Start up chlorine too high, help!

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saralines

Bronze Supporter
Aug 3, 2020
78
Los Angeles
So my pool has been filled for 2 1/2 weeks (after a 5 month build - will post about it soon) and we have yet to swim. They neutralized the acid Tuesday, and came back Wednesday afternoon and manually added more Sodium Bicarbonate and chemicals and turned on the pump, and said once it clears we could go in. It cleared Friday afternoon but we were busy with kid activities, so on Saturday morning, when we were all ready to go in, I tested with the basic Taylor kit from the TF-100 kit. The chlorine was orange! (The PH was good.) So I called the pool start-up guy and he came, tested, and added something to bring down the chlorine. He said he'd test it again in an hour but it should be good by then. I couldn't find him in an hour and didn't respond to tests, so I tested it again myself and it was deep yellow, but darker/more saturated than any of the shades on the test kit. So I figured I'd let whatever he added continue to circulate and work on the pool and maybe the sun would help as well. This morning I tested again and it is still deep yellow. So I used the more specific Chlorine and CYA tests and got this:

FC = 6ppm
CC = 2 - 2.5 ppm,
TC = 8 - 8.5 ppm?
CYA = 45, maybe 48
Pool is approximately 16,000gallons, maybe less. Eventually SWG, but not during startup - this is all manually done by crew.

Question is - is this unsafe for swimming? My kids are asking me every 5 minutes when it will be ready. It is 85 degrees out today and is dropping to mid-70s tomorrow and then low 60s for rest of the week, so if we miss today too, I will be sad. If not, what would you recommend I do myself to bring down the chlorine just a bit to a safe level? There is a small pool supply store in town that may have whatever I need...
 
Have you seen the FC/CYA chart? For a CYA of 50 (there are no halfways...if its over 40 its 50) 6-8ppm of FC is *ideal*. This lets the sun burn off its daily "sun tax" and yet still allow you to have a safe amount of chlorine in the water.
FC/CYA Levels

Which test kit are you using?

Maddie :flower:
 
YippeeSkippy said:
Have you seen the FC/CYA chart? For a CYA of 50 (there are no halfways...if its over 40 its 50) 6-8ppm of FC is *ideal*. This lets the sun burn off its daily "sun tax" and yet still allow you to have a safe amount of chlorine in the water.
FC/CYA Levels

Which test kit are you using?

Maddie :flower:
Click to expand...
And I am going to go on your input and jump in :). I can't wait any longer.
 
That level of CC is from something added to the water. You need to know exactly what they are adding to the pool water.
 
saralines said:
So my pool has been filled for 2 1/2 weeks (after a 5 month build - will post about it soon) and we have yet to swim. They neutralized the acid Tuesday, and came back Wednesday afternoon and manually added more Sodium Bicarbonate and chemicals and turned on the pump, and said once it clears we could go in. It cleared Friday afternoon but we were busy with kid activities, so on Saturday morning, when we were all ready to go in, I tested with the basic Taylor kit from the TF-100 kit. The chlorine was orange! (The PH was good.) So I called the pool start-up guy and he came, tested, and added something to bring down the chlorine. He said he'd test it again in an hour but it should be good by then. I couldn't find him in an hour and didn't respond to tests, so I tested it again myself and it was deep yellow, but darker/more saturated than any of the shades on the test kit. So I figured I'd let whatever he added continue to circulate and work on the pool and maybe the sun would help as well. This morning I tested again and it is still deep yellow. So I used the more specific Chlorine and CYA tests and got this:

FC = 6ppm
CC = 2 - 2.5 ppm,
TC = 8 - 8.5 ppm?
CYA = 45, maybe 48
Pool is approximately 16,000gallons, maybe less. Eventually SWG, but not during startup - this is all manually done by crew.

Question is - is this unsafe for swimming? My kids are asking me every 5 minutes when it will be ready. It is 85 degrees out today and is dropping to mid-70s tomorrow and then low 60s for rest of the week, so if we miss today too, I will be sad. If not, what would you recommend I do myself to bring down the chlorine just a bit to a safe level? There is a small pool supply store in town that may have whatever I need...
Click to expand...
One helpful advice would be to use the powder and drop test for chlorine (the pink test) and not the yellow OTO test which doesn’t accurately measure above ~5ppm.
 
I did, that was how I was able to come up with the CC and FC. But thanks :). We swam and smelled like chlorine and figured one day wouldn't kill us. The next day it was down to 1. I think they come tomorrow so hopefully they will balance it better.
 
saralines said:
I tested with the basic Taylor kit from the TF-100 kit. The chlorine was orange! (The PH was good.)
Click to expand...

This is what made me think you were using the OTO test. That one is yellow/orange. The FAS-DPD is pink/clear. If it was orange something was very wrong.
 
saralines said:
I did, that was how I was able to come up with the CC and FC. But thanks :). We swam and smelled like chlorine and figured one day wouldn't kill us. The next day it was down to 1. I think they come tomorrow so hopefully they will balance it better.
Click to expand...
Also if your chlorine is down to 1, you’ll have trouble coming pretty soon.
 

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Re: the 1 CC your test showed: You have an autocover- this cover will trap gasses and show as CCs on testing if the water is collected too soon after opening the cover. Give it 30-60 minutes with the pump running before getting your sample.

Maddie :flower:
 
Bperry said:
Also if your chlorine is down to 1, you’ll have trouble coming pretty soon.
Click to expand...
I started with the regular test that should be yellow and was orange. This told me something was wronh. Then I did the follow up test with the powder and drops to determine CC and FC making pink clear. The first test doesn't have a way to tell those numbers so the only way I could have posted them was by doing the other tests. I appreciate your concern but I did the correct test. Thank you.
 
YippeeSkippy said:
Re: the 1 CC your test showed: You have an autocover- this cover will trap gasses and show as CCs on testing if the water is collected too soon after opening the cover. Give it 30-60 minutes with the pump running before getting your sample.

Maddie :flower:
Click to expand...
Thank you. This is good to know. Now there is .5 chlorine according to quick test so opposite issue. Hopefully they will come tomorrow to check, as I was told Wednesday...
 
I never use the yellow chlorine test. I did at first but it just didn’t tell me anything I needed to know so I just do the pink test.
 
saralines said:
I started with the regular test that should be yellow and was orange. This told me something was wronh. Then I did the follow up test with the powder and drops to determine CC and FC making pink clear. The first test doesn't have a way to tell those numbers so the only way I could have posted them was by doing the other tests. I appreciate your concern but I did the correct test. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Cool, lots of people don’t realize the OTO test isn’t needed (and doesnt measure over 5 FC) f you have the capability for the FAS-DPD.
 
saralines said:
Thanks. I figure the quick test is nice for a daily test of chlorine and pH, and the other one is good if something looks wrong. Maybe I'm wrong?
Click to expand...
Don’t know if it’s a right or wrong thing, but if your FC level is being maintained above ~4ppm based on the FC/CYA chart then you need to use the FAS-DPD anyway to get an accurate FC reading which makes the OTO test a waste of time. I’ve never used the OTO test in the two years I’ve been following TFP process. Incidentally the only reason I found TFP was because I needed to figure out how to test FC above 5ppm because I had way too much CYA in the water.
 
Typically when the yellow test is orange the FC is over 10. It doesn’t give you any specifics but various shades of yellow are 1-10, various shades of orange are 11-20 and various shades of brown are 20+. Let’s go over your maths and sample size :

5ml sample, Each drop is 1 FC until clear
10ml sample, each drop is .5 FC
25 ml sample, each drop is .2 FC.

Once you know your pool and are one with its daily demands of that part of the season, you’ll just know it’s been consuming 3(?) ppm a day all week. If you test/ add with the powder test and leave it at 8, And are expecting 5 the next day, Then a quick spot check with the block test is totally fine when it comes up really yellow. 6ish is good enough to know you still have chlorine. Add your expected 3ppm to cover the daily loss and verify you’re still on track tomorrow with the powder test.
 
It is your pool. When FC is low, add chlorine. After 30 days or so your SWG will be connected. However, for a TFP pool follow the FC/CYA chart.
 
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