Good use for old trichlor tablets

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J

JMarch

0
Jan 25, 2010
66
We got a new liner this year (so brand new poolful of virgin water) and we had a LOT of trichlor tablets (yah- the old hockey pucks we all hate). Anyway, instead of adding a lot of stabalizer and then using bleach and wasting the trichlor, we just kept using trichlor until the CYA came up to 50 and adjusting the pH along the way with Borax (saves the whole borax-acid-borax-acid game). It took a while, but now our CYA is at 50 and we're using good ole bleach now. So what to do with those trichlor tabs- TOILET BOWL CLEANER! Dropped one in each toilet tank and it's GREAT! :party:

Seems to do the job well and when you flush, you can smell the bleach in it. I guess with the CYA in it, it may help with those iron/scale/hard water marks over time. I guess time will tell if it's etching out too much. Any thoughts out there?? :?:
 
Toilet bowl cleaners are usually bromine. Chlorine + urine = chloramines and associated odor.

There may be some incompatibilities with other cleaners you may use to clean the toilet.

The dissolution rate may not be the same as products specifically designed for this purpose so you may wind up with excessive chlorine in the toilet. You should never urinate on trichlor pucks.

Also, trichlor is highly acidic.

Would you recommend people use Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner (as opposed to bromine tablets) in their spa? I didn't think so. Same arguments apply.

Save them for when you go on vacation. Or give 'em to a neighbour.
 
We have the same scenario as you JMarch - new liner, new water. We started with a 25 lb bucket of trichlor tablets - we used them initially to get the CYA up to about 40 and the pH down to 7.5 - it's working well - we've had the new liner for almost 2 months and still have about 1/3 the tabs left.

My wife bought some bathroom toilet tablets and they smell of chlorine, so some brands must use chlorine in them - but these are for the freshwater tank, of course. (If you use chlorine tabs in your toilet NEVER, NEVER use ammonia cleaning agents with it - VERY DANGEROUS - hence, the recommendation not to urinate on the tabs :shock: :)

At any rate, as others have recommended, we keep the trichlor tabs for when we aren't around to put in the daily dose of liquid chlorine. Also, after several weeks of some leakage and/or backwashing, and replacing with fresh water, we replenish the CYA with tablets also.

It's looking like a 25 lb bucket of tri-chlor tablets per year (5-month pool season) will work for us.
 
good point, zea3 - they probably will do a number on the plastic and rubber parts. Also, when they shrink to a certain size, they get drawn under the flap valve which results in major water loss if nobody notices for awhile :x

As poolgirl22 says, "Chuck the Pucks" - but not in your toilet. :)
 
Changing directions a little, my wife just told me here FIVE brothers would take the pucks out of the skimmer basket and rub them in their hair to see who could get to be the blondest! :shock: :shock: :shock:

(All five have since grown up to be very successful......hmmm, I wonder if it makes you smarter???)
 

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Keep them in case after winter your CYA is low.

Using trichlor pucks is a luxury I can only afford occasionally. I am guilty of maintaining CYA at the low end of 20-30 through spring so that for our spring vacation I can fill the auto-chlorinator full of pucks and not worry too much about it.
 
I remember my step father did this many moons ago. It did reek havoc on all of the plastic and rubber components of the toilet. Especially the flapper. You'll be replacing that fairly quickly if you keet the tabs in there..
 
If you are lucky that is all you will replace.

I had a plumber that told me to drop a little muriatic acid in the reservoir of the toilet to help keep calcium deposits away. In a short while, the toilet broke so that it sprayed up to the lid and shot out the edge of the lid -- overnight. We woke to find the water had seeped through the wall into my carpeted bathroom and closet. All the shoes and boxes in my closet were soaked. New carpet pad, new carpet, lost some shoes too. Big insurance deductible so it was a losing situation for me.
 
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