Should I be going through this much Chlorine Bleach??

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stringer77

stringer77

Well-known member
Mar 27, 2020
184
Gateway Pundit, FL
I've recently installed my first pool, a 27' x 54" round. According to the info I found on the intranet, it is 19,350 gallons so this is the amount I have entered into my poolmath app. I have had nice clear water since install, about a week and a half ago and all my equipment is in my signature. I am going through about 90oz day of either 7.5% wally world bleach, or 10% kemtech from lowes and I can't seem to get to the recommended FC level. It seems awefully excessive is this normal? Im still trying to get to the recommended 6.0 FC but it keeps dropping dramatically. I assumed I was there yesterday after getting a 4.5 reading, and adding alot more bleach than recommended but here i am the next day with a 3.5 FC. Im guessing I might need to add about 150oz/day to possibly retain the correct FC. Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong?? Thank you.

91F
FC 3.5
CC 0
PH 7.6
TA 90
CYA 50
CH 100
 
So on a different thread I just did some pool math for 20k gallonnd it was 77 ounces of 10% for 3ppm if the CYA is 30. If you were using the 7.5% it would easily be the 90+ ounces you are adding. The blazing FL summer would be adding to that of course so you very well could need to add 4ppm per day to keep up. At that point you would be back over 90oz with 10% and closer to a gallon with 7.5% so it does kinda add up.

anOvernight Chlorine Loss Test will tell you if there is anything hiding in the clear water. Might as well punch that hole through your first time belt too.

Until you know your pool intimately, I would be keeping it on the high side and letting it drift back into ‘acceptable’. (11ppm drifts down to 7 or 8, as an example) Right now it is risking starting ok and drifting into where the problems start. 6ppm is your minimum target per the updated charts. The actual ‘minimum’ should never be approached.
 
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stringer77 said:
Ok thanks alot Newdude.

I have been diluting the bleach in a 5 gallon bucket b4 throwing it in pool over the return. Is this a good practice?
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You don’t need to dilute it first, just pour a slow stream (I aim for a stream about a pencil width) in front of the return. Obviously make sure the pump is running during and at least 30 minutes afterward to mix it up.
 
I have a 18x38 AGP that is fully exposed to the sun. It was losing as much as 5 ppm of chlorine a day with CYA at 30. I went to 40 and just a couple of days ago went to 50. I hope it slows it a bit, but I think the big surface area and all shallow water just makes these pools giant chlorine consumers. I think losses of 3.5-4 ppm per day may be the best I can hope for.
 
There seems to be a lot of people using more than usual this year, while passing all the tests, myself included.
 
Chasarms said:
I wonder if the demand has plants skimping on quality?
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Oh my goodness. I’ve been trying to figure out how the last several years we gained 1.5 degrees + above average temps from the year before and it must have passed a new threshold increasing all our demands............ but its probably got a lot more to do with what you said. Lol. Nice job.
 
FC consumption has nothing to do with the quality of the bleach. If manufacturers are skimping and say producing bleach at 7% instead of 10% then your testing would reveal it. Testing won’t lie to you. If you THINK you’re adding 10% but the bleach has degraded and is now only 7% but you’re not testing to confirm the actual ppm addition, then you may THINK you’re hitting target but may actually come up short.

Sun exposure, organics (or other stuff that consume FC), water temp all contribute to actual daily FC loss. Warmer temps will tend to push FC demand up. Heavy bather load will introduce more stuff for FC to have to breakdown. Algae growth accelerates with warmer temps and even a nascent algae bloom will increase FC demand.
 
When I adopted tfp methods I tried cya 30 and that just wasn't enough. I've been doing 50 ever since. Amazing what a difference it makes. I also use a bubble cover and that helps keep uv from eating it faster.
 

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OK THANKS. well yesterday i thought i was gonna teach my pool a lesson and add an extra 100oz of bleach. Today im still at FC 3.5. My poolmath app says to add 79oz of bleach today, which i know is complete BS. I just added 324oz of bleach so i guess we'll see where im at tomorrow. Honestly if I had known I was going to go through $12 a day in bleach I wouldn't have built the pool. There should be some warning thread, or people need to chime in and let folks know you're going to go through over $4,000 a year just in bleach .... Thanks for the heads up.
 
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yea, that's clear. I expected you to say that you had a family of frogs living in the skimmer.

I don't think you need 300+ oz of bleach. If you raise it that much it is just going to burn it all off faster (waste of chlorine). Try this: Check your levels after dusk tonight and then add what poolmath suggests (if it says you are good - don't add any). If you need to add some, put it in slowly by a return and then leave the pump running for an hour. Test it again to see if you are at target with no sun. Note the amount and then check it again in the morning (before the sun gets on it if possible) and see what the difference is.

Nice liner, btw. We just replaced ours and went with almost the exact same one. Just slightly different around the water line.
 
Chasarms said:
I have a 18x38 AGP that is fully exposed to the sun. It was losing as much as 5 ppm of chlorine a day with CYA at 30. I went to 40 and just a couple of days ago went to 50. I hope it slows it a bit, but I think the big surface area and all shallow water just makes these pools giant chlorine consumers. I think losses of 3.5-4 ppm per day may be the best I can hope for.
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I’m experiencing similar issues. My pool is full sun 12 hours a day. My fiberglass pool has a larger surface area vs the floor. The built in steps, seats, and walking ledge diminishes the below surface water size. Sun just eats away at the fc when the solar cover is not on the pool.
 
stringer77 said:
Honestly if I had known I was going to go through $12 a day in bleach I wouldn't have built the pool
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What are the dates on the bottles. Could be a degraded supply and down to only a few%. It’s ‘Julian’. XXX20 or 19XXX. The Xs are the day of the year (19 or 20). Even if it’s from this year, if the pallet sat out in the sun for a while it has the same affect.
 
The higher the free chlorine levels, the more rapidly it will deplete. You can't run it up to 12-15 ppm and expect it to decline at a linear rate. That's why you have to dose it daily based on what your expected UV loss will be. Dose just enough that you'll still be at least at your minimum the next day.

That's also why I installed an injection pump! :)
 
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