Is it okay to put chlorine tablet in skimmer basket?

[chauke]

I was wondering if it is okay to put the chlorine tablet in the skimmer? When I brought my pool water sample to a local pool supply store to see if it matched what I was seeing with my test strips I discovered my chlorine level was very low. I was going by the "total chlorine" measurement of my test strips (trying to get the ideal of 3 ppm) and wasn't worried about the free chlorine (which was very low). The pool story measurements for free and total chlorine tracked each other and were below 1 ppm. The strange thing is that my test strips didn't track. The free chlorine was way low (less than 1) but the total chlorine showed okay (around 3 ppm). I have another test kit that you put drops in that measures both ph and chlorine (doesn't say if free or total) and when I used this, it confirmed that the chlorine it measures is "free chlorine" because it matched my test strip for free chlorine (less than 1). Now I know to use the "free chlorine" measurement for FC if I use test strips or use my other test kit (or both). The Cyanuric Acid/Stabilizer was also lolw which kind of correlates to the low Chlorine and that also matched my test strip measurements.

Anyway, this finally brings to me to my question. The pool store recommended putting the tablet (one 3 inch) directly in the skimmer basket instead of the floater that I had it in originally. They also thought that this may brin gup the stabilizer level since most tablets contain stabilizer. When I looked on line about this, there were multiple posts that said to never do this. One actually said that it said on the tablet directions and it said not to do it. I just read the instructions for my chlorine tablets and it actually says that putting in skimmer is one of the approved dispensing methods. I guess it depends on the tablets you use. Right now I have it in the skimmer and the free chlorine is finally coming up and is around 1 ppm now. The strange thing is that now the total chlorine measurement on the test strip dropped so it looks like free and total are starting to track each other. I might do a shock tonight and see if I can bring up the chlorine level faster. Everything else except stabilizer level looks okay (pH 7.7, total alkalinity 102).

My pool is an 18 foot round Intex above ground pool.

 

[Mdragger88]

Don’t put chlorine tablets (or really anything else) in your skimmer they are acidic & it’s bad for your equipment.
For a quick chlorine boost use liquid chlorine.
You need an adequate kit so you can test all your parameters accurately & often.
The Taylor k2006c or tf100/pro are the only ones we recommend as they contain all the necessary tests to care for your pool. The strips are no better than guessing. The pool store tests aren’t much better.
If your kit is the yellow oto drops that is only for total chlorine- it doesn’t differentiate between free chlorine (good stuff) & combined chlorine (bad stuff).
It also likely only measures to 3 or 5ppm.
This is insufficient for most pools with any cya in them as target fc range is generally higher than that.
FC/CYA Levels

Until you have an adequate test kit you can add 5ppm worth of liquid chlorine each day. Use
PoolMath to calculate amounts.

You are correct that tabs add cya as well. They are also acidic as I mentioned above.
Their use for daily chlorination is really not recommended. Save them for when you must be away.
Instead you can use granular stabilizer (via the sock method) to increase cya (if you need it based on accurate testing)
& liquid chlorine to chlorinate daily. This is much easier to deal with separately as the tabs do multiple things at once (which sounds good but gets complicated fast).
Have a read through the
Pool Care Basics to get a better understanding of how/why for the tfp recommendations.

 

[BowserB]

What Mdragger99 said ^^^ Hers' is not just one person's opinion. It's TFP fact. I might also say re adding liquid chlorine to bring up FC quickly, don't pour that into the skimmer either. Rather walk around the pool pouring small amounts. I use a salt water chlorine generator, however, sometimes if I want to bring up FC a bit without running the SWCG at 100%, and I want CYA up a bit too, I'll put some tabs in a floater in the spa (which spills over into the pool.) My standard "oh bleep, how did the chlorine get so low" action, though is still liquid chlorine.

 

[generessler]

My personal take is skimmers are designed to skim, not add chemicals. So don't use them for that.

From the skimmer, water is drawn through underground pipes where a leak would be a nightmare directly into your expensive pump, then with pressure through every other expensive bit of equipment. In that loop, any chemical you put in the skimmer will be at high concentration compared to what's intended for the pool. Like thousands of times.

This may well be harmless. But it could also be sketchy - like the acid in trichlor tabs. Why take the chance? Yeah I know a sock in the skimmer is a common way to add CYA. I say again, why take the chance?

When tabs are appropriate - and the situations are limited - a $10 floater works great.

Your other friend is the return jets. If the pump is running at a pretty good rate, anything you add - liquid chlorine, muriatic acid, etc. - above a return jet gets "blown" across a big area underwater. For CYA you can dangle a sock in front of a jet with a bit of cord. For my pool it's simplest to boost CYA entirely with trichlor tabs and a floater as needed. When the the floater is in, I can turn the swg way down, and pH stays in the 7's with no muriatic acid at all. It's nice.

 

[poolnovice1]

I don't put any chemicals in my skimmer. Otherwise the levels that go through your equipment will be too concentrated. When I had a pool guy he was doing that regularly. I don't know if it had anything to do with it but nearly all of my equipment failed during the time he was "taking care" of my pool.