Pool service company disaster. What should I do?

[PoolGate]

CYA 30-40 is fine in his environment. Keep the dot so it disappears between 30 and 40.

The season is ending within a few weeks and days are getting shorter.

My pool uses a LOT more chlorine when it drops below 50. But this late in the season it can wait. He'll burn a lot of chlorine though at that level.

 

[beachhouse]

Perform an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test tonight to rule out algae. The CYA test is so subjective that you could be a 20 and just burning off your FC in the sun. So. We rule out algae so you don’t get behind the 8ball there and buy us some time to fix the CYA if not.

This is the result of the overnight test:
- FC at 9.30pm: 4
- FC at 7.30am: 3.5

Based on the result, I believe the problem was that the CYA was way too low.
I added some liquid CYA yesterday, and today I am at 30. Today I'll add a bit more to go between 30 and 40.

 

[red-beard]

I run a CYA around 70 and still burn about 2 ppm FC a day.

 

[Newdude]

Based on the result, I believe the problem was that the CYA was way too low

See what you did there ? You suspected a problem and ruled it out before it bit you. Now you have as much time as you need to adjust the CYA because you know that it’s NOT an algae issue. Watch the FC closely every few hours in the meantime. It may go *poof* quickly and leave you near minimum.

 

[red-beard]

Down here in Texas, many people run much higher than 30 CYA with conventional pools. Try 40 CYA. But expect you may need 50. Just remember that as you raise CYA your target FC rises. With my SWG, I run 70 CYA with a FC ~10 ppm.

 

[beachhouse]

With the CYA at 30, my pool requires ~1.5 gallons of liquid chlorine a day, i.e. ~10.5 gallons a week.

I ordered another gallon of liquid CYA to bring CYA to 40, and hopefully slow down a bit the chlorine consumption.

 

[ajw22]

Post a pic of the label of the LC you are using.

 

[beachhouse]

Post a pic of the label of the LC you are using.

 

[ajw22]

Is there a date code printed on the jog?

Chlorine Date Code Decoder - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[beachhouse]

Is there a date code printed on the jog?

Chlorine Date Code Decoder - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

There is not.

I guess the bottles are sent to the store in boxes and the production date was printed on the box

 

[ajw22]

There is not.

I guess the bottles are sent to the store in boxes and the production date was printed on the box

We don't know the production date of the chlorine and for how long it has been degrading. I suspect it is more like 6% - 8% chlorine.

Breakdown of Bleach Over Time by Storage Temp - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Auctor]

Something doesn't feel right. I own a ~17-20k gallon pool in NJ. At a CYA of 30, I burn at most 2-2.5ppm per day in the hottest part of the Summer. That equates to 2.5 gallons per week of 10%. Since you have a 30k pool, you'd need 4 gallons per week. Admittedly, its a low use pool (2 people, 30 minutes, 3-4x per week).

Are you sure the pool is 30k? That could explain why your CYA was low. Separately, I would do a test of your Chlorine. Test right before you add, add and wait 30 minutes, test again and confirm that the gallon actually added the right ppm based on PoolMath. This will help you triangulate whether the pool volume is wrong, or the chlorine is old.

PS - I've had multiple pool guys estimate my volume, and the range was 15k-30k. Short conclusion: Most of these guys have no idea what they're talking about.

 

[red-beard]

One point, for the chemicals test pool estimate, do the addition in the evening.

 

[beachhouse]

09/14 Final Update.

Long overdue thank you message.
My water is perfectly balanced now, and I fired the pool service company five weeks ago.
When I joined this forum, I knew nothing about pools. Now, I feel confident in balancing the water and taking care of the regular maintenance.

Huge thanks to @ajw22 @zea3 @PoolGate @JimMarshall @sbcpool @Newdude @jimim @V___25 @ParB @wireform @mknauss, and all the people in this forum who helped me along the way.
I could not have done this without you!