Mask necessary when adding chlorine or shock?

[Dirk]

So for once, I can offer some help back to this board. I am a certified Industrial Hygienist. I hope this helps.

McK, thank you so much for this great info. Personally, while I do fudge my own MO at times, I'm a firm believer in being extra careful, especially with the acid. I've already burned my pebble and my deck. I figure it's just a matter of time before it'll be me. I'm only getting older, and fatter and slower! Some of the damage you can do to yourself cannot be "taken back." It's one thing to cut yourself while mis-handling a kitchen knife, it's something else to burn the soft tissue of your eye with even one errant drop of muriatic acid. I think some here don't realize that getting a little on your hands with no ill effects is not the criteria to use to determine how dangerous this stuff actually is. Maybe that's just me?

I also wonder if exposure to these chemicals is cumulative. I didn't damage my hearing in one go. It was decades of small bits of abuse that has done me in. A few years in front of the guitar amp. How many concerts? Power tools? Etc. I think they all added up. Do tiny whiffs of MA add up?

This is what I purchased for adding MA to my acid dispensing system's storage tank. I'm outside, but it's kinda nestled in a corner of the yard, which inhibits the wind a bit, and I have to stand over it for a minute or so at a time:

Amazon.com: 3M Safety 142-5303 Safety Half Facepiece Disposable Respirator Assembly, Organic Vapor/Acid Gas, Large: Industrial Scientific

And this is what I wear for my eyes:

https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DPG82...3141101&sr=8-1&keywords=dewalt+eye+protection

My gloves are something generic. "Heavy duty" household cleaning gloves would best describe them, I don't think they have any sort of industrial designation.

Even with all that on, I still get a bit of a twinge of MA in my nose when I'm standing over a jug emptying into the hopper.

I'd love to hear your critique, which might help answer the concerns of the OP...

 

[Wulfdan]

I just added 3 cups of 20 baume to the pool and I can tell ya, a whiff of the fumes will make you turn your face away for sure.

mine must be fresh because after I poured two cups into my glass measuring cup, I noticed what looked like steam coming out of the jug! Humidity reacting with the acid I think.

nasty stuff, can’t be too careful.

 

[Dirk]

Yes, I first noticed the "smoke" on a cold morning, as I was carrying the MA across my deck in a measuring cup (before I was "hip" to how to handle this stuff). I've learned since then how better to avoid the fumes, and NOT to carry a measuring cup of it across a deck. Pictures of stains on deck available on request!

- - - Updated - - -

By the way, no glass at the pool! A plastic measuring cup is fine for MA, especially for such a short period of time. Just rinse it out in the pool afterwards.

- - - Updated - - -

For any that have yet to be subjected to hearing about it, I explored the issues of dealing with chlorine and MA at great length, supported by the incredible patience of other TFPers who were following along at the time. I hypothesized and tried all kinds of ideas about it, and finally settled on a solution that worked for me. It's all here in my thread, which also covers all sorts of other crazy adventures:

Getting ready for SWG - Page 2

The MA stuff starts about post #66 and goes on for quite a bit, but also somewhat applies to chlorine...

Ironically, that solution was short-lived. All that previous effort, trouble, and worry got supplanted by the installation of an SWG and an IntellipH.

 

[TamithaSue50]

I didn't notice the "smoke" from the bottle of MA until the 2nd bottle I got and started using...it was nasty smelling too. Must have been a new/stronger bottle than the first one that I had used. I have a little plastic bowl (that equals a cup) that I use to poor my bleach and MA in with and I poor them both into the where the water returns into the pool. Is that the correct way to do it or should I be pouring it in another location in the pool? For the most part pouring it in there I just turn my head away from the fumes and the I pour it VERY slowly so that it doesn't splash......

 

[Dirk]

I didn't notice the "smoke" from the bottle of MA until the 2nd bottle I got and started using...it was nasty smelling too. Must have been a new/stronger bottle than the first one that I had used. I have a little plastic bowl (that equals a cup) that I use to poor my bleach and MA in with and I poor them both into the where the water returns into the pool. Is that the correct way to do it or should I be pouring it in another location in the pool? For the most part pouring it in there I just turn my head away from the fumes and the I pour it VERY slowly so that it doesn't splash......

You can add them in the same place, but a few minutes apart. 15 minutes seems to be the consensus to be very safe, others will say that is overkill, especially if you're using the current of the return to disperse. Mixing the two together creates an extremely dangerous gas, so you do have to be careful. They shouldn't be stored together. And you should rinse your bowl thoroughly between chemicals, or use dedicated containers for each, if you want to be ultra careful.

The real problem is: you can develop safe practices, and experience no problems. But what if you get distracted? And slip up? So that's what extra safe practices are for. I caught myself adding acid to the pool, in front of the return as I was taught, but without the pump running! Must have been daydreaming. If I had skimped on the 15 minute rule, and added chlorine directly afterwards, I might have had a problem. You decide for yourself what works for you, just keep in mind you can't always trust even yourself to do it right every time!!

But I'm old, so there's that!!

 

[TamithaSue50]

You can add them in the same place, but a few minutes apart. 15 minutes seems to be the consensus to be very safe, others will say that is likely overkill, especially if you're using the current of the return to disperse. Mixing the two together creates an extremely dangerous gas, so you do have to be careful. They shouldn't be stored together. And you should rinse your bowl thoroughly between chemicals.

I never add them at the same time because I had heard that could be dangerous......I don't like danger....hahaha As for storing them together I have a porch near the pool where I store all pool related stuff so they are semi close, probably about a foot away from each other. Is that too close? And I do rinse the bowl out after every pour LOL

 

[Dirk]

I would say that's too close. If you follow the link above, and check out what I did about storing and pouring chems, you'll see what I use. Mine are stored three feet apart, but in separate, closed deck boxes with plenty of circulation around them. Even that is pushing it. Besides, chlorine isn't really supposed to live outside. I only store chlorine in my chlorine box in the winter, when my SWG isn't working. Otherwise, it's acid outside and chlorine in the garage. Acid should not be stored indoors, or anywhere near anything metal. The acid jugs vent and fumes will corrode anything metal in short order.

PS. I edited my previous post with a paragraph I think is worth a read.

 

[TamithaSue50]

I would say that's too close. If you follow the link above, and check out what I did about storing and pouring chems, you'll see what I use. Mine are stored three feet apart, but in separate, closed deck boxes with plenty of circulation around them. Even that is pushing it. Besides, chlorine isn't really supposed to live outside. I only store chlorine in my chlorine box in the winter, when my SWG isn't working. Otherwise, it's acid outside and chlorine in the garage. Acid should not be stored indoors, or anywhere near anything metal. The acid jugs vent and fumes will corrode anything metal in short order.

PS. I edited my previous post with a paragraph I think is worth a read.

Wow I didn't know chlorine shouldn't be stored outside......I just had them where they're at for convenience because to have the bleach inside means I have to carry it up and down a hill whenever I need to use it which is usually every other day and as you said I'm old too so there's that!!!! And I agree about not being able to trust yourself to do it right EVERY time........I know I'm not perfect that's for sure LOL

 

[Dirk]

Sunlight and heat degrade chlorine, so it'll lose its "strength" faster if stored outside. If your storage is located in the shade, or in a box, that'll help with the light, but not the heat. 6% "bleach" holds up better than the 10% or 12.5% liquid chlorine you find at pool stores or big box stores. But then you have to use/carry more.

More "pluses" for SWG. You don't carry or store or pour anything, and it's "made fresh daily." So there's no expiration to think about. They don't work if your pool water gets too cold, though, so I have to go back to using it in the winter, and like you I store mine outside for convenience, and live with the strength issue, which I figure is not much in the winter.

Even SWG users have to keep some LC on hand, though, year round. We goose our FC with LC before and after heavy use, like a pool party, because an SWG can't always keep up with that sort of bather load demand.

Slightly straying from the OP's original question, except one way to deal with adding chemicals is to use gizmos that do it for you.