I’ve been fairly successful maintaining our new pool but as the weather has got hotter, kids using it nearly every day and more periods of rain, I have found it more difficult to maintain free chlorine levels. I’ve been using 3” chlorine tablets in a floater and shocking weekly with hypo-calcium chloride. PH, Alkalinity, and CYA are in good ranges and have not been difficult to keep balanced. Should I ditch the floater, it seems like it’s doing me no good? What is the best method for maintaining chlorine levels. Thanks for the advice.
First year pool owner
- Thread starter Kendall.Nash
- Start date
Okay, as I’m reading more on this site I am seeing that liquid chlorine seems to be the recommended method. That brings up more questions for me. Where do you all purchase it, how do you store a large amount bleach and are you putting a gallon or more in the pool every day? It all seems very expensive and inconvenient unless I am missing something. Any advice, recommendations or tips would be appreciated.
Katodude
Silver Supporter
- Aug 22, 2017
- 2,996
- Pool Size
- 15000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
First things First, Welcome!!
Now, on to business. If you dont have one get a Test Kit. The TF-100 Pro is what is the best value. Fill in your signature, it will help us understand what you have.
Actually the preferred method of chlorination is a Salt Water Chlorine Generator (SWCG or SWG). It is the easiest and most cost effective method.
Now, on to business. If you dont have one get a Test Kit. The TF-100 Pro is what is the best value. Fill in your signature, it will help us understand what you have.
Actually the preferred method of chlorination is a Salt Water Chlorine Generator (SWCG or SWG). It is the easiest and most cost effective method.
Thank you for your response and welcome. I have ordered the TF100, I believe it will be here tomorrow. I will fill in my signature once I get it. In the mean time I have just been maintaining chlorine levels with the cal-hypo I already have and was previously using to shock my pool with weekly. I did get some liquid chlorine from Walmart for a little more than $5.00 per gallon at 10%. I’m just a little concerned about how practical it is for me to use this method, especially if I’m going to be using a gallon a day. The cost, constant purchasing and storage seems difficult so I’m hoping some people here who have been doing it a while can give me some advice. Also I noticed on pool math, it says my target free chlorine range is 3-7 but everything I read online says 7 is too high and not safe to swim in. I hope someone can give me some clarification on that as well. Thanks again.
As for the salt chlorinator, I agree. I purchased one years ago for an above ground pool I had and we loved it. It is something I am hoping to be able to invest in sometime in the future for my current inground pool, it’s just not an option right now.
Your test kit will allow you to calculate your CYA that is now in the pool. Remember to round up. That reading determines the maximum FC that you should use. In the meantime you can add 5 ppm of liquid chlorine each day until you can properly test the water. The PoolMath app will help you figure out how much LC will get you 5 ppm.
- Jun 24, 2021
- 15,929
- Pool Size
- 29000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-60 Plus
You are stuck between a rock and an economic hard place. You either let it be a swamp, or you keep it clean. Either you invest in the cell or pay the higher price and burden of liquid chlorine.
Typical pool usage over the year is Maaaybe 2FC per day. 365 x 2 FC = 730FC per year.
A gallon of $6 WM chlorine adds 9FC to your pool is $.66 per FC. 730 x .66 = $480 / year.
An Circupool Edge 25 is $1000. It makes 1.2lb/day of chlorine. Running for an hour at 100%, will make about .5FC in your pool. It is rated for 10,000 hours. 10,000 x .5FC = 5,000FC. $1000/5000FC = $.20 / FC.
Whatever you do, to maintain the pool, you need to maintain FC.
You can look at it as, you are paying $480/year with LC. The Salt cell will pay for itself it 2 years.
Or, you can look at it as the salt cell will reduce your cost / FC from $.66 to $.20.
Thanks, that was very helpful information and makes sense. Hopefully I’ll be able to invest in a salt cell before next summer.
I got my tf-100 in today and tested my water for the first time myself. The results were:
FC 7
CC 0.5
TA 120
PH 7.5
CYA 40
Pool looks good, I did get some liquid chlorine but I still have probably a half a box of Cal-Hypo. Is there any issue with me using up the Cal-Hypo to before I start using the liquid chlorine? I also have a dozen or so pucks left which I thought about using up as well until I get my CYA to 45-50 range.
I also realized I did not understand what you were talking about when you suggested filling out my signature. I think I figured it out so hopefully it shows up when I post this reply. Thanks again for all the help.
- Jun 24, 2021
- 15,929
- Pool Size
- 29000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-60 Plus
Did you test for calcium hardness? You didn't post that value. Cal-Hypo adds calcium to your water. So, it's ok to use your leftover Cal-Hypo IF you know your current CH level, and IF the additional calcium you'll add keeps you within the limits. Same idea with the trichlor pucks and CYA.
I did not, I was under the impression that calcium didn’t really matter since I have a vinyl pool liner. Maybe I got some bad information. I will definitely test it though. Thanks.
- Jun 24, 2021
- 15,929
- Pool Size
- 29000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-60 Plus
It is not required for a vinyl pool...might if you have a heater. However, if CH gets too high it can scale on the liner. You can overuse Cal-Hypo.
I went ahead and tested it tonight and it was somewhere between 140-180 (I had a hard time telling if the color was still changing slightly or not). Definitely not high though. I don’t have a lot of CalHypo left to use so I think I’ll be okay but I’ll keep an eye on it, thanks for the heads up.
