Feeling stupid! Need help w/Taylor K2006 Chlorine test

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sonflower

sonflower

0
Jun 2, 2010
157
Fort Worth, TX
I figured out the pH, TA, CH and CYA tests but am stumped on the Chlorine test. :oops:

Please review and advise to me if/where I am wrong. Sorry for being verbose but I am trying to prevent assumptions. I need all the help I can get as you will see.

Step 1: Rinse and fill vial. I am doing the 10mL sample.
Result: Success! :cheers:

Step 2: Add 2 dippers (scoops, right?) R0870 (DPD powder). Swirl. If FC is present, sample will turn pink.
Result: Sample did NOT turn pink. So I added 1 more scoop of DPD powder and it turned light pink. Should I have done that? or should I have stopped with just a clear sample at 2 scoops?

Step 3: Add R0871 (FAS DPD Titrating Reagent) dropwise, swirl, count, etc from pink to colorless.
Result: 2 drops to colorless

Step 4: Multiply drops in Step 3 by drop equiv. Record as PPM FC.
Result: 2 x .5 ppm = 1 FC (Right? I am feeling really stupid right now) :?

Step 5: Add 5 drops R0003 (DPD Reagent). Swirl. If CC is present, sample will turn pink.
Result: Light Pink.

Step 6: Add R0871 (FAS DPD Titrating Reagent) dropwise, swirl, count, etc from pink to colorless.
Result: 1 drop to colorless.

Step 7: Multiply drops in Step 6 by drop equiv. Record as PPM CC.
Result: 1 x .5 ppm = .5 (right...?)

If by some miracle I did all this right, my TC is 1.5, which is horrible. I have asked hubby to pick up 10 bags of salt on his way home from work. The Aqua-Rite says 200. I have never seen it that low.

THANK YOU for your time and advice/suggestions. It's been a rough Monday and I really appreciate you all being there for newbies like me. :)
 
Sounds like you did it right.

I would go to the store and grab enough chlorine to bring your FC up to the appropriate level for your CYA. Don't wait for the SWG to get ramped up.

Did you lose a lot of salt? If so you should try to determine where it went. If you have a leak and an autofill it can manifest itself as an unusual drop in chemicals.
 
Rob, sonflower had it right...

sonflower said:
Step 3: Add R0871 (FAS DPD Titrating Reagent) dropwise, swirl, count, etc from pink to colorless.
Result: 2 drops to colorless

Step 4: Multiply drops in Step 3 by drop equiv. Record as PPM FC.
Result: 2 x .5 ppm = 1 FC (Right? I am feeling really stupid right now)
Click to expand...
sonflower said:
Step 6: Add R0871 (FAS DPD Titrating Reagent) dropwise, swirl, count, etc from pink to colorless.
Result: 1 drop to colorless.

Step 7: Multiply drops in Step 6 by drop equiv. Record as PPM CC.
Result: 1 x .5 ppm = .5 (right...?)
Click to expand...
sonflower said:
If by some miracle I did all this right, my TC is 1.5
Click to expand...
 
svenpup said:
Did you lose a lot of salt? If so you should try to determine where it went. If you have a leak and an autofill it can manifest itself as an unusual drop in chemicals.
Click to expand...

Thank you both for your help!

How can we tell if we have a leak? Our ground is not soggy or anything like that.

We do have a LOT of sun and evaporation going on in North Central Texas. But even so it's never dropped to 200 before.
 
sonflower said:
How can we tell if we have a leak? Our ground is not soggy or anything like that.
Click to expand...
Do you have an autofill? If so, turn it off.
To do the "bucket test" (credit to Bama):

  1. Fill a 5 gal bucket about 2/3rds full of water.[/*:m:1m04tm62]
  2. Place the bucket on the top step in your pool.[/*:m:1m04tm62]
  3. Carefully mark or measure the water level in the bucket.[/*:m:1m04tm62]
  4. Carefully mark or measure the level in your pool.[/*:m:1m04tm62]
  5. Wait about a day and measure the levels again.[/*:m:1m04tm62]
If the bucket and pool loses the same amount it's evaporation. If the pool loses more than the bucket you have a leak.



sonflower said:
We do have a LOT of sun and evaporation going on in North Central Texas. But even so it's never dropped to 200 before.
Click to expand...
Salt doesn't evaporate out. If anything evaporation would cause the salt to be more concentrated, as fill water adds more salt to what is already there.
Only water loss (backwash, splashout, leak) and replacement with lower concentration fill water will cause salt level to decrease.
 
If you suspect a leak, try the Leak Detection article in Pool School.

It's, by nature, a LOT on the basic side, but is a nice divingboard for further questions :)

You might want to test the water for salt - I have a hard time believing it could be 200 without a total draining of the pool!

Keep us posted and we'll post back :cool:
 
svenpup said:
I would go to the store and grab enough chlorine to bring your FC up to the appropriate level for your CYA. Don't wait for the SWG to get ramped up.
Click to expand...
In my attempt to solve my problem, I confess I have been overzealous.

Adding chlorine:
I added 2 of the HTH 1 lb. bags of Super Shock n Swim, which we had on hand. :?: Is that the chlorine you would have added?

Adding salt:
I read that two 40 lbs bags raise 10K gal pool 950 ppm. As our pool is 15K, I divided that amount and added it to 950 ppm to get 1425. I don't know how accurate that is.

For better or worse, we put 5 40 # bags of salt in about 1.5 hrs later. If my math is right, that would raise to about 3562 ppm, which I realize now is higher than suggested.

Salt cell cleaned:
Hubby cleaned the salt cell which he said was not dirty at all.

Leak issue:
Tomorrow we will do the bucket test for a leak.

Re-tested chlorine:
My TC is now at 5.5. (FC of 5 and CC of .5) The little booklet that came with the Taylor K2006 does not tell me the range it should be. My old test kit maxed out at 1.5. I'm pretty sure I now have way too much chlorine. :?

Re-tested CYA:
The little black dot does not disappear. That can't be good.

Another :?:
Is it even okay to add 5 bags of salt at one time? With my math I thought it would be okay but I know I was freaking out at have no chlorine and over-reacted.

Thanks to all. I really appreciate your patience. Frankly I'm overwhelmed.
 
I cannot emphasize enough the need to have your salt level tested. When it is that low, it is not a good idea to rely solely on the readout. Last year my Aqua-Rite gave me a low salt reading so I added what was required to bring it up to 3200....Guess what, bad cell/bad board and my real salt level was over 4700. I had to drain almost half my pool.....
 

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It is totally fine to add lots of salt all at once, at least if your starting salt level was low.

You need to get some CYA in the pool, ideally around 70 to 80 ppm. The SWG can't possibly produce enough chlorine to keep up when the CYA level is near zero.

The ideal FC level depends on your CYA level, see the Chlroine / CYA Chart at pool school.
 
Alas, I don't have a salt test kit. I hope that the local pool shop has them. I live in the sticks and if they don't, it's mail order.

In 5 yrs I have never addressed CYA. THANK YOU PULLIAM POOLS FOR NOT TEACHING ME THIS! If they did mention, it was always way down the list and I never got to it because I was always fixing my high TA. I was always told to fix my TA then address other out of balance chems. Well, my TA has never really gotten fixed! So the other chems never got addressed! ARG

I see now that with the help of the great folks on this site, those days are OVER! Wow I feel so empowered. Maybe we can we fix the BP oil spill next?

This morning my FC was 4.5 and CC was .5 so TC = 5. I see from the POOL SCHOOL that 5 is acceptable for SWCG.

This morning Aqua Rite displays a salt level of zero. This is after putting in 5 bags last night. No bubbles are coming from the jets so it's definitely not producing.

Next:
* find salt water test strips
* buy CYA (stabilizer) and put in pool (study Pool School to determine amount of CYA to put in)
* clean DE filter tonight when get home from work - the PSI was 30 this morning!
* re-test water sample & post results in new forum thread

Thanks again to all. You all ROCK!
 
I'm sure that I am stating the obvious, but I suspect that your SWG cell or the circuit board that controls the cell is bad. From what I have read, the typical lifespan of a SWG cell is about 5 years or so, which I think is about the age of your unit.

You might consider buying a few gallons of bleach to keep your chlorine levels up while you figure out what is going on with the SWG.

The Super Shock n Swim that you added before is cal-hypo -- it adds calcium in addition to chlorine, but not CYA.

Good luck,
Gordon
 
gordiec, we have already found one thing, CYA is near zero, that completely accounts for the lack of chlorine. While it is possible for the cell to be failing, it is relatively unlikely. Usually only one thing goes wrong at a time. We already found one thing, so there probably isn't another one as well. There can be more than one problem, it is just a lot less likely.
 
Hey everyone! I have good news and bad. The good news is I found both stabilizer and salt test strips at local pool supply shop. It only took me 5 years. Also hubby & I cleaned the 60 sf DE filter out! It actually wasn't too bad as we had done it about 1 month ago.

The bad news is:
*I've been using HTH shock n swim w/calcium for 5 yrs :hammer:
*3 parts on the DE filter need replacing
*pump is turned off during this "part-retrieval" time & it will be tomorrow night before we can get it going again
*I tested the salt and it is pretty much off the chart - it was 8.6 so YES we have salt! Aqua Check chart doesn't even go that high! I even took a picture. OK YES I am my own worst enemy! "Honey would you put another bag of salt in?" "Honey would you get my brain examined?"

Aqua Rite board / cell replacement:
In June of 2008 we replaced the "board" :
As per the technician's hand written notes:
"Board burned and no power light
Replaced main board for Aquarite & salt.
Homeowner draining.
Inside reading properly now."

The receipt shows "Board GLX-[something illegible]-RITE" $285.
So I doubt it's the board... hoping when the DE filter is back up and running, by some miracle the Aqua Rite board will be all better. I know, I know.

I hate to ask this question but I have to:
:?: Do I really gotta drain the pool to get all that salt out?

Cause if I gotta then... that comes before adding chems.
 
JasonLion and the moderators are the experts at this and will be along to guide you on if the water needs to be drained to lower the salt level. Just out of curiosity, how many ppm of salt does 8.6 on the test strip equate to? The conversion table is on the side of the bottle.
 
gordiec said:
JasonLion and the moderators are the experts at this and will be along to guide you on if the water needs to be drained to lower the salt level. Just out of curiosity, how many ppm of salt does 8.6 on the test strip equate to? The conversion table is on the side of the bottle.
Click to expand...
It stops at 8.2 :(
(which is 7530)
 
Yea, if the test strip is right your salt level is somewhere between 8,000 and 12,000, not so good. Each batch of strips is calibrated independently, and you are off the printed scale, so you can't pin it down closer than that. You are going to need to replace between 1/2 and 2/3rds of your water (or get a reverse osmosis treatment).
 
You are going to have to drain part of the pool to get the salt level down...I think the Aqua-Rite stops generating at 4500.....

I would go with dead cell at this point based on my prior personal experience....at least check it first....If that's not the culprit, it will then be the board....
 

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