Pool service company disaster. What should I do?

[beachhouse]

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If you do a search on Bio-Active, we do have a couple of threads about it. One person lowered their CYA some, but not enough, and for another person it did not work at all. I know you know it won't work, just letting you know what info we have on it. You may want to stock up on liquid chlorine to slam the pool once you take over.

Yes @zea3 , at this point I am just letting them fail.

They mentioned that if they can't bring down the CYA with the Bio-Active product, they will have to drain and refill the pool. Either the service company or the landlord will have to pay for it.
They claim another one of their clients had the same problem with CYA, and the Bio-Active fixed it (I doubt).

As soon as the chemistry is in decent condition, I plan to take over the maintenance and switch to liquid chlorine.

 

[Lineman7]

How do these people stay in business..??? just baffling.

 

[wireform]

How do these people stay in business..??? just baffling.

Well, when the OP doesn't know or understand much pool wise then you sell em down the river.

 

[sbcpool]

07/28: the FC dropped to 5ppm.
They threw another bottle of Chlorine neutralizer (Thio Trine) into the water.

I wonder if they know hydrogen peroxide will do the same thing for about 1/20th the cost?

 

[JimMarshall]

Yes @zea3 , at this point I am just letting them fail.

They mentioned that if they can't bring down the CYA with the Bio-Active product, they will have to drain and refill the pool. Either the service company or the landlord will have to pay for it.
They claim another one of their clients had the same problem with CYA, and the Bio-Active fixed it (I doubt).

As soon as the chemistry is in decent condition, I plan to take over the maintenance and switch to liquid chlorine.

More likely their guess strips guessed low after they used it.

I wonder if they know hydrogen peroxide will do the same thing for about 1/20th the cost?

Or that sunlight will do it for free?

 

[beachhouse]

07/30 update:

The pool service company added:
- 2 bags of Bio-Active CYA remover
- Cal-Hypo tablets to bring the FC back to 3ppm (it was almost at zero).

The pool water still looks clean.
CYA is still at 300 - I don't have big hopes, but I'll keep monitoring it

 

[jimim]

Can we get a picture of thier fail face while holding a bottle of that magic snake oil?

 

[Mopar4u]

This is juicy, im subscribing to this thread

 

[sbcpool]

Or that sunlight will do it for free?

Of course, but it's not instantaneous. The other benefit of peroxide is no byproducts of the reaction other than salt, which the chlorine would become soon enough anyway.

As a side note I always loose CYA over the winter. Most winters I never even bothered to chlorinate after the water went below 60 degrees, but this year I kept adding 32 oz every day. That kept the FC around 1.0 - 2.0. Not much, but no algae is growing at those temps and no one's swimming. I still went from ~40 CYA to <10 over the off season. I used to think it was bacteria during the time the pool wasn't chlorinated, but now I'm not so sure. It might be that the pH was high for a long time, which could also degrade it.

 

[beachhouse]

Quick update (08/02):
- FC is still at 3ppm
- CYA is still at 300
- Water looks clean

I guess nobody in this forum is surprised that the CYA did not go down.
The pool service company said we need to wait, as it might take up to a week for the Bio-Active CYA remover to be effective.

 

[ajw22]

The pool service company said we need to wait, as it might take up to a week for the Bio-Active CYA remover to be effective.

Wait long enough and it will be time to close the pool and the Pool Service will be rid of your problem.

 

[PoolGate]

Did you ever try with a 4 to 1 dilution ratio?

 

[beachhouse]

Did you ever try with a 4 to 1 dilution ratio?

I did not, but I'll definitely try on Friday, together with the pool service company.
They measure the CYA using strips. I'll do the same measurement using the Taylor K2006 with 4:1 and 3:1 dilution

 

[PoolGate]

I did not, but I'll definitely try on Friday, together with the pool service company.
They measure the CYA using strips. I'll do the same measurement using the Taylor K2006 with 4:1 and 3:1 dilution

If you are getting 300 for CYA with 3:1 you definitely need to do a 4 to 1 dilution. It is very possible it is higher than 300.

 

[ajw22]

If you are getting 300 for CYA with 3:1 you definitely need to do a 4 to 1 dilution. It is very possible it is higher than 300.

Does it really make a difference? At that dilution the test error is large. Knowing it is 300+ is good enough to know the pool needs a 90+% drain.

 

[sbcpool]

If you have access to a kitchen scale with gram units, the dilution can be pretty accurate.

With the TFT kit you would only need 16 mL (8 mL water and 8 mL reagent) of total solution to read as low as 40 ppm on the indicator, so with a 4:1 dilution you could do 2 grams pool water, 6 grams distilled water and 8mL reagent.

 

[Newdude]

They measure the CYA using strips

0, 20-50, 100, 200-500 on the strips really don’t tell us anything. In this instance, it’s so high that it needs a full drain, regardless of how inaccurate they are.

 

[DorsalSpine]

Given that it's a subjective test to start with and the error inherent with a high dilution test it's a moot point. You are looking at close to a 100% water change.

 

[Sunnydaze]

If you have access to a kitchen scale with gram units, the dilution can be pretty accurate.

With the TFT kit you would only need 16 mL (8 mL water and 8 mL reagent) of total solution to read as low as 40 ppm on the indicator, so with a 4:1 dilution you could do 2 grams pool water, 6 grams distilled water and 8 mL reagent.

Seems to me it'd be easier and more accurate to mix larger measured quantities together then use 8ml of that water as the test sample. But at 300+ I don't think it really matters anymore.

 

[JimMarshall]

Of course, but it's not instantaneous. The other benefit of peroxide is no byproducts of the reaction other than salt, which the chlorine would become soon enough anyway.

As a side note I always loose CYA over the winter. Most winters I never even bothered to chlorinate after the water went below 60 degrees, but this year I kept adding 32 oz every day. That kept the FC around 1.0 - 2.0. Not much, but no algae is growing at those temps and no one's swimming. I still went from ~40 CYA to <10 over the off season. I used to think it was bacteria during the time the pool wasn't chlorinated, but now I'm not so sure. It might be that the pH was high for a long time, which could also degrade it.

CYA DOES dergrade on it's own over time, the speed of which is dependent on several factors.