We do a fresh fill every year.... that's been the practice, so I assume I'm starting with salt at 0. Is that correct?
Chlorine Level and Overall Use
- Thread starter JPMorgan
- Start date
- Jan 4, 2016
- 5,392
- Pool Size
- 44000
- Surface
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- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
You would start at whatever your fill water is at, and that's probably very low, yep. I'm not familiar with cold climate practices... do they have to empty the pool for winterizing?
We lower the water level, add algaecide and cover the pool, BUT we use a mesh safety cover so the water is usually pretty nasty in the spring. The practice here has been to drain, clean and refill rather than try to salvage the water from year to year.
FC at last check (9:00 pm CST) was 5 ppm, so almost no loss in past 4-5 hours. Will test again in the morning. If 4 ppm or above, that means 24 hour FC loss of <3 ppm and overnight loss of <1 ppm. 
- Jan 4, 2016
- 5,392
- Pool Size
- 44000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
Indoor pool gets little use… especially this time of year… maybe 3-5 per day. Oddly, the outdoor pool is generally not that crowded either… maybe 10-15 on a weekday and double that on a weekend.
Tested this morning at 5 ppm FC. No overnight chlorine loss. Plan is to maintain CYA at 40 and FC at 4-5. I think that will work well given the limitations imposed by the state regs (max FC 5ppm). Thanks for all the help.
I used to maintain a few outdoor municipal public pools in New York. We're not allowed to use any CYA, which I actually like better because we have a similar FC range allowed (1-4ppm). More than 20 CYA or so is risky with a 4ppm max, especially when that 4ppm is a hard max and you have to close the pool if you exceed it.
Our pools were in the 300k gallon range, and I couldn't imagine doing it without a liquid chlorine pump. I think if you're able to go that route it'll really save you a ton of headache. I'm not sure what your pH/TA situation is, but we used a carbon dioxide system system to maintain pH, again saved a ton of headache.
I see you have the aquasol...if you're manually dosing chlorine, what are you using the controller for?
Our pools were in the 300k gallon range, and I couldn't imagine doing it without a liquid chlorine pump. I think if you're able to go that route it'll really save you a ton of headache. I'm not sure what your pH/TA situation is, but we used a carbon dioxide system system to maintain pH, again saved a ton of headache.
I see you have the aquasol...if you're manually dosing chlorine, what are you using the controller for?
Yes... I'm pushing hard to get the liquid chlorine feeder system installed and the HOA seems to be on board with that. The HOA really shouldn't rely on someone manually dosing the pool! Too bad the state makes us get engineering drawings and permits for something like that. It practically doubles the cost!
Will definitely look into a carbon dioxide system for pH control. I don't know anything about that. On the indoor pool we have an acid feeder and I was considering the same set up for the outdoor pool.
The aquasol controller is there to control the sanitizer from the trichlor feeder. I dial that way back (especially when I get to 40 ppm CYA in the pool) and just add the LC manually at that point. It really is serving no purpose right now (though it does give me ORP and pH readings). In the beginning of the season I will rely on the the controller and trichlor feeder to sanitize the pool when little CYA is present. When I get to 40 ppm CYA, I dial it back and go to LC only.
Makes sense.
We had it set to dose chlorine based on ORP, but New York requires (and it's a good idea anyway) to do the DPD test every two hours while the pool is open. ORP monitoring kept us in range 90% of the time.
- Jan 4, 2016
- 5,392
- Pool Size
- 44000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
A pool at 0ppm CYA and (e.g.) 3ppm FC like the outdoor one described above is a travesty. They should require warning signs so people know how excessive the active chlorine is and the health hazards created by excessive chloramine outgassing. Perhaps safe work requirements for the poor sods working around those pools will come to bear on regulations someday. I suppose taxpayers and/or users don't care about the excessive cost due to the rapid loss of FC on sunny days. The chlorine supplier would be delighted by the sales volume!
Thankfully you have some dedicated people over there challenging stupid rules such as zero CYA in an outdoor pool.
Thankfully you have some dedicated people over there challenging stupid rules such as zero CYA in an outdoor pool.
I don’t disagree. Unfortunately what tends to happen is that they allow CYA (sometimes up to 100 or 150) but still limit FC to 4 or 5, which is also dangerous.
Just out of curiosity though, what do they do for indoor pools down under? Most indoor pools don’t run CYA, but you still need a couple ppm chlorine.
Edit: For that matter, what do you do for showers? Your public water supply has 3ppm FC, plus added chloramines and no CYA
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- Jan 4, 2016
- 5,392
- Pool Size
- 44000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
Indoor commercial is stuck without CYA in my State (NSW). Outdoor is max 50 ppm for commercial. There's no max for free chlorine, but there is a maximum for total chlorine at 10 ppm.
How much FC is allowed in your drinking water without CYA? I bet it’s similar to a pool…
What type of equipment is needed and is it expensive? Does it require regular maintenance and/or periodic replacement of parts? What are the advantages and disadvantages vs an acid feeder. We already have an acid feeder on our indoor pool and I was told we could get a larger tank and have it feed both pools.
If you already have an acid feeder, then the only benefit might be that the CO2 wouldn’t affect your TA as much. Unless you have a preference for handling compressed gas cylinders vs acid.
It would be something like this: CircuPool TOTALBalance pH Control (Acid-Free)-TBPH
- Jan 4, 2016
- 5,392
- Pool Size
- 44000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
I don't know how much is allowed, but our potable water here at my house has around 0.7 ppm FC and 1.0 ppm CC fairly consistently.
"Edit: For that matter, what do you do for showers? Your public water supply has 3ppm FC, plus added chloramines and no CYA"
I don't wear swimmers in the shower, nor spend hours in it, nor pay extra for the chlorine.
If we're talking about the outdoor 300,000 gallon pool without CYA, there's no benefit to higher than needed killing power in the pool water and there are downsides arising from excessive production of chloramines (fair to say that will mostly blow away outdoors), more cost for chlorine, and faster swimsuit deterioration. But yeh, keep those chlorine suppliers rolling along NY. Must be good for delivery drivers and jobs at the chlorine plant!
I’m sorry if I came off as aggressive, like I said above I don’t disagree that some CYA is a good idea. It’s gentler on skin and clothing as you say.
I’m only pointing out that the drinking water in Australia (and the US) is allowed up to 5ppm and I assume that you’re all healthy.
- Jan 4, 2016
- 5,392
- Pool Size
- 44000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
No sweat 
And yep, it's an important point that can help people that are afraid of chlorine due to misinformation.
And yep, it's an important point that can help people that are afraid of chlorine due to misinformation.