 40 gives me breathing room for a 30-50 range.

For me, the drop in CYA is more from removing water after torrential rains (like I’ve had the last 3+ weeks, before, during and after Alberto).

Every pool is different and this is just what I’’ve learned about mine.
 
I timed myself once out of curiosity.

Sitting in front of the TV, feet on the ottoman, I started the stopwatch on my phone. I put my feet down, stood up, walked into the garage, picked up a 2 1/2 gallon jug of 10% LC, went out to the pool, knelt down on a small towel, removed the lid, floated the jug, estimated about two cups, took it out, put the cap on, wiped it dry with the towel, stood up, hung the towel, walked into the house, entered the garage, put the jug down, back to my spot, feet up on the ottoman, press stop on the stopwatch: 1 minute 40 seconds. [emoji51]

It is not as difficult as some may want to believe, IMHO.
 
lol... what do you mean floated the jug?

My cover is on sometimes, can I just slowly dose LC into skimmer so I don't have to uncover pool?

Also, for testing, can an accurate test be had by sampling water coming into the skimmer for the same reason above?
 
GOONiE said:
Thank you, I switched to LC today and turned off the chlorinator. Will only use if my CYA gets low or if I'm out of town.

Dosing with LC daily is starting to make sense :D
Click to expand...

I think you need to pull the pucks out but not sure.

After a bit you will start to expect what your pool needs and you might run the feeder every once in a while for cya boost and pH lowering.
 
GOONiE said:
lol... what do you mean floated the jug?
Click to expand...

Well, a full 2 1/2 gallon jug is a little difficult to pour a small amount from. So, I hold it in the water to make it easier to manipulate. It makes it easy to add just enough for my daily dosing.

With my solar cover in the winter, I just pull it back on one corner enough to add my LC.
 
ka8yiu said:
Well, a full 2 1/2 gallon jug is a little difficult to pour a small amount from. So, I hold it in the water to make it easier to manipulate. It makes it easy to add just enough for my daily dosing.

With my solar cover in the winter, I just pull it back on one corner enough to add my LC.
Click to expand...

Ah. I thought it was some fancy way of dosing chlorine. lol
 

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