Sticky Feel from Water

[nebrando]

I have a 27’ hard sided above ground pool that was installed in August 2021. I live in Minnesota so we only had about a month to use it. I was following the pool store advice last year and found TFP. I closed the pool following information from TFP. I have the TF-100 test kit and check my water and buy my own chemicals this year without the pool store advice. The pool has been opened for about a month, but based on water temperatures we haven’t been in it. I was in it today with my kids and when I got out I noticed my skin was sticky, kind of like when my water softener in the house runs out of salt, although worse. I’m not sure where I need to go with my chemicals to correct that feeling.

I tested the water yesterday and had the following results:

Free Chlorine: 3.0
CC: 0
pH: 7.4
TA: 210
CYA: 30
CSI: .28

The last time I tested CH on Thursday (3 days ago) it was 425

After those results, on Saturday I added 40 oz of 12.5% bleach And 1 pound of stabilizer. I have not tested the FC or CYA since adding yesterday.

I’m trying to figure out which numbers I need to change to get the “feel” of the water to not be so sticky.

I live in an area with very hard water and I assume that’s why my CH is so high. Also, when showering if the water softener isn’t working I get the sticky feel but not as bad as it was today from the pool, so I’m thinking maybe the CH is the reason?

TIA for any insight.

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! When I first saw your post, I literally thought you were going to say sticky as in "gummy". But it sounds more like dry skin (without a water softener) right? So with very hard local water, I guess that makes sense. Your numbers above with the TF-100 look quite good. Your TA is what I would expect for your region, but it will eventually fall. The pool may be still purging residual product from the previous winter closing, although I'm not sure that would explain the dry feeling. It's good you increased the FC and I would continue to ensure the FC is within the ideal range for your CYA as noted on the FC/CYA Levels.

If you still fine the water to feel extremely hard and dry to the skin, you could try adding some pool salt. Even though you don't have a salt generator, I believe some people have added a little salt to help give it a softer feel. About 2,000 ppm of salt would be a good starting point.

 

[nebrando]

Thanks Texas. Based on your response, I'm going to stop worrying about the TA and the CH. I've been somewhat concerned with them, but I'm going to kind of ignore those numbers. I may see how the next few swims go, and possibly look into some salt. I played around with the PoolMath app and in effects of adding I chose salt. It says I would need to add around 300 pounds of salt to achieve a level of 2000. That seems like a lot of salt. Did I do something wrong?

 

[Texas Splash]

Did I do something wrong?

I got about the same number. Comes out to about seven 40 lb bags. But you can try half if you want. Your water may already have a salt as a byproduct from other products. You can start low and always add some later.