Pool Is Guzzling Chlorine

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cochranjd

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Sep 20, 2018
2
Dallas, TX
Hey all -

I live in Dallas and have a pool (plaster, 15k gallons) with no real deep end - about 5.5 ft at the deepest - and gets mostly full sun.

I am having an insanely difficult time getting my chlorine usage under control -

About a month ago I had a CYA around 70 and did SLAM the pool and had an overnight test that passed, but even after that I was routinely dumping 2/3 gallon per day of 10% chlorine in. It was from home depot, but was only a few weeks old so definitely not perfect, but still seems high.

After trying for several weeks to get it under control, I decided to do another partial dump and got my CYA down to 40. Other numbers looked relatively good to me -

PH was 7.8
TA was 90
CH was 220
CYA seemed to settle around 40 (though it took a few days for me to start seeing this)

Did an overnight test yesterday to see how things looked:

I overshot my initial target of 16ppm for SLAM...

(measured w/ fas-dpd @ 10ml sample)
7/8 @ 10:30pm - 22.5ppm
7/9 @ 4:30am - 20ppm, so it appears there is something going on
7/9 @ 10:30am - 16ppm (which is SLAM level for 40 CYA if I'm reading right)
7/9 @ 12:00pm - 12ppm, so I added 96oz which is more than was called for, but I'm also trying to account for the fact that my chlorine is probably not 10% anymore
7/9 @ 3:30pm - 8ppm

That seems insane to me - the pool LOOKS fantastic. Pump (cartridge filter) was cleaned out a few weeks ago and I even replaced the cartridges because the old ones were in bad shape....

I guess I'm kind of stuck. I'm going to keep driving the SLAM, but am running out of fas-dpd material and the one I ordered won't be here for 2 weeks and our local HD keeps running out of chlorine (I have 5 gallons left right now).

Is there anything I'm missing that would cause this? I think I obviously need to finish the SLAM and probably bump my CYA, I guess I'm just struggling cause it seems like even with some organics that is a TON of chlorine to eat. I've been buying the 3 packs of 10% that are about $10 and I'd say over the last 6 weeks I've easily spent over $150 on chlorine....
 
Welcome to the forum!
To be honest, the 2/3 gallon of 10% you were using originally is not out of line. That is about 4 ppm FC per day. Pretty normal for Texas in July.
Do another OCLT but with the FC closer to 10-15 ppm. The one you did with the FC way too high for your CYA is inaccurate.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.
 
Cochran,

I live just north of you on the DNT in Frisco. I am going through 3 to 4.5 ppm of FC loss a day. I'm doing an oclt tonight to make sure I'm okay. I just got my cya down to 50 from 70 on Monday and going strictly bleach. Check Costco. They have pure bright bleach 6% for $9.99 for three gallons here in Frisco. Check your local store No fillers or scents. If you are in a pinch. Born on date is 171. This past week temps have been in the high 90's and this weekend in the 100's so I'm hoping it's just FC loss and not an unseen bloom.
 
It's Pure Bright brand. They also sell Chlorox that you mentioned. They just started selling this other generic bleach 2 weeks ago. No scents, no additives, and no splash less additives. Confirmed it with the manager. He called the regional buyer in front of me to confirm. I don't use the Clorox in my pool. I read the ABC's. Thanks for the clarification.
 
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2/3 of gallon a day in the summer time in Tx sounds about right... And if you are chlorinating with LC then 70 CYA was probably too high. Its seems around these parts of the forum, Tx folks keep their CYA around 40ppm in the heat of the summer.

BTW.. I was compelled to post something in a thread titled "...Guzzling..."
 
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