Is this normal chlorine usage?

[Davegnh]

Hello all,
After a year plus from signing my contract pool is pretty much done. And only cost 2x what I thought thank you covid shortages and all the bells and whistles added after we got the quote(how can little pebbles cost an extra 8k.....). I had it filled a week and a half ago. 11000 gallon, plaster, wet edge pebble. I have been surprised at how much chlorine I have been adding to the pool. I am using 10% pool essentials brand chlorine. My cya level is at 40 and on sunny days my pool gets about 10 hours of light this time of year. I can't use my swg until day 30 since I have a plaster pool and just starting it up. I have been averaging about a half gallon per day trying to keep my level around 3-4 ppm. It's pine tree pollen season as well as many bits falling from other trees. I did an overnight chlorine drop test and I lost about one PPM and during the day I can lose three to four. I've been brushing the pool twice a day and running pump 24 hours a day per the startup instructions from the manufacturer. I was a bit concerned I had paid for pool water fill and it had 2000 ppb of phosphate and I cannot add chlorine until day 4. I did use a phosphate remover after about 7 days and level is now at 0. I just was not expecting to have to add so much chlorine is this typical for a new pool in the spring?

 

[AK-]

Hey Dave. Yeah losing 3-4ppm per day on mid to late spring is pretty normal. The chlorine loss will increase a little as the water warms and summer UV washes over your pool.

How are you testing your water?

I understand there concern with phosphates when you can add chlorine. Phosphates are algae food and the chlorine you now have should kill algae. Since dead algae doesn’t eat you don’t need to worry about phosphates any longer.

 

[Davegnh]

Taylor k-2006c test kit. I had a local pool store test my phosphate level.

 

[ajw22]

You may have gotten some algae in the water.

At this point live with it until you are past the 30 day mark. After that you can run your FC up to the SLAM FC of 16 for CYA 40 for a few days. Then do a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test and your FC loss should be 0.5,

You may then find your FC daily loss is less.

Once you transition for following TFP recommendations follow the FC/CYA Levels and keep your FC 1-2 ppm over recommended levels.

 

[yoster]

I'm in central California. High HIGH heat, 100% sun. Sadly, the TFP is *NOT* the "economical" way in my conditions. Even so, I still do it as it's best for the water and environment. With the water shortages here, I don't want to be flushing water down the drain to lower CYA increases. That said, many, MANY pool owners here do a TFP + Tablet combo approach. They use liquid chlorine but supplement with floating tablets as well. When most of your summer is weeks on end of 100-110 degree high's, you absolutely FLY through liquid chlorine. Which is what I do, but if we ever get out of this stupid drought, that might change lol.

 

[Davegnh]

I was really wondering if it was the pollen causing the issue. Basically at night you can stare up with a flashlight and just see the green falling down from the sky.

 

[ajw22]

I was really wondering if it was the pollen causing the issue.

Pollen is not algae. Pollen does not consume chlorine.

 

[wireform]

I'm in central California. High HIGH heat, 100% sun. Sadly, the TFP is *NOT* the "economical" way in my conditions. Even so, I still do it as it's best for the water and environment. With the water shortages here, I don't want to be flushing water down the drain to lower CYA increases. That said, many, MANY pool owners here do a TFP + Tablet combo approach. They use liquid chlorine but supplement with floating tablets as well. When most of your summer is weeks on end of 100-110 degree high's, you absolutely FLY through liquid chlorine. Which is what I do, but if we ever get out of this stupid drought, that might change lol.

Yoster
Being your signature isn't filled out I have no idea what equipment you have but TFP has members in your neck of the woods and worse that do decently well even in high heat. Higher CYA is beneficial to fend off UV loss and a SWCG actually requires higher amounts of CYA to be effective/efficient so I'm not sure what your point is here.

 

[yoster]

Yoster
Being your signature isn't filled out I have no idea what equipment you have but TFP has members in your neck of the woods and worse that do decently well even in high heat. Higher CYA is beneficial to fend off UV loss and a SWCG actually requires higher amounts of CYA to be effective/efficient so I'm not sure what your point is here.

Really just meant to reassure the OP that his level of chlorine usage isn't out of the ordinary, depending on climate. My reply ended up going on a tangent, which I'm quite often guilty of doing

 

[Oly]

I'm in central California. High HIGH heat, 100% sun. Sadly, the TFP is *NOT* the "economical" way in my conditions. Even so, I still do it as it's best for the water and environment. With the water shortages here, I don't want to be flushing water down the drain to lower CYA increases. That said, many, MANY pool owners here do a TFP + Tablet combo approach. They use liquid chlorine but supplement with floating tablets as well. When most of your summer is weeks on end of 100-110 degree high's, you absolutely FLY through liquid chlorine. Which is what I do, but if we ever get out of this stupid drought, that might change lol.

Many and most pool owners here have no idea how to properly sanitize a pool and instead pay for a weekly pool service that rely on powdered shock and weekly tabs. The TFP method works just fine here and yes eliminates the need to drain and refill the pool to control a runaway CYA ppm. Solid chlorine products are fine when used in moderation and with a full understanding of the effects. TFP teaches home testing Test Kits Compared, FC/CYA Levels, PoolMath and understanding exactly what you are adding to your pool water.
Now your concern about $$$ is a moving target these days as shortages loom and prices climb. I suggest you review all your options if you want to control your costs moving forward.

 

[yoster]

Many and most pool owners here have no idea how to properly sanitize a pool and instead pay for a weekly pool service that rely on powdered shock and weekly tabs. The TFP method works just fine here and yes eliminates the need to drain and refill the pool to control a runaway CYA ppm. Solid chlorine products are fine when used in moderation and with a full understanding of the effects. TFP teaches home testing Test Kits Compared, FC/CYA Levels, PoolMath and understanding exactly what you are adding to your pool water.
Now your concern about $$$ is a moving target these days as shortages loom and prices climb. I suggest you review all your options if you want to control your costs moving forward.

Totally agree, and that's really part of my point. You can play around with your strategy depending on the goal, environment, etc provided you understand how chemicals work in relation to test results.

BTW - since you're in my area, where are you sourcing your chemicals if you don't mind me asking? Just found that True Value on Shaw and Fowler has 1gallon 10% chlorine for $4.49 (which isn't anything special.. same as the cost I usually get elsewhere) - but impressively, they have 28-32% acid for $5.99/gallon. Cheapest I've seen for that strength. I'll be buying some this weekend to verify whether or not it's a price error.

[edit - just called, and sadly it was. This price still isn't bad though for 28%: Muriatic Acid, 1-Gal. | Clovis True Value]

 

[Oly]

I invested in a SWCG 18 months ago and am into my second season now producing FC at home.
Prior to this I found the best deal on 12.5% in returnable jugs at Valley Pool at Bullard and Marks. Also check the Ace Hardware at the same corner and compare their 12.5%. Prices are on the rise so expect changes into summer. For years I was using Home D. for 10% but prices now at $10 for 2gal so do your math homework.

 

[Davegnh]

After a few more pollen storms I have found that my chlorine level tends to follow the amount of pollen and other Crud falling into the pool. On very high pollen/debri days I seem to be using 6-8ppm of chlorine on low days it's 2-4 which I think depends more on the cloud coverage. I've done a couple overnight lost tests and they've all been under one. Less stuff tends to fall in the pool at night because the wind dies down. Sure fun experience learning a new pool

I can't wait until I get the chlorine generator installed in a couple days.....

Thanks

 

[mgtfp]

On very high pollen/debri days I seem to be using 6-8ppm of chlorine on low days it's 2-4 which I think depends more on the cloud coverage

I think you're right there, high pollen days often occur when there is a lot of sun. That's at least when my hay fever goes crazy...

In Australia we have a great web page that offers life UV-index tracking:

Ultraviolet radiation index

Use this chart to see how the UV index varies throughout the day at our monitoring sites.

www.arpansa.gov.au

That helped me a lot to understand my chlorine consumption and make predictions for average chlorine consumption over the seasons.

Maybe something similar exists for your region?

 

[MITBeta]

On very high pollen/debri days I seem to be using 6-8ppm of chlorine on

6-8 seems excessive in NH with a CYA of 40 and no overnight loss. What kind of trees do you have around you? We're experiencing the Maple pollen-ocalypse here and my chlorine loss hasn't been much over 2 ever, except during high bather load days. My pool is also in the sun all day.

 

[Davegnh]

I did another overnight loss test last night and it was 0 ppm. As for trees I have a mostly white pine, red oak and sugar maple in the area. I did look up the UV index and it has been very high(late may into July is typically the highest time in my area). I also checked my records and I have used 15 gallons of 10% (133ppm) bleach over 35 days which averages to 3.8ppm/day which seems on the high side. I have about a 10' sundeck that is about 6-8" deep part so maybe the larger surface area to its size also causes it to use a bit more chlorine.? I am slowly raising the CYA to a target of 70-80 for once I get the SWG installed so that should only help with the loss.

 

[IceShadow]

If your pool is clear and the OCLT is passed, no CCs, then you have no algae indicators at all and increasing your CYA (and FC to boot) may help with that loss as you mentioned.

I think the 6-8" deep part likely does cause more loss to UV. I'm not a scientist or expert on this but it would make sense that deeper water gets protected from UV light better than shallow.

 

[Davegnh]

I lost about 6ppm today I also had some CC less than 0.5ppm this is first time head CC since I had pool pool filled (there was some from the tanker water). Today it rained in the morning and sunny in the afternoon so what have expected less loss. I am doing another overnight loss test. Maybe I have a very small infection?

 

[MITBeta]

Are you sure about your CYA?

 

[Davegnh]

Yes and it's now around 50 I've added 4.5ish lbs of dry stabilizer. So both my measurement and the math is about the same.